Category Archives: Freebies!

Flash Freebie alert! – Twelve Days of Giveaways!

One of my favorite holiday traditions is giving away a resource on my TPT store. This is my third year of doing it – just my little way of saying thank you to other hard working teachers! This year, I have a problem – I can’t decide which resource to give away! So, I’ve decided to give away twelve resources one a day for twelve days! I’ve chosen a good variety of Math, Reading, Vocabulary and Escape Room resources – something for everyone (and not a single Partridge in a Pear Tree – hee hee!)

I’m giving away twelve resources in twelve days – plus a bonus sale on Day 13!

I’m sure you want to know how to get your hands on all these free resources. Several will be revealed here on this blog and others only on Instagram or TPT. Here is what to do to get them all!

  1. Follow me on my blog (if you don’t already!) – Just enter your email on the side of the screen
  2. Follow me on Instagram – instagram.com/mscottonscorner/
  3. Follow me on TPT – Just click here to do that!
  4. Share this blog post with your teacher friends so they get in on all the goodness. Sharing is caring!

And if you love the FREE resources, leave me a review on TPT so that other teachers know what you loved!

Which Resources Will Be FREE and included in the sale?

Click the image to put these resources in your cart today! Then, wait for the day they go on sale to checkout, and get them for FREE! Remember, each resource is free for 24 hours, and each resource will be announced on this blog, TPT OR Instagram!

These are 11 of the resources. There will be one mystery resource so stay tuned! Get these in your cart today, and watch for the first one to be free on December 1! And if you missed them, the are all on sale for one bonus day – today!

I hope this gift helps you get through the holiday season with your sanity intact, and your kids learn something along the way. Have a wonderful holiday – you deserve it!

Happy Teaching!

Susan

Flash Freebie #9 – Escape from Santa’s Workshop

Today’s FLASH FREEBIE is a digital Escape Room about decimals – Escape from Santa’s Workshop.  It is FREE for 24 hours! Grab it on TPT right now before the price goes back up! And be sure to follow me on TPT and Instagram to get all 12 FREEBIES in December!

Your students will love frolicking through the North Pole, solving decimal problems and laughing along the way. There are riddles, codes and rhymes along with some rigorous decimal problems. The decimal concepts covered are plotting decimals on a number line, comparing decimals, rounding decimals and writing decimals in expanded notation. The Form is completely self-grading, so just assign it through your Google Classroom or other LMS, and sit back and watch the fun!

There are still 3 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!

And there will be a bonus 13th day, so stay tuned!

And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!

FLASH FREEBIE #6 – The Legend of the Poinsettia

Today’s FLASH FREEBIE is the The Legend of the Poinsettia – a traditional tale from Mexico! It is FREE for 24 hours! Grab it on TPT right now before the price goes back up! And be sure to follow me on TPT and Instagram to get all 12 FREEBIES in December!

This resource includes a heartwarming story from Mexico about a gift from the heart. The text is written at a fourth grade level, making it accessible for most intermediate students. They will love this charming tale! The resource also comes with text dependent questions to help students practice inference and summarizing, and a Synonym Craftivity to build vocabulary!

There are still 6 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!

And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!

Happy December!

Susan

FLASH FREEBIE #5 – Gryla and the Yule Lads

This charming tale from Iceland is the fifth FLASH FREEBIE of 12! It is FREE for 24 hours! Grab it on TPT right now before the price goes back up! And be sure to follow me on TPT and Instagram to get all 12 FREEBIES in December!

This resource includes a charming fiction tale from Iceland. Gryla and the Yule Lads are traditional characters from Iceland – they play tricks as they roam the land, leaving gifts for good children and rotten potatoes for naughty ones! The resource also comes with summarizing practice using the Somebody Wanted But So Then format (SWBST). There are teaching supports to help the students summarize the story. The resource also includes 12 Winter Idiom Task Cards with a fun riddle for figurative language practice.

Low prep – just print and teach!

There are still 7 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!

And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!

Happy December!

Susan

Christmas Down Under – FLASH FREEBIE #4

The fourth FLASH FREEBIE is Christmas Down Under. It is FREE for 24 hours! Grab it on TPT right now before the price goes back up! And be sure to follow me on TPT and Instagram to get all 12 FREEBIES in December!

This resource includes a non-fiction text that briefly explains some of the traditions of Christmas in Australia. It also includes a text of the lyrics to a favorite Australian Christmas Carol, Six White Boomers. I’ve turned the lyrics into a fun Mad Lib for extra parts of speech practice! The resource also comes with text dependent questions to help students practice inference and summarizing.

There are still 8 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!

And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!

Happy December!

Susan

FLASH FREEBIE #3 – The Hanukkah Candle – Get it now!

The third FLASH FREEBIE is The Hanukkah Candle. It is FREE for 24 hours! Grab it on TPT right now before the price goes back up! And be sure to follow me on TPT and Instagram to get all 12 FREEBIES in December!

This resource includes two texts – a non-fiction text that briefly explains the history of Hanukkah and a fiction story of a Hanukkah miracle. The story will warm the hearts of your students, and the non-fiction text increases their comprehension by improving their background knowledge. The resource also comes with text dependent questions to help students practice inference and summarizing, and Word Search for vocabulary fun!

Check out the video below for more information!

There are still 9 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!

And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!

Happy December!

Susan

Did you get the first FLASH FREEBIE?

