Sunday SUPER Sale: 28% OFF

Teacher's pay Teachers is having a SUPER SALE tomorrow, February 3rd!  ALL of my products will be 20% off + TpT is taking an additional 10% off = a discount of 28% off!!  Just enter the promo code "SUPER" at checkout.

I am now up to almost 40 products, here are a few I haven't shown you:

Digital Paper:
for only $0.72/set!


this one is a FREEBIE:

 

Mazes:

 

 

This persuasion set includes a powerpoint, word wall posters, and maze.  (Items are also sold individually):

 

 

Math Mazes:

 

 

 

Science Maze:

 

More Valentine's Day Hidden Pictures: 

 

Winning Grant Proposals:
for just $2.52 each

 

 

 

~Mrs. Scott

Interactive Whiteboard Game Library

A couple of months ago I wrote a grant to receive a library of interactive educational video games from Lakeshore Learning for the whiteboard (our classes are all equipped with Mimio touch screens). Today I found out that I got it to use with my kids in tutoring!!!

Reading Library

Math Library

Here are a few of the sections that I wrote for the grant application. (You are welcome to steal):

I. Description (Project Overview):
Provide a simple descriptive summary of why you believe there is a need for this project, program, special purchase, or other funding from the Foundation, or what essential benefit could result from funding of your grant.

According to a national survey conducted by the National Institute on Media and the Family:

•92% of children and adolescents 2-17 years old play video games.

•The average child spends between 20-33 minutes a day playing video games, with “tween” boys playing an average of 47 minutes per day.

•African American and Hispanic youth, as well as kids from low and middle income communities spend more time playing video games than other populations.

•The design features of the interactive electronic games have been found to improve skills such as spatial visualization, problem solving, fine motor, and visual attention.

The students coming through our schools are all members of the new technology generation. They have been exposed to the visual stimulation and instant gratification our world now has to offer since birth, making incorporating technology in our classrooms essential for capturing students attention and making lessons more enjoyable.

Lakeshore has created interactive whiteboard software, that comes in the form of a cd-rom to be inserted into a computer and projected on the board and played using our touch screen pens.

II. Objective:
The objective(s) that you develop should directly relate to the need you described above. It should describe the single most important result that you expect to achieve with this project or program. It should also explain how it is going to help you teach or improve your students’ comprehension, enthusiasm, or other educational component.

My goal is for all students to be successful in reading and mathematics through engaging activities! Students who have experienced failure in the past are more apprehensive to attempt the same concept again and end up missing the value and fun in learning. To regain their interest, lessons have to be exciting and engaging.

The action and adventure these games provide initially capture the students attention, and is quickly followed by their competitive nature keeping them motivated to stay involved and work with classmates to be successful. Best of all, the needs of every type of learning style is addressed! Visual learners enjoy the bright graphics and animation the games display. Auditory learners are captivated by music and sound effects, as well as problem solving with teams. The kinesthetic learners, whose learning style typically gets the least amount attention within the classroom, are thrilled to get out of their seats and use the projected technology from the board!

Reading objectives addressed:

•Making Inferences- Students snowboard down a hazardous mountain by reading short passages and correctly answering follow-up inference questions.
•Main Idea- Players practice identifying main ideas as they zip around the mall on a shopping spree, where correct answers put money in their pockets for their purchases!
•Reading Comprehension- A winding maze where students build comprehension skills as they race to capture the flag while answering comprehension questions covering main idea, vocabulary, and inferences.
•Reading for Information- Children try to escape the perils of Shipwreck Island by answering questions that challenge them to recall facts and details, analyze text, and read for meaning.
•Cause and Effect- Teams explore cause and effect through a journey to discover precious jewels while battling obstacles like crocodile-infested waters!
•Vocabulary- Students develop their vocabulary using context clues and inferring meaning to surf a tidal wave and avoid sharks and wipeouts.

Math Objectives Addressed:
•Decimal Operations - Players gain real-world experience in this game of “ATM Action” as they race to earn the most money for their bank accounts. Students tally their earnings, but must make deductions for unexpected bills and fees. (Other objectives addressed: word problems, real world application)
•Word Problems - Teams solve word problems on a race through outer space, fueling their spaceship with each correct answer. (Other objectives addressed: decimals, operations, geometry, algebra, real world application)
•Fractions- Students dodge falling rocks as they climb up a cliff collecting flags as they compare and order fractions, solve fractions operations, and convert fractions into decimals.
•Multiplying and Dividing- Players reinforce multiplication and division skills by storming their opponents’ castles in an epic medieval battle.

~Mrs. Scott

No Obstacle in Learning Grant

Below is part of a grant applications I submitted to my school district. Winners are announced in November.

Image being a 12 year old student and walking into class to discover this was part of your lesson for the day:

How could you not be excited to participate in learning taught with an inflatable obstacle course?? Imagine your delight when a few weeks later a different subject meets outside to incorporate this in their class for another spin on learning!

The National Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found:
•Students who participate in physical activity show an increase in ability to pay attention, and improve up to a grade level in reading comprehension following exercise.

•MRIs show those who exercise experience increased brain activity in the prefrontal cortex -- an area associated with complex thinking, decision making and correct social behavior.


The greatest benefit is that the obstacle course can be used by all of our students in multiple disciplines! Below are some objectives that can be taught using the inflatable obstacle course by subject:

Math-
•Central Tendency: Calculating mean, median, mode, and range
•Graphing data, choosing the best graph, interpreting graphs
•Calculating unit rate and proportions
•Course Conversion: minutes/seconds/hours, feet/inches/yards/meters
•Measurement: measuring course distance, volume of obstacle, surface area, angle of slopes

Science-
•Cause/effect relationships
•Friction
•Calculating: speed, force

ELA-
•Descriptive writing activities based on experience within the course

Health-
•Body systems being used during exercise
•Calculating heart rate
•Demonstrating the fun in exercise

Physical Education-
•Goal setting
•Detecting and correcting errors
•Assess physiological effects of exercise during and after physical activity
•Describing and selecting physical activities that provide for enjoyment and challenge

The obstacle course can also be used during incentive activities (rewards for hard work, low discipline referrals) and field day, saving our school the cost of renting the items from local vendors.

(Inflatable is from Sam's Club for $2,633)

~Mrs. Scott

Grant Ideas

Every year I exceed the tax credit the government gives back for classroom expenses along with the majority of my colleagues. Our wishlists are never-ending because amazing teaching ideas are created every day. Unfortunately, it may come as a surprise, but our salaries don't necessarily accommodate our creativity.

This is the reason I heart grants! Districts give money to purchase materials that will benefit our students and it is fabulous!

Never written a grant before? Have no idea what to write a grant for? Here are a couple of ideas! (Click the underlined title for the companies website)


Lonestar Learning:
I was planning to write a grant for these last year, but as luck would have it our school had some extra funds and was able to purchase it! The website has quite a few products, but my favorite are the Picture Vocabulary Cards. They take vocabulary words and turn them into images that demonstrates the meaning of the word. They are totally adorable and make an amazing word wall for kids to learn! Sets are around $30 each and are available for Language Arts, Math, and Science. (Hopefully Social Studies someday!) Here are a few examples:

Mainstay Math:

I came across this booth at my first teaching conference ever! I remembered it a year later and decided to make it my first grant. The lady who owns this small business was so nice and even helped me to write my grant by providing me her thesis which she wrote about the benefit of using literature to teach math. Her Literacy Libraries were created specifically for each grade level (PreK-8th) and even come with a label telling you which book to read for each objective. Each Library contains about 22-24 books and cost around $200, which is a lot cheaper then buying the books individually. These are the three kits I received with my grant money:

Math Songs:

It is crazy that I have a HUGE fear of public speaking, but have no problem talking (and singing) in front of a group of teenagers. I am such an auditory learner that I can hear a song once or twice and know all the lyrics. Many of my students are the same way so this was perfect for them! Can I sing well?? haha! Nope. Do my kids care? Nope. They laugh at me the first week or so, and next thing they know the songs are stuck in their heads too, reminding them of math concepts!

Anyways, last summer I was thrilled to attend CAMT! By far the best workshop we went to was Kay Smitherman's "Math Sing-a-longs." We spent an hour singing some of her tunes, and I was surprised that she had written a few that I already knew ("Mean the average, mode-most often, rang-subtract the smallest from the largest"). Her sets come with the cd and a binder with lyrics. I was planning to write a grant for this as well, but our school purchased this too!

~Mrs. Scott