Teacher Appreciation Week has finally arrived and abcteach wants to celebrate you. In honor of the amazing job that you continue to do with your students, we are excited to announce a Teacher Appreciation Week Special: $10 off all new and renewal memberships to abcteach.

Whether you are a teacher, homeschooler, parent, or caregiver, we know that you make a huge impact on each of your student’s lives. On behalf of all of us at abcteach, we thank you and wish you a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week.

The abcteach Team

The following post is a new addition to our Montessori teaching series. Our guest author, Andrea Coventry, grew up in Montessori schools and is a current educator and internet writer on teaching Montessori. (The following activities are found on the abcteach member site. Learn more about becoming a member!)

The Year of the Animals

Every year following Spring Break, I begin to assess my students for final conference reports in early to mid-May. As I do so, I also like to reflect on which activities and units were a success and which ones seemed to fall short.

This year has definitely been the ‘Year of Animals.’ My kids can’t get enough of learning about them – their habits and habitats, their parts, and their personalities. Two of the activities that have consistently been used are nomenclature cards and booklets, which I got right here on abcteach.

Some years nomenclature cards collect dust in the time that they are on the shelf. This year, however, the children wanted to learn every new word and to compare/contrast all of the animals. I had a three year-old teach himself how to write letters, just so that he could make his own booklets. He would exhaust almost the entire supply of papers, creating his booklets time and time again. He read them to anyone who came to visit the classroom. His concentration on the animal activities was even superior to any of his Practical Life activities!

This darling boy, now four, has also been teaching the older children a new activity that he created using some of these materials. He takes the papers from the booklet activity and makes books of the different species of animal. For example, we just wrapped up our amphibians unit, featuring frogs. He and one of my five year-olds spent a week going through frog books, coloring each page with different colors and patterns and labeling them appropriately. That’s one of the beautiful things about Montessori: children creating their own extensions of materials and teaching each other. I especially love that it is a younger child teaching an older child.

The animal activities on abcteach also include some with real photos for sorting and matching. My students love the vibrant colors and variety of animals. I also like to use these cards to compare them to the actual pets in our classroom. We used to have two pet newts and were able to use these salamander cards for comparison and learning. I look forward to seeing what else becomes available!

What were your students’ favorite abcteach activities this year?

Andrea Coventry is a Montessori child who is now a Montessori educator. Learn more about Montessori and get book recommendations by visiting her Montessori Writer website.

Are you into gardens, composting, or planting trees? How about clean air, fresh water, and healthy soil? Do you like recycling, bike riding, or farmers markets? If any of these activities has you raising a green thumb, then this is definitely the month for you.

April is full of special dates, weeks, and observances dedicated to eco-education and bringing out the greater “green” in us all. For educators, these events (a sampling is listed below) are especially helpful in connecting lesson plans with local examples and broader national, even global, movements.

• Earth Day
• Arbor Day
• National Environmental Education Week
• National Garden Month
• Keep America Beautiful Month

If green is your goal, abcteach supports your curriculum by providing a number of specialized sections related to sustainability. Popular categories within the Think Green, Teach Green section include reading, coloring pages, arts and crafts, and the topics composting, ecology, as well as PowerPoints (found on the member site). And don’t forget to check out our garden, interactive science, and health and nutrition sections.

However you and your students exercise your green thumbs, we hope you get dirty and have fun!

With the weather being so warm lately, it seems like we’re approaching summer rather than just entering spring. But alas, it’s April that is upon us, which means great seasonal classroom activities are still timely. Peruse our What’s New section. We’ve added interactive flipcharts, Special Needs activities, Common Core Reading Standards, and new cultural holidays. This time of year is also heavy into testing, so be sure to check our Testing Practice section as well.

Did you know that April is Math Awareness Month? It was designated by the Joint Policy Board of Mathematics, and the 2012 theme is Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge. It’s meant to help us understand that “… massive amounts of data are collected every day, often from services we use regularly, but that we never think about”… such as Google searches, Facebook activities, credit card purchases, etc. The topic highlights the great opportunities these data sets provide, but at the same time, shed light on the dangers they pose.

Whichever math area your students are working in, abcteach has creative materials to support. We cover core subjects, like addition and multiplication, but also the more advanced ones, such as geometry, problem solving, and graphing skills. And don’t forget about abctools! We have nearly 60 math options to create customized worksheets for your class.

We hope you enjoy the new month. If you have special events or activities planned, please let us know. We love sharing ideas with the abcteach community.

~The abcteach Team

For Special Educators and parents, the arrival of Spring often means the beginning of the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) season. Teachers are reviewing data on their students’ progress toward their goals and objectives. They are also evaluating and formulating new accommodations and modifications to help students succeed in their general education classes. abcteach has recently added a list of accommodations and modifications to the member site that will assist IEP teams in this endeavor.

When selecting accommodations and modifications for the upcoming year, it is important to ensure that students understand why and how the selected strategies help everyone involved focus on their abilities and improve their potential for classroom success. I found it helpful to discuss and teach specific details of each. Developing and using strategies that work will allow students to keep pace with their general education peers, and help them in years to come.

Secondary students need to fully understand their disability, including strengths and weaknesses, and the unique way in which it affects them. This is an important part of the IEP team’s role. Students also need to develop self-advocacy skills. Learning when and how to explain their needs and abilities to others is a necessary part of being an independent adult. After leaving the public school system, the student is no longer covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Students and their families need to learn everything they can about the Americans with Disabilities Act because this is the law that protects them as adults.

Students who choose to pursue higher education will need self-advocacy skills in order to obtain the help they may require in their classes. When accessing college Disability Support Services (DSS), in addition to providing appropriate documentation, the student will need to know the specific accommodations necessary for each individual class. It’s the student’s responsibility to contact class instructors and inform them of their disability and the accommodations they will require. The role of the DSS office is to assist and support, but the bulk of the work needs to be done by the student. This process is opposite  that of the  public school IEP team, where the school case coordinator handled the dissemination of information to the necessary personnel.

Students who choose to go into the work world will also need self-advocacy skills. Informing employers about a disability and asking for work place accommodations can make the experience a successful one for all involved. Educating an employer about IDEA, learning to focus on their abilities, and proving that with a few usually simple accommodations, the individual can perform on an equal basis with co-workers, will help lead to a successful work experience.

I hope the new accommodations and modifications list will help you along this complex journey, and make this IEP season a productive and successful one!

Posted by Janie Quinn, abcteach team

If you missed these tips last March, here are some great activities to use during Reading Month (or at anytime of the year). They’re a compilation of staff and educator insights, along with input from your abcteach community.

• • Reading Race – challenge students to read a certain amount of books from various genres. Award the winners with a special lunch, picnic, or classroom treat.
• • Book Buddies – where older students team up with younger ones. The younger “author” tells his/her story and the older student writes it down. They then create a book together, written out by the elder with illustrations by the budding author.
• • Book Graphs – charting the number of books read by each student. The appropriate difficulty level was maintained through student/teacher conferences.
• • Literary Luncheon – students can opt to participate in an after school reading project that concludes with parent-led luncheons at school. Parental reading guides are provided, which help parents discuss story elements (i.e. characterization, organization, voice, etc.) with small groups of students. Food, drinks – even table cloths and candles – were used to keep kids engaged.
• • Alternative Book Reporting – provide options and let the kids take the lead in how they want to report on a book: present to the class, puppet show, written report, posters, advertisements, etc.
• • Getting into Character – designate a day to dress up as a favorite character or read books aloud with different voices for each character.
• • Author Study – each class, grade, or school explores the life of a famous author (i.e. Dr. Seuss, Marc Brown, E.B. White, etc.).
• • Weekly Book Share – students get in groups and talk about a book they’re reading. They share about their favorite section, talk about the characters, plot, etc.
• • Literary Log – daily journal writing of the students’ reading. Small conferences were set up to discuss their progress.

For additional ideas and worksheets, don’t forget to check out our writing, spelling, reading comprehension, and grammar sections. They are basic skill sets, but the possibilities for creativity are endless.

