Middle School ELA Support

https://americasfavteacher.org/2024/haley-craig?fbclid=IwAR2_yc4c76L9O5McKkRCBr2SQBlm2INRt8b5ejp7UyhhEP-eXzYH2C-9L9c_aem_AWvS7FZADi8qffynzBVsTgVdInJoM-Zs-Sq9T97glT9f2ussE-its4RVp7x-ONNWI_I

Is Haley Craig America's Favorite Teacher? Help Haley Craig be America’s Favorite Teacher and win $25,000, a trip to Hawaii, and a feature in Reader’s Digest.

Double votes today for the competition I’m in! I appreciate all of this support. I’ve done so far, and truly appreciate your continued support.

https://americasfavteacher.org/2024/haley-craig



Is Haley Craig America's Favorite Teacher? Help Haley Craig be America’s Favorite Teacher and win $25,000, a trip to Hawaii, and a feature in Reader’s Digest.

Hello everyone! I am competition for America’s Favorite teacher! Please take some time to vote for me. I love working with my students. I’ve worked to middle school for eight years and love working in my title one school with the kids, who need the extra love and support. I appreciate any and all support.

You are allowed one free vote per day.

Vote here:

Is Haley Craig America's Favorite Teacher? Help Haley Craig be America’s Favorite Teacher and win $25,000, a trip to Hawaii, and a feature in Reader’s Digest.

Back to school means back to classroom management. If you’re using ClassEquity, start thinking about new jobs you may want to add or new items for your shop. Remember, you can always go free.

My new free purchase item, inspired by a coworker: Recess time. I will have a quantity of 100, and once they’re all bought, they’ve earned to day!

I can’t take credit for this beautiful art. For those of you doing summer reads, I challenge you to find diversity in your characters in every way.

Understanding perspective and why q***r people have su***de rates much higher than average can help with empathy and compassion.

Remember, even if you’re not q***r, others are and are allowed to be under their own morals and ideology. If it makes you uncomfortable, try to understand why.

We should tolerate, accept, and appreciate all people and how their perspectives can benefit us and how powerful we can be together.

Well, folks, in my school district we are only 13 school days away from summer! What are some summer activities y’all are looking forward to? 

ClassEquity tip of the week:
Let your students buy a classroom rule for the day!

Oh boy! We only have 20 days left of school! Only 28 days until the school year is over!

TLDR: please donate what you can by clicking the link below.

For my teacher here, I hope your end of the year is just as fun as mine. For those of you just trying to make it through, remember to allow yourself to be silly with your kids. I know the stress is big, but today, I handled all discipline with humor and it helped. I know it doesn’t always work, but remember to use it when you can.

To my parents, we’re ready to hand them off! Haha. I have loved my kids this year and will be sad when they leave me for high school.

I’m gearing up and planning ahead for next year. To avoid getting caught up in all the teacher preparation and barrage of asks, if you’re willing and able, I would appreciate donations for my classroom for next year. There are some supplies I can’t order through my school’s budget that I need/want for projects and assignments. If you can, anything is appreciated:

Check out my list on Amazon

My ClassEquity tip this week, add in birthday present to the bonuses!

Great way to celebrate birthdays with no actual cost to you!

Okay teachers, here is a newer program for classroom economies called ClassEquity! It’s a very simple and easy to use platform. On April 10, I will be doing a Professional Development at my school to teach this. I will also start posting tips and tricks.

And honestly, parents, this is something you could use for yourselves at home with your kiddos.

My parent and teacher friends, what do you feel like is the biggest struggles with your kids this year?

A great way to battle the cold and cloudy weather is to curl up with a good book and escape into better climate. Try zoning in by following along with an audio reading or instrumental music that fits the theme!

We are getting ready to launch into the 22-23 school year. As I am gearing up, I am preparing for the increasing need to provide extra supplies to the classroom. I work in a Title 1 school, the largest middle school in Kansas. Closing the achievement gap is high on my list. If you’re able and willing to help me with that, I would appreciate any donations of needed school supplies. Here is my Amazon wish list. I will update as the year goes on.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2GV3ZKRBEM6SA?ref_=wl_share

Check out my list on Amazon

Hello wonderful people! A coworker of mine is trying to raise funds to provide updated Social Studies curriculum to our students. The current curriculum is very outdated and our students deserve better.

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/innovative-curriculum-for-urban-kids/6521497/?utm_source=dc&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=tpc_complete&utm_term=teacher_6853380&rf=facebook-dc-2022-06-tpc_complete-teacher_6853380&challengeid=21500789&fbclid=IwAR2yOhmIllj4FI07gmZJ-Qs-v0dlv-GCqY-scIaid-TW0cSabJC0nXpo9OQ&fs=e&s=cl

Innovative Curriculum for Urban Kids, a project from Mrs. Leslie

As the year is winding down, I find that I’m really starting to learn who my students are. They’re comfortable with me and with the school, and they don’t hold back as much (in good and bad ways) Here are some highlights from my classroom:

1. That kid that looks like they’re sleeping every single day, gave the best answer and showed the most understanding of the content than anybody else.

2. That kid who blew up at me because I asked him to stop talking had the worst day of his life and needed someone to understand how he was feeling.

3. That kid who doodles all the time and looks like he’s not paying attention, is actually creating a comic book of the classroom discussion.

4. The kid who screams at everybody every morning and tells them to shut up, will fight for absolutely any kid who’s being bullied and will make sure that they get the help they need.

5. That kid who always gets an A shares how much pressure they put on themselves to do well.

I think it is hard to remember that these kids are dealing with more than we see every single day. I love my students very much! Every year it makes me cry when they leave me at the end of the year, because for some of them I feel like I’m just starting to truly understand and appreciate who they are. If you are an educator or parent who has seen a huge change in a student that has warmed your heart, I would love to hear your story in the comments.

Calling all Educators!

These past few years have thrown us through more than we could image. To help support each other, I would like to start featuring educators, what they do, their reasons for being in the profession, and a link to their TpT account to share (or any other way to support them). If you're interested in being a featured educator, either comment below or send me a message and I will be in touch to feature you!

I'll start us off: Hi, I'm Haley. I've taught in Kansas and Arizona. Since the second grade, I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I love helping others and helping people to find their own passions. I'm in my sixth year of teacher, and despite everything we've gone through, I still love what I do each and every day. My favorite part about teaching is seeing students become self-motivated to learn and sparking their passions in different ways. I also love when they get comfortable enough to share their personal stories with me, so I can get to know them and understand them better. I'm a huge relationships teacher! I look forward to getting to know more of you!

Hello my wonderful educators! I am consistently updating and adding to my repertoire of activities and assignments for my students. I have added a few new activities and worksheets to my Teachers Pay Teachers Account (including free items) if you'd like to check them out.

For the parents on my page, you can also use these resources to help support your child's learning at home!

If you have any requests, please add them in the comments below, and I would be happy to create resources on my page for you.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ms-Craigs-Middle-School-Ela-Classroom

Hello fellow educators! Here is a link to my teachers pay teachers account. I have some cool fun and free activities on my page, as well as a more complex and larger unit activities. I plan to add some more free activities as the year goes along, and later this week I will be posting a logical fallacies stations activity. Below is the link. If you would like to see more content or any activities in particular that you would like me to build for you, feel free to comment a request on my page or on this post and I would be more than happy to build it to share on my page for you

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ms-Craigs-Middle-School-Ela-Classroom

Ms Craigs Middle School ELA Classroom Browse over 30 educational resources created by Ms Craigs Middle School ELA Classroom in the official Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Hello fellow educators! Here’s a link to my TpT account to check out some free resources (or buy some of my bigger projects). I also plan to add some more free resources as the year goes on. Later this week I will be adding a fun Stations activity with answer keys included.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ms-Craigs-Middle-School-Ela-Classroom

Ms Craigs Middle School ELA Classroom Browse over 30 educational resources created by Ms Craigs Middle School ELA Classroom in the official Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Hey everyone! I know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me. Teaching during a pandemic doesn’t leave me much down time. One thing I wanted to post to y’all is a resource for the whole family to use. More and more often I am seeing that people do not understand what makes a source credible. Here is a comprehensive guide from NYU to help you and your students evaluate if a source is credible or not. More and more often social media is posting things that are not true or credible. I encourage you to talk with your children or students about identifying good resources and what to believe and what not to.

 https://guides.nyu.edu/citations/tips-for-evaluating-sources

Research Guides: Citation Style Guide: Tips for Evaluating Sources This guide provides citation and bibliography assistance. Includes APA, MLA, and Chicago style examples.

Hey all,
It’s been awhile, but I’ve been busy. Teaching in a pandemic is stressful, but I love my job and my students. Coming up we’ll bea vocabulary series of fun activities you can do with your children at home or students in the classroom.

Stay safe and healthy!

Are you a believer?

Challenge yourself to read literature from Black authors this month. Some notable ones are: Alex Haley, Alice Walker, and Langston Hughes.

There are countless more out there! Buy or rent from your local library.

Make it fun! I got into reading in elementary school because there was a prize for the most pages read. You can have an at home competition with a prize at the end. Sometimes, children need external motivation to start something new.

Make it social! Do it together. Partner up with other parents and create a community book club for children.

Make it matter! Share with your child why reading is important and how it can help them in life. Share with them the benefits that they will reap from this. Concrete rewards can be great, but, especially older children, will appreciate knowing the value and the abstract rewards that can be gained: imagination, empathy, understanding, knowledge, ect.

Not only are there different formats, but if your thirteen-year-old wants to read a picture book, don't dissuade them. They will still learn, and above all, enjoy themselves. If reading is fun, they will want to do it. Visual and artistic children tend to go for picture books and comic books. It is just as beneficial as any other form of reading.

Sound excited when you share! Talk to your child like it is one of the best things you've ever read. Passion and joy are contagious. They will feel like they're missing out, and it can spark their curiosity.