Wise Guys

Text Features Anchor Chart

Text features play an important role in being able to understand informational text. Maps can show location about important places in the text. Pictures bring the text to life by showing an image that relates to the piece. A timeline is a great visual to use when showing periods of time. Charts, diagrams, and tables can show numbers or other categories in an easy to read format for the student. The table of contents is useful for students to be able to see what the text will be about. The index helps students locate key topics quickly in the text. The glossary provides students with definitions of difficult words as well.

There are many types of print that can be considered text features. Those would include: bold, italic, highlighted, underlined, colored, and both big and small font size. Each of these types of print is easily found when reading informational text.

A great resource to use when teaching text features is a magazine such as Scholastic News or Time for Kids. Both magazines contain most, if not all, of these text features. They are also loaded with great informational text as well.

Please feel free to use the image from this blog post in your classroom if you teach text features to your students!

If you would like to see an interactive PowerPoint about Text Features that will get your students excited about learning in your classroom you can click here too.

All I can say is, WOW! I just arrived home from Las Vegas!

What happens when you get over 600 teachers in one room together? One word can describe it for me: MAGIC!

I attended the 2014 TPT (teacherspayteachers) Conference and I have to say it was the best educational conference I ever attended by far! So many amazing people really showed me what has been missing in our Wise Guys marketing plan for the past four years.

When Eric and I started our Wise Guys store back in November of 2009 we were looking for a way to earn a little extra money for golf, during the summer. As months passed, and earnings increased, we realized that this was more than just a part-time job to earn money for our favorite hobby.

We knew that TPT was something special. It was allowing us to become more creative in our teaching and to be able to share that with educators across the nation and the world!

We were becoming Super Sellers! (I love that Team TPT included some males in the image below, courtesy of the TPT Keynote Address).

As Eric and I continued to create resources, we were finding that our passion for teaching was exploding as well. We sought out new and innovative ways to reach ALL of our students regardless of ability. We were having fun thinking of new teaching methods and activities that would spark a love of learning in our students.

So for the past five years we have been doing just that. But there was something missing from us. Yes, we have dabbled in blogging, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

But in reality, we had no clue how to use these amazing marketing tools to help grow our business even more. I am the first to admit it, we were terrible at this!

As we got leapfrogged in the top 10 list, we realized it was time to think about how to network and connect with other sellers and our customers. After all, we believed that we have some amazing resources that could benefit so many more students if we just knew the right way to do it.

Facebook has been a great place to connect with other sellers. Back in 2010 I created a facebook group titled “How to Increase Sales in TPT.” Many of today’s top sellers were (and maybe still are) members of this group.

The problem was, I did not have the skills or knowledge of how to do it myself so I sought out other sellers. But, I did not learn from them like I should. Instead this group kind of split and fractured off into other groups and many became Super Sellers.  🙂 

The picture below shows a few of those members as I was able to connect with them in Vegas. Amy from Science Stuff, myself, Rachelle Smith, Deanna Jump, Kristen from Secondary Solutions, and Tracey from Smart Chick.

We, unfortunately greatly missed Margaret Whisnant, Jason of PowerPoint Maniac, and Tracee Orman too for this meet up. This group has been like a second family to me over the past several years.

Collaboration and Networking

The number one takeaway from the TPT Conference was collaboration and networking. I learned so much in each session I went to. I wish the conference would’ve been at least two days.
So as another school year approaches, our #1 goal is to network with other sellers, and to work even harder at creating meaningful and relevant resources for teachers to use across the United States and world.

Next year, both of the Wise Guys plan on attending Las Vegas. I only got to meet a small handful of people this year, and that is my biggest regret. Both Eric and I want to connect with more of you!

We are both continually amazed at the tenacity, energy, and drive that the sellers of the TPT community has. It is that determination and spirit that will help us reach new levels this year.

I want to personally thank Paul, the founder of TPT. Without his vision and his passion, this unbelievable site never would have been created. Thousands of teacherprenuers never would have surfaced. It has changed our lives forever!

I also want to thank all of the TPT sellers that I met at the conference who made me feel welcome and part of something special! There are too many to list, but you know who you are!

The countdown is on for next year! I am already super excited to attend!

Screen Free Week

May 5-11, 2014 has been declared Screen-Free Week in which students are encouraged to turn off screens (TV, phones, computers, gaming devices, hand-held devices) that are used for entertainment purposes.

We love the idea! We have created a FREE resource that you can download and use with your students.

Below is the parent letter that we have included with the resource. It outlines the objective of Screen Free Week. It also has a place for a parent to sign pledging that their child will be screen free for a week.

Next is an idea sheet of other activities to do. Kids will need activities to keep them away from their electronic devices. There are so many good choices on this list. Read a book is our favorite. Make sure to take the time to do some of these activities with your children. Reconnect with them. They will be grown before you know it.

Then, there is a certificate of achievement as well! Celebrate with your class going screen free! Then challenge your students to limit their daily time with electronic devices. That human interaction and communication element is so important.

We hope you take advantage of this week and have your students explore other forms of entertainment besides screens!