Just a quick reminder that the Twelve Days of Giveaways has started! There’s still time to find MsCottonsCorner on Instagram and get the link to the first FLASH FREEBIE! (Hint: Winter is coming! On December 21 to be exact. You may want to teach about that….. )

The first resource will be totally FREE for just a few more hours!

There are still 11 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!

And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!

Happy December!

Susan

Three books that will hook intermediate readers, and won’t make you cringe!

Sometimes, as an intermediate teacher, it feels as though my biggest challenge is getting kids to read, not because I tell them to, but because they want to. Somehow, in an age of YouTube and XBox, kids are spending less time curled up on their beds reading and more time curled up on the couch with a device.

Besides the obvious academic benefits of reading, books fill a basic human need for stories. Think of the lessons you learned from reading Little Women or Tom Sawyer. Think of the times you felt sad or angry, and a book made you laugh and forget your troubles for awhile. Think of the connections you feel when you discover another reader who enjoyed the same story. Stories are an essential part of our humanity.

So, how to get them to put down the device and pick up a book? Here are three titles that I’ve found hook reluctant fourth and fifth graders. Not only do they get pulled into these stories, but each of these stories leads on to another story. Like following bread crumbs in the forest, pretty soon they’ll arrive in I-Love-To-Read-Land!

The links take you to Amazon, not because I get a kick-back, just because that’s where I normally shop. Feel free to buy anywhere you want, or better yet, get them from the public library!

Jacky Ha-Ha

by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Jacky Ha-Ha will hook readers because it is both funny and poignant. The book is set in the past, during Desert Storm, and Jacky’s mother is fighting in Iraq. Her father is left to raise seven girls, yep, seven! Jacky is in the middle of the pack. She has a stutter, so when she was asked her name in kindergarten, instead of Jacky Hart, she said, “Jacky Ha-ha-ha-ha.” A nickname was born. She decided to embrace it, and became the class clown. That’s where the funny comes into the book. Kids will love the crazy pranks she pulls – climbing to the top of a Ferris Wheel, making strange Slushies for her friends (mustard, anyone?), skipping school to go to Atlantic City and be a street performer for a day…. There are just enough crazy antics to keep a kid hooked.

Despite her best attempts to keep everyone at a distance, two adults step in and help turn her around. The drama teacher, Ms. O’Mara, and the assistant principal, Mrs. Turner. They decide that Jacky can work off 20 detentions by performing in the school play. And then they enter her in the American Legion Speech Contest! With her stutter, Jacky is sure that she will fail. And that’s where the poignant comes in. Without spoiling the ending, let me just say that kids will laugh a lot, cry a little, and be asking you for more!

To my surprise, this was a top shelf book for me because I really fell in love with this character. Jackie is complex and relatable at the same time, and many intermediate readers move on from this book to devour other James Patterson books.

Next Reads:

Ghosts

by Raina Telgemeier

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Full disclosure, I didn’t love this book. It is a graphic novel, and I don’t love that genre. But many of my students do. This book appeals to many kids, and especially to girls who are struggling to read fourth and fifth grade level texts. At this age, saving face is important, and this book looks like an appropriate level for intermediate readers, so that is a big draw for some kids. The story is appealing because the main character has typical kid problems, sort of. The story begins when when the family has to move to because the main character’s little sister is sick, and they need to be in a better climate. That means, the main character, Catrina, has to leave her friends behind and start over. That is a problem that resonates with many students. Another draw is the secondary story of Catrina and her family reconnecting with their Hispanic roots. That story-line adds complexity to the book, and helps elevate it in my opinion. That’s where the Ghosts come into the story. These are friendly ghosts for the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Finally, the author does a really good job of building tension and suspense because it seems as though the book will end with the younger sister’s death. No spoilers here, you’ll have to read the book to find out!

I find that this book, and others by Raina Telgemeier are often confidence boosters. After reading these books, students are often ready for a classic fourth grade level text like Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great. This book doesn’t quite make the top shelf for me, but still, it’s a great read for many intermediate readers. I’d pair this book with a girl who struggles to read, but wants to keep up appearances. Raina Telgemeier has written several books, all of which will be quick reads, even for struggling readers, and build credibility with other readers.

Next Reads:

One Dead Spy

by Nathan Hale

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Hazardous Tales series by Nathan Hale is a tongue-in-cheek examination of history. This is the first story in the series. The premise is that the author, Nathan Hale, is the first American spy, and he is going to be hung by the British for treason. In this title, Hale tells his own tale – of his unlucky days at Yale, his unlucky days as an officer in the American army, and his unlucky career as a spy, leading to the gallows. And then, Hale is swallowed by a US History book! When he is spit out, he knows all there is to know about US History, and the tales begin. To stall his execution, he starts to tell true stories from history. The hang man and the British officer keep putting off his execution as long as he tells them another story.

The set up is pretty simple, but the text is not. Full of smart, funny, and accurate depictions of history, the text will draw the reader in, and the pictures (it is a graphic novel) actually add to the interest. The meaning is carried by the text, but the illustrations add nuance and information. One great example of that comes in a book later in the series, Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood. This tale focuses on World War I, and to help kids keep track of the countries on either side of the conflict, Hale draws them as different animals. It’s subtle and helpful all at the same time!

Kids who read this series end up laughing so much they hardly realize that they are learning history at the same time! This is a top shelf book for me. I’ve known so many reluctant readers, especially boys, who got hooked on this series and then went on to read other history books with greater understanding and enjoyment. Plus, “Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood” was the first graphic novel I read that I actually enjoyed! Give it a try – you may find yourself enjoying it too!

Next Reads: