Most Festive or Most Embarrassing?

Most Festive? or Most Embarrassing? Either way I win!! Because Teaching is all about being corny.

Best part about all my outfits are that they are original, and they are made out of materials I already had at home. 

Hand drawn with Sharpies way past my bedtime. I just had to have something to wear to Disney Day!

I had to have a Disney Princess Crown...so I made it out of paper:)

My paper made clock reads: What time is it? Class Time!!!

Yes, that does say: Straight Outta English Class!!

Pom Poms, Felt Snowman and Trees, and an Old Hoody and Swishy Pants:)

I used a headband I never wore and added felt and pom poms lol

The reindeer was made out of my own two hands and some finger painting. Rudolph would be proud!

Tis the Season!

My Mom and I started the holiday tradition of making cedar wreaths. They are way too fun to make. Simple is better. They are beautiful, and they smell wonderful!

My Wreath Made of Natural Materials and a Flower that fell off another wreath:)

My Mom's Wreath. She added a few nicer touches:)

 Every year, I try to add more and more holiday cheer without spending anything or very little. This is what I came up with after purchasing $0.50 Poinsettia flowers and using items I already had around the house. The wooden sled I purchased for $0.25 at a garage sale during the summer. I painted it black and stenciled our name on it (I printed out the font, traced it, and then painted). Talk about cheap and pretty!

The Noel sign is made from re-purposed fence posts. I just chopped them to size with my circular saw, and then nailed them to three cross support beams. I sanded it down and then painted it with the cheap acrylic paint that you can purchase at Walmart or any craft store. I just used a color I had on hand. Then I printed out the letters N-O-E-L and traced them on the wood with a sharpie. Lastly, I filled in the letters with white paint. That took two coats. I free handed the tree silhouette. You could get a stencil off clipart or Google images though. So this sign really cost me $0 since I used what I had. That's always my goal!

I also made this sign out of an old piece of fence post. I just sanded it down and painted it. I got the idea off of Pinterest, and added a few extras. 

I added this little tree banner that I made out of felt and ribbon I had in my trusty old craft bin. It's festive and cheap. 

Lovely Grammar and Writing Handouts

Here are some grammar handouts that you can utilize. There's also a few writing graphic organizers that were reproduced for your use :)


Parallel Structure Notes


Parallelism QUiz


Fragment Quiz

EditingParagraph - types of sentences / comma usage

Run-on SentenceQuiz

  

Sentence Complexity Quiz

Parts of Speech (Winter Themed)

Central Idea GraphicOrganizer


Text Based Evidence Foldable


Writing Process Graphic Organizers 

Fall of the House of Usher Symbolism Project

The Fall of the House of Usher

By Edgar Allan Poe

During reading of the short story, we completed the following charts as a class surrounding characterization and symbolism. 

Characterization and Symbolism Chart

After reading the short story and really discussing the symbolism and literary techniques embedded in the story, we completed a fun culminating project depicting the House of Usher and all its crazy, creepy features. Below is the link for the project. Included with it are two writing prompts. The first writing prompt addresses the lessons objectives. The second writing prompt is modified for students who struggle with symbolism or who are ELL learners. 

House of Usher Symbolism Project, Rubric, and Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt #1:

In a well-constructed paragraph that is at least 5 sentences, detail how The Fall of the House of Usher uses symbolism to turn ordinary objects into metaphors in the story. Make sure to use text evidence as support.

Writing Prompt #2

In a paragraph, describe how the author describes the house in the story. What kind of tone is set? Use text evidence to support your claims.

En un párrafo, describa cómo el autor describe la casa en la historia. ¿Qué tipo de tono se establece? Utilice pruebas texto para apoyar sus afirmaciones.

***Depending on the student, I modified parts of the task further, so that every student was able to participate. A few of my students who would have fixated too much on the drawing or who needed extra time to solely focus on the task were given pre-drawn houses. I just pulled a haunted house image off of Google images and allowed them to label the different features on the house according to the narrator's description.***



Once the students were done with their work, we



laminated all the neat and complete projects and posted them on the wall next
to a wonderful picture of Edgar :)