Wandering the Halls of Academia - Teaching and Living Today

Math made fun! Not something I would usually agree with, but Enrica Minetti of Matemaths manages to do so! Enrica, a math teacher from Genova, Italy, also authors interactive mathematics products for remote/distance learning as well as in the classroom teaching. She offers these resources through her storefronts on TeachersPayTeachers  and on TheWheelEdu . Distance Learning Probability Practice Online Interactive is one of her latest creations. Available for $3.00 (USD)  from Matemaths! This resource is offered in PowerPoint format, and I was able to easily use it in Google Slides. It offers 20 fast review problems, perfect for students to do over summer or semester break, or as a review before an assessment. Each of the problems is set up as a word problem, with picture representations of the problems as well. Enrica takes the time to quickly review lowest common denominators without students realizing that this is happening! The fast action allows students to work through the review

So, if you know anything about me yet it should be this...I am NOT a math person. Suzanne is. I am the Grammar Police person (I know, because my Principal gave me that award this year!). That said, I love the work, and the hearts, of Rebekah and her family at Little Streams , an online store for all things mathematics. UK-based, they create worksheets, PDFs, interactive multimedia, and GAMES for teaching and learning math at all ages and grade levels! In addition to their website with it's direct sales capabilities, they have stores on other platforms as well. (Keep watch for a product review from one of those stores soon...). So why do I have them here? Simple, really. Generous hearts. Currently trying to assist home schooling families and remote/distance teachers, they have set ALL of their products on their website at 75% off! This will run at least until 15 June to help not only our home schoolers, but also our teacher friends in the southern hemisphere. Need I say more. Deep w

Available on Amped Up Learning "Become a Biographer" from Homeschool Holiday and Happy Hive Homeschool is a fantastic multimedia product, especially for your younger learners and English Language Learners (ELLs). Created by Christy Gandara, this resource introduces students to the biography subgenre first as a text to be read, and then as a form of writing and reflection with expression. About Christy Gandara Christy Gandara is not only a home school mom of three "bugs" (her term, not mine!), but she is also a California certified teacher with 19 years of classroom experience, all in the K-8 grade ranges. This gives her a unique perspective on resource creation, not only for other home school families, but also for the actively teaching classroom teacher. She both knows and understands the challenges of engaging our students and providing them with rigorous curriculum material that they will WANT to interact with! Become a Biographer - A Multimedia, Interactive Res

Note from Matthew at ELA in Middle School This post was written by Sarah Renish, Teacher and Teacher-Author Entrepreneur. Sarah is the owner of  Ratelis Science , which has a storefront on  BOOM!Learning  (SM),  Amped Up Learning  and  TpT . Sarah is no stranger to our regular readers, as she authored the post "Adding BOOM! Cards (TM) to Your Toolbox".  Sarah's Biography Sarah Renish I am a 6-12 science teacher in Wisconsin that has over 20 years of teaching experience working with students from diverse backgrounds, including at-risk, ELL, SPED, and Gifted & Talented students. I am actively involved in developing and teaching professional development opportunities related to science instructional best practices. In addition to my regular work for district curriculum committees and numerous professional development sessions, I have taught for the past 18 years in Kenosha Unified School District. Part of the work I do at my school includes duties as a vertical team lead

We wish to thank you for coming by and reading our blog! Suzanne and I are excited about the number of people we see reading the posts, and the responses we get, here and on social media! You can also follow us through Bloglovin at <a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/20490543/?claim=9u65gc37534">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> As you have seen, we post covers of our products and resources in our posts, with links to our various stores. Well, we have recently signed up with Linktree. From here forward, instead of different links for our resources and products, we will use just this one . From here, you select which of the four storefronts you would like to visit to shop our resources from! Follow this link, and you will find options for ELA in Middle School on AmpedUpLearning, BoomLearning (SM), TheWheelEdu, and TeachersPayTeachers. Simply select the storefront you prefer, and click away! In fact, why not check each platform out now and see how you enjoy each

Don't you just hate it? You're talking with co-workers, blowing off steam really, and you mention some ideas you have, but don't see how you can implement them. Lay out a couple of ideas, everyone is, "wow! That would be great!" But then there's Bob, kind of shooting it down. Until the next staff meeting or training day, when the admin team calls him up to introduce his great idea, or lead a training on this brilliant new thing that HE came up with...and it was your idea. Don't you just hate that? So do all of the rest of us. Including the clip artists, font creators, and illustrators. And everyone in the movie and book publishing industry who create covers, posters, animations, and all the other items we love and associate with great media. Too bad there isn't some way to protect our work so others can't take credit for it. Oh, wait. There is. It's called Copyrighting Your Material What is a copyright? According to the U.S. Copyright o

