What Really Happened? Columbus Day

They say, "History is told by the victors." This is true because many of us grew up respecting a villain whose harsh actions were overlooked in history books. We were taught in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and became the great hero who discovered America. Little did we know about his harsh treatment of the Taino Native Americans. 

In my historical fiction story, grades 7 - 9, you can teach your kids about the reality of Columbus as Columbus Day marks the calendar. A young boy narrates the tale of his people's demise as he witnesses his tribe taken over by Columbus and continues the tribe's story as a man.

This historical reading passage comes complete with vocabulary words, critical thinking discussion questions, research question writing prompts, and an answer key. Use as a printable or digital resource.

 This reading activity is great for use in whole or small group activities, partner or independent work, in centers, or emergency sub plans for grades 7 - 9 and homeschool. Quick set up gives you everything you need for an engaging class experience whether around Columbus Day or any time of year.

Check out this historical fiction reading passage for Columbus Day!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christopher-Columbus-Reading-Comprehension-Passage-Columbus-Day-Reading-12979099

September 11

Certain events in life get burned into our brains in a way that we will never forget. For example, I remember working in the college newspaper office when Reagan got shot, on the phone when I learned my father had died, and teaching in the computer lab on September 11, 2001, the unbelievable day that gripped our nation. Similar to the kid in my story, I was a teacher with my fourth graders who witnessed a crying assistant running through the room, which was a common crossway between halls.

The assistant stayed with my students while I left for the library where I found multiple teachers and staff members huddled around a TV set watching an airplane fly into one of the Twin Towers. Then, to make matters worse, we spotted a second plane flying too low to miss the other one.

Being in Memphis, I did not have students pulled out of the classroom to mourn loved ones, but that was not the case for my niece's future husband. His story about his dad was the impetus for my 9-11 story.

Through my fictional character, I told the story of the fate of those in the Twin Towers of New York City. As with my character, Josh's personal story had a better ending for him, although terrible for many others.

You can teach about 9/11 with this no-prep historical fiction reading passage and questions based on real events from September 11 or Patriots' Day through 9/11 worksheets. This historical fiction story comes complete with vocabulary words, discussion questions, a research question or writing prompt, and an answer key. Teaching is a breeze with my easy use reading passage that is available in print or as a digital resource. Best for grades 4 - 7.

Inside this engaging, print and go historical fiction story, you'll find:

• 4-page Historical Fiction Story
• 1-page Epilogue and Author's Note at the End of the Story
• 15 Vocabulary Words
• Enrichment Vocabulary Word Sentence Prompt
• Vocabulary Sentence Matching
• 7 Discussion Questions
• A Research Question
• Complete Answer Key
• Printable PDF. file
• Link to Google Slides
• Easel Worksheets

If you are unfamiliar with my writing, check it out with this sample from the story.

I felt the air escape from my lungs as if I’d just been punched in the gut. My dad’s office was on the 80th floor of the North Tower. He was a heavy man who suffered from Diabetes. In his poor shape, I felt certain he’d have trouble climbing down eighty flights of stairs to leave the building. “Could he have taken the elevator down to the lower floors and gotten out?”

Read what teachers, like you, have said about this September 11 Reading Passage.
Awesome Blossoms
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I loved this and we used it for our reading the week of 9/11. It was easy to add questions and ideas that I needed to cover. My kids were captivated by the story."

Erine A.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Just what I need for my kids to understand what happened before they were born."

Click here to go to TpT and find my historical fiction story about September, 11th.

Thanks for reading,

Joyce

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🌟 Custom Made Logic Puzzles for YOU!

I'm onto something new that I've wanted to try for years, but some people tell me I'm crazy for doing this. When I taught gifted and talented, I often made my own logic puzzles that used my students' names and whatever topic we were studying. The kids loved seeing themselves in my puzzles! It was always fun, so why not offer this to other teachers? I'm starting off with a three-grid puzzle for a total of twelve boxes. The more boxes, the harder it is to make, so I figure this should be doable.

I'm also giving myself a month from order to finish these,  but hopefully, I can complete them sooner. I'm selling these puzzles for $4.45, but from now until August 27 (Wednesday),  I will offer them for only $2.23 each. What a bargain! Read about my custom made brain teasers below, and if interested, send me an email at jlanskyATcomcastDOTnet. Like always, thanks for reading.

Enjoy logic puzzles, which are unique to YOUR class, with custom made logic puzzles or brain teasers (made to order) for building critical thinking skills. Your kids will be excited to find their names in your assignment, along with a topic of study, and any other private or personal information from your class. This logic puzzle contains what you need to engage your students! Plus, with a blank puzzle included, you may change out the names of your students each year for more fun!

This unique product is perfect for whole or small group activities, centers, partner or independent work, or substitute teachers, but you may want to be with your kids to see their reactions to a personalized activity. This 3-grid logic puzzle is perfect for upper elementary students or grades 3 - 5. Administrators could also have fun making a puzzle for teachers at a faculty meeting!

Inside this easy use download, you'll find:

• An order form to get your puzzle

The logic puzzle will be completed within a month (or less), and you will get:

• 1 custom made logic puzzle
• Blank puzzle for future use
• Enrichment writing prompt at the bottom of the puzzle
• Complete answer key
• Pdf. file
• Link to Google Slides

Bonus: I will send you a copy of your puzzle without names, so you may update it for each year or class!

The uses for this sort of puzzle are endless, whether you want a fun game for a party, a new way to cover a topic, to make an announcement, or any other idea you can think of!

Kids or adults will love seeing themselves in a personalized puzzle!

Prep is quick and easy . . . Just print or pull up on a computer, and you are ready for a fun and engaging class experience!

Read what teachers, like you, have said about logic puzzles from Catch My Products.

SCP

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Absolutely love your logic puzzles! You are a wizard Harry! Thank you brilliant as usual!"

Jade C

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "There is a variety of types of puzzles, which makes it fun for the students. I am using it as part of my remote learning problem-solving/STEAM lessons. Even though the answers are provided, I like to do the puzzles. Boy, it is a great mental exercise. I love Joyce's products! You can always count on high quality."

Tiffany S. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"This was a great & challenging resource for my homeschoolers to work on. It helped them improve their critical thinking skills! Fun challenge for everyone!"

These puzzles are great for building skills in making inferences from written text. Also, find great practice for developing critical thinking through writing.

If you're kids have never done logic puzzles, check out this How to Solve Logic Puzzles blog post.

My custom made logic puzzle is listed on TpT.

Thanks for reading!

Joyce

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Back to School and The Original Sports Logic

I hope your back-to-school or almost back-to-school is going well. I remember setting up my room one or two weeks before the teacher in-service, as they never gave us enough time to work during the teachers' back-to-school week. Plus, catching up with coworkers after a short summer break was quite tempting.

Don't you love sitting around listening to what's in the school handbook that you're supposed to read on your own each year? I was most likely one of the few teachers who actually read it. 😂 And then there's the infectious disease in-service (. . . if it's wet, warm, and not yours, don't touch it.), and the game where you go around the room to put sticky notes on posters, yada, yada, yada. I don't miss going back since I retired.

If you're back or headed back soon, God love ya! Teaching is tough. 

Each year of my teaching, the kids got more difficult. I hope that trend hasn't continued since I left the classroom. I taught gifted and talented for thirty years. My students were usually the "good" ones. Behavior problