Best of 2016 TpT Products

As the year ends, I wanted to look back at my most popular products and show how I use each in my classroom. Each of the links below take you to the products in my TpT store. 

1. Editable Flipbook Syllabus Template-This product was created out of sheer necessity. Every year, most of my students "misplaced" my syllabus and it was a constant struggle for students to remember all of the policies and procedures of my classroom. Knowing that my students never seemed to lose their interactive notebooks, I thought they were the perfect place to insert my syllabus. So I created a flipbook syllabus that fit perfectly within the dimensions of their composition notebooks. At the beginning of the school year, this is the first thing I give to my students. I pass them out and the students participate in a syllabus scavenger hunt to get acquainted with the information. They take the syllabus home and go over it with their parents (syllabus requires a signature of student and parent). The next class students put the flipbook together and glue into the front cover of their interactive notebooks.

       

2. New Year's Puzzles for Grades 4-12-The few days at the beginning of the 2nd semester (after Christmas break) are always a time for re-teaching policies and procedures and getting the students back into the swing of school. I use this product for one day activities that my students can work on during the class period. They are also great because they require no planning time to get them ready. 

3. The Westing Game Novel Detective Notes-This product was created as a way for my students to keep all of the details of this mystery organized and in one place. This novel is chock full of characters and clues. My students were always getting confused and lost in the details. This product is the perfect tool to help my students be good organized detectives.

4. WWII and Holocaust Book Reading Journal-Each school year, I do a Holocaust/WWII unit with my students. I have done the unit as literature circles with 5-6 books around this theme. I have also had each student read a different book. This product came from the first time I did this unit with each student reading a different book. I needed a way to keep each student accountable for their reading and their learning. This journal gives students a different theme related prompt for each day of reading. My students like the independent reading feeling of this product and by second semester, they have the skills and the responsibility to do this independently. We then discuss broad themes that are found in all of their books and learn more about the Holocaust & WWII.
                                       

5. WWII Novel Scrapbook Project-This product grew out of the same unit as the product before. I needed a way to assess my students at the end of the Holocaust/WWII unit. Since each student typically read a different book, I couldn't just give an exam over 20 different books. This product includes multiple intelligences and pushes students to use their higher order thinking skills.