Introducing PTA Skills Bundles

I have easily taught thousands of ELA lessons.  As in the case of every teacher, some were textbook home runs and some were complete flops!  In spite of what I perceived to be careful planning, the latter was often a result of a weak or missing component in the lesson.

After reviewing the research, observing hundreds of classes, and reflecting on my own teaching practices, I've created a product called the PTA Skills Bundle that I hope will ensure efficiency and proficiency in the classroom on twenty-two literacy skills most often seen on standardized tests:

• Analogies
• Author's Purpose
• Cause and Effect
• Characterization
• Context Clues
• Fact and Opinion
• Figurative Language
• Fragments and Run Ons
• Genre
• Inferences
• Irony
• Main Idea
• Mood and Tone
• Organizational Writing Patterns
• Parts of Speech
• Point of View
• Research and Reliability
• Sentence Types
• Story Elements
• Subject Verb Agreement
• Titles of Works
• Transitional Words and Phrases

Specifically, the PTA Skills Bundle includes three research-based, best practice products (PowerPoint, Task Cards, and Assessment) that allow for instruction, practice, and progress monitoring - the three most important components of instruction.

Here’s how it works:
1) You TEACH the skill with an easy-to-understand, comprehensive instructional PowerPoint.
2) Students PRACTICE the skill as they review the content with high yield Task Cards that generate active engagement.
3) You ASSESS the skill with a Common Core-aligned assessment that will let you know in no time who is advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic.


10 Benefits of the PTA Skills Bundle:

➢PTA Bundles are instructional time-friendly!
➢PTA Bundles are perfect for standout evaluations. You’ll shine as your evaluator commends your use of materials, creativity, content, and assessment.
➢PTA Bundles are minimal prep work…it’s all there!
➢PTA Bundles include Common Core-aligned assessments will let you know in no time who is advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic in this important ELA skill.
➢PTA Bundles are time savers…they last for years!
➢PTA Bundles include research-based high yield strategies that keep students actively engaged.
➢PTA Bundles are super sub friendly…Keep them learning even when you’re not there!
➢PTA Bundles have built in standardized test prep, so no need to stress come spring!
➢PTA Bundles make collaboration easy. Share the wealth of your knowledge and resources with your colleagues the easy way.
➢PTA Bundles are Easy for you – Engaging for them!!

Add PTA Skills Bundles to your teaching library today! 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/PTA-ELA-Skills-Jumbo-Bundle-Volume-1-4156054

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/PTA-ELA-Skills-Jumbo-Bundle-Volume-2-4156080

Ten Prompts for NaNoWriMo

Okay, guys!  It's officially NaNoWriMo and the month is getting away from us!  Next week is Thanksgiving and before you know it...

You know where I'm going with this.  If you are finding yourself lacking motivation to get started, here are ten prompts to help pen the first chapter for that award-winning, best-seller:

Ten Prompts for NaNoWriMo

1) A C.E.O. gives a keynote address at a convention when overtaken by a panic attack.

2) A passenger discovers an unattended carryon when flying over the ocean.

3) A book club hostess receives a threatening anonymous note at her own home.

4) A disgruntled claustrophobe finds himself locked in an elevator at work overnight.

5) A weary taxi driver picks up a sinister stranger contemplating suicide who wants to drive around town first.

6) A couple celebrates their anniversary at a cozy restaurant when a mysterious bouquet of flowers is brought to the table.

7) A daughter cleans out her parents’ attic and discovers an urn of ashes.

8) A valedictorian gets arrested for shoplifting right before graduation.

9) An unappreciated secretary calls in sick and goes shopping where she runs into her boss’s wife with another man.

10)  A first-day-on-the-job nanny takes the children to the park where she loses the master key only to have a burglar find it.


Remember, the first rule to writing that novel is No Excuses!  I have to remind myself of that everyday.  NaNoWriMo is a great time to get started, so write on!