~The abcteach Team

If you have questions about abcteach, then join us for our first-ever virtual Office Hours session. The abcteach staff will be on hand to review any topic that you’d like to discuss, from site navigation to abctools, and more. This is an informal event, so feel free to come in and out as you please.

Office Hours Information

• • Date: Wednesday, March 14th
• • Time: 12:00 – 2:00pm ET
• • How: To join, find the red bird (like the one below) at the top of the homepage during the event time. You can also reserve a spot now.

Join us LIVE for Office Hours!

Written by Sandy J., Home School Educator

Sandy's daughter painting outside

“We have been home schooling both of our children since kindergarten age. For our daughter, who has a rare syndrome and many delays, I have been able to tailor the course of study to work with her capabilities and interests.  While our son used a more traditional curriculum, he also worked with me on meal planning, budgeting, and household responsibilities, in addition to traveling with my husband for work-related events.

Keeping a focus on daily living skills and a fairly regular routine has really helped our daughter excel. By considering where she is in her abilities and what goals are reasonable, she has made progress each year.

While working on daily activities, I have incorporated reading, spelling, math, social opportunities, and science. Using abcteach to find materials for whatever the topic may be has really helped me expand what we are learning. I can do a search for apples, winter, or frogs, and have an entire range of activities from which to choose. The extensive list of books with comprehension skills has introduced us to new titles. Because of fine motor issues, I have created my own words for fill-in the blank or short answer questions by using Avery small labels. I write the word bank on the stickers and my daughter uses them to complete the answer. Circle and Spell is one of my favorite abctools. I can create practice pages for anything we are studying, whether it is flora and fauna for a habitat unit, days of the week, items we need to purchase, or words relevant to a particular story.

Watching our daughter become more confident in her abilities has been an amazing process. Whether it is preparing her own meal, reading a new story out loud for the first time, or figuring out how to do something “by myself,” the effort on both sides is well worth it!”

Thank you for sharing your great story with the abcteach community, Sandy! As a token of our thanks, we’ll be sending you a snazzy abcteach mug.

Jump in the Spotlight! Get well-deserved kudos for hard work in class or homeschool and share your creative ideas with the abcteach community. To enter, send your story (500 word max), and accompanying photos to spotlight@abcteach.com.

Did you know that as members and visitors of abcteach, you’re part of an international community of educators? Pretty cool, isn’t it? Your abcteach colleagues come from around the globe, and bring an amazing mix of tips, traditions, and experiences to share with your class.

With this in mind, abcteach is proud to announce the addition of a new selection of cultural holidays and world events. These categories complement our large inventory of dates already celebrated widely in the U.S. Each section will provide a core group of materials, including vocabulary units, multi-level reading activities, classroom crafts, and teaching extras. We’ll also include fun traditional items, such as recipes, games, and songs.

This January we launched the Australia Day section, and you will soon find items celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year. We’re covering all corners of the world so that your students benefit from a balance of ethnic festivities and cultural celebrations.

New 2012 Holiday Sections

• La Befana – January 6th (coming out in mid-December). La Befana is an Italian holiday with similar roots to the story of Saint Nicholas. Befana is portrayed as an old woman, typically riding a broomstick and covered in soot, who surprises children with gifts.

• Australia Day – January 26th. Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. It celebrates the anniversary of the First Fleet landing in Sydney Harbour in 1788.

• Nowruz – March 20th or 21st. Nowruz is the Persian New Year. Known under many spelling variations, it is celebrated in various parts of the world, and marks the first day of spring according to the Vernal/March equinox.

• Golden Week (Japan) – April 29th – May 5th. Golden Week is a week-long celebration observing numerous national holidays. These holidays include the Emperor’s Birthday, Greenery Day, Showa Day, Constitution Memorial Day, and Children’s Day. Golden Week is a popular week to travel and do leisure-type activities.

• Bastille Day – July 14th – Bastille Day, or La Fête Nationale or le quartorze juillet, is the French National Day. It commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille and is symbolic of French national unity.

• German Unity Day – October 3rd – German Unity Day is the national day of Germany, commemorating the anniversary of German reunification in 1990.

• Las Posadas – December 16th – 24th. Las Posadas is a nine-day celebration of the nativity procession of Mary and Joseph. It was originated in Spain, and is now celebrated in Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of the southwestern United States.

We will continue to add holidays in the future, so if there’s an event that you would like to see included, please let us know.

Enjoy the celebrations!

~The abcteach Team

With the proliferation of easy-to-use, touch-based tablets, it’s not surprising that schools and home school educators are capitalizing on their many uses and implications for interactive learning.

You may have explored abcteach’s interactive section, which has plenty of materials meant for computers and interactive whiteboards, but you might not be aware that the grand majority of teaching activities on abcteach work wonderfully with tablets. Since documents on abcteach are in PDF format, they can be opened and modified with many PDF editing apps for tablets. Students can complete crosswords and dot-to-dots, read biographies and science articles, complete coloring sheets, and answer writing prompts, all without using a printer.

We’ve searched the App Store (iOS devices) and the Android Market for the best apps and have some recommendations for those of you looking to take advantage of the 45,000 activities on abcteach available for your tablet. Today, we’ll focus on one app in particular which we found to be one of the most flexible and feature-rich: neu.Annotate PDF for the iPad. Find a list of other recommended apps for iPad and Android tablets at the bottom of this post.

neu.Annotate PDF (iOS, $0.99)

neu.Annotate PDF makes it easy to view and edit abcteach activities on the iPad. After you’ve downloaded the app from the App Store, simply navigate on abcteach using Safari (the default iPad web browser) and find a document you’d like to use. Touch the document title or thumbnail to start downloading the document. To demonstrate how you can use abcteach documents with neu.Annotate, we’ll use a 10-page learning unit about the inner planets of our Solar System. This unit has vocabulary, reading comprehension, and opportunities for class participation. Find it here on our member site (login required). For free materials about the Solar System, visit our free section.

Your abcteach document will pop up automatically in Safari, along with an option to open the document in a particular app. Touch “Open in…” and select neu.Annotate from the drop-down menu. Any app that can open PDF documents will be displayed in this list.

Your PDF will be opened immediately in neu.Annotate. From this app, you’ll be able to draw directly on the document using a number of tools, including pens, highlighters, and shapes. neu.Annotate comes with several handy tutorials for getting started, which we highly recommend reviewing, but using the app is surprisingly intuitive.

Using the pen tool (click the pen icon at the top of the page), you can fill out the answers to study questions. You can use your fingers to write, but we recommend investing in a decent stylus (around $10) for precision writing.

You can also use the pen tool to color shapes on the page. You’ll want to adjust the color, size, and opacity (i.e. the transparency) of your pen. Touch a pen icon, and then tap the style box to bring up the style options for that pen. neu.Annotate lets you keep five preset styles up at the top of the page to make it easy to switch back and forth between different styles.

When coloring a shape, it’s usually a good idea to reduce the opacity and increase the width of your pen. A lower opacity ensures that you won’t completely obscure the lines when you’re coloring in your shape, because the pen’s color will be slightly transparent. A larger width will make it easier to fill in your shape with color. When you’re coloring your shape, you might find it useful to zoom in by placing two fingers on the tablet and moving them slowly apart. With a closer zoom, you’ll be able to be more precise when coloring or writing. To pan around the page without drawing, drag across the screen with two fingers, or switch to the “hand” tool.

When you’re finished editing your document, you can email it to anyone and store it on your computer (you can also view it at any time from within neu.Annotate). Just touch the arrow button in the top right corner, choose “Mail as JPG,” and email the completed file to yourself. This will ensure that all of your annotations, images, and drawings are saved directly onto to the file. Exporting a PDF will not always work as expected, so we recommend always exporting to JPG (PNG is fine as well).

We hope you enjoyed learning how to use and edit abcteach documents on your tablet. Here are some other apps that we found to work similarly to Neu.Annotate:

GoodNotes Free (iPad, Free)

Notability (iPad, $0.99 for a limited time)

ezPDF Reader Pro (Android tablets, $2.99)

As always, post any questions or comments in the section below. Have you found any other apps that you find useful for interactive learning? Let us know!

~The abcteach Team