I’ve been getting lots of traffic on my “Freebies” page from blog followers and visitors. It occurred to me, though, that maybe not everyone has looked beyond the homepage of Lessons From The Middle.  I just had a peek at the Middle School Freebies collection that I started a while back, and I noticed that [...]

  ===================================== Mac OSX Tech Tip ===================================== Many Mac OSX applications use a pop up fonts window to allow you to format font appearance. By default, you don’t get to see a preview of the font. If you click and hold on the little dot in the top-middle of that window and drag downward, a [...]

Everyone likes to have another stash of writing prompts on hand, right? After recently uploading Part 2 of my Writing Adventures Task Cards, I thought I would share with you the previews for each, just in case you are not a store follower at TpT or haven't visited lately! Both sets (Part 1 and Part 2) contain 36 prompt cards and Part 2 also ...

Creativity is KEY in the classroom! I'm certain all of you agree.  Constantly trying to find new ways to keep students involved in reading and comprehending literature, I've had the best time watching and listening to some rather creative song performances based on our selections we read in class! The idea behind this activity is ...

It has been coming for months and the end of the year is apon us.  Most teachers now put it into cruise control and coast to the end of the semester.  Here are 12 effective end of the year activities to do with your students to motivate them to the end of the semester and get them prepared for the upcoming ...

''Using Picture Books to Teach Allegory...'' post on March 21st promised a follow up with student samples. I've finally gotten a chance to take pictures of some of the allegories my students wrote. Then,  I had to email them to myself, etc. You know the drill-as far as getting pics on your computer!  I have tons of great student work, but ...

I ran across this game while perusing Amazon.com looking for sales at Christmas.  I thought it would be a great game to get for my son, who loves dice of any kind.  Generally, he likes to drop them into bowls and make lots of noise, or stack them, or even add them.  The cooler or more colorful they are, the more he likes them.  While deciding to ...

This is a good an excuse as any to listen to a good song, and, at the same time, be reminded of the suffering the great nation had to endure earlier this year. Why not use this video as a springboard for a class discussion on natural disasters, for example? You might like to read this post on activities using songs.

This challenge has been suggested by Anne & Brad. Although there are many personal photos in my collection that I can choose, I decided on these two, which weren't taken by me. And that's all I'm going to say about them! What can you say? Add your comments below.

I've always loved this song (written by Jagger/Richards, and released on the Stones' Let It Bleed album towards the end of 1969), and, as you probably already know, I'm very fond of Playing for Change, too. They are good enough reasons for me to link it here in this blog.But how can we use it in our lessons, you might ask. Well, think about it and ...