Steps for Writing a Great Summary

As a middle school teacher, students often came to me with varying degrees of writing experience. Developing a common language early on is key to ensuring a strong foundation. This Step Up-inspired summary plan is great as a handout or classroom poster to get students writing quality, consistent summaries. 

Context Clues Bookmark

For many students, vocabulary is a huge stumbling block to reading comprehension. Students lose track of the meaning of a passage while stuck on the meaning of a word. Teaching kids to use “context clues” is a terrific technique to get students over this hump. This bookmark provides context clues reminders and examples for a quick and easy reference during reading. 

Fall Printable

Since I am originally from MD, where the temperature actually changes four times a year, I have grown to really love Fall. The weather is perfect, the colors are pretty, the food is yummy and there are so many activities to do. Now that I live in South Texas, I fear that Fall is just not going to be the same. I am pretty sure the average temperature in South Texas is still in the 80's for October. Hopefully I will be able to get in some jeans and boots days before then!

I came across a tutorial from Centsational Girl on how to create word art in Picnik and Picasa.  The tutorial is simple and very easy to follow.  All I did was find a photo image of the background I wanted online and then I edited the background with Picnik.  There are hundreds of possibilities on what you can do but for my first attempt I was pretty pleased. 

You should just be able to click the image to open it into a new window and then print an 8x10.

Measurements Printable

Let's all close our eyes and think back to 5th/6th grade math! How many cups are in a gallon? How many pints in a quart? How many ounces are in a cup? Many of you may know the answers to these questions if you do a lot of cooking and baking but it never hurts to have a little cheat sheet.  The following printables are very basic references. 

Here are some suggestions on how to display the chart:

1. Print out the picture and back it with a magnet. Brush a layer of Mod Podge on the front to protect the magnet and give it a nice shine.

2. Cut and paste the chart into your most used recipe book(s).

3. Simply tape it on the inside of a cabinet door or in the drawer where you keep your measuring items.

4. Mod Podge it to a tile and display it in the kitchen.