ELA in Middle School on BOOM! Boom! Cards (TM) and the Boom! Learning (SM) platform has been quietly making inroads into the data informed classroom teachers' toolboxes for the last few years. With the sudden need to move to remote/distance learning due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the BOOM! system has really...well...boomed! And with that, we also have a "boom" in teacher-authors wanting to jump in and create decks, and another income stream - your's truly included! To that end, I have been asked by a well respected teacher-author to address the "how to create" questions that are arising. Therefore, in this post, we will walk through the creation of some individual Boom Cards, as well as the beginning of a Boom Deck. Creating a Card - The First Step to Creating a Deck Seems kind of obvious, doesn't it? Actually, it isn't the first step. Step one is to go to Boom!Learning and establish an account. NOTE: IF YOU PLAN TO SELL BOOM CARD DECKS, YOU M

Note from Matthew at ELA in Middle School This post was written by Sarah Renish, Teacher and Teacher-Author Entrepreneur. Sarah is the owner of Ratelis Science , which has a storefront on BOOM!Learning  (SM), Amped Up Learning and TpT . We are in a couple of the same Facebook groups, and when I had questions about BOOM! Cards (TM), she was kind enough to teach me! She has since written this post for us all here. Thanks, Sarah!  Boom Learning and Boom Cards are the trademarks of Boom Learning, Inc. Used with Permission. Sarah's Biography Sarah Renish I am a 6-12 science teacher in Wisconsin that has over 20 years of teaching experience working with students from diverse backgrounds, including at-risk, ELL, SPED, and Gifted & Talented students. I am actively involved in developing and teaching professional development opportunities related to science instructional best practices. In addition to my regular work for district curriculum committees and numerous profess

As I was checking new posts on Facebook today, I received a notification in one of the advice groups I follow. Let me say, I love the advice groups for teacher-author entrepreneurs! Everyone is supportive of each other, and a lot of great advice is exchanged freely among members! In fact, that is where this blog was first sparked... Anyway, one of the new posts today was asking about starting a second store front on the same platform. Is it worth it? Should it be done? Is it even allowed? So, to today's topic... Pros and Cons of a Second Store on a Single Platform First, the question of whether or not it is allowed: absolutely. I know of no platform that limits a seller/entrepreneur to a single storefront or five. After all, each storefront is another stream of income for the platform through commissions. And, it isn't as if they have limited "virtual space"! So, the question shouldn't be "can I have", rather it needs to be "should I have"

Before I begin this post, I would like you to understand that I am a Christian. This post is not about being a Christian, or an attempt to convert you if you are not one; it is simply a fact that I may reference, and some may feel uncomfortable with. If so, that uncomfortable feeling is your problem to be resolved, not mine. It is your absolute right to not agree with me, just as it is my absolute right to not agree with you, should we find ourselves at that point. At any rate, what this post is about is seeking a balance while in crisis. Quarantine is NOT a "New Normal" And if you ever believe that it should be, I urge you to reach out to friends, neighbors, and family to join in some form of social engagement. While I know that there are people who prefer to be left alone to live their lives, who do not want close neighbors or family, we humans are still social animals and need interaction. And I for one need to be able to congregate with those I consider to be friends

Google Classroom - check. NewsELA - check. Flocabulary - check. ReadWorks - check. ProjectELL - check. Google Docs/Slides/Forms - check. Escape rooms - kinda check? Digital Escape Rooms - let me get the non-digital down first! BoomLearning and BOOM! Cards - what the heck is THAT? And this isn't even because of remote/distance learning... The Need to Keep Pace with Changing Delivery Systems You may have read my musing in the post  Observations of an Old Fogie  about how the more things change in education, the more they really don't. We need to teach the same skills that have always been taught, along with skills never even imagined for school students 50 years ago. And while the skills are the same, and the methods of teaching are similar but refined by our advanced knowledge of learning modalities, the delivery systems of education are a far cry from what they were. Sure, we still have text books. Sure, they are available in traditional hard cover and newer "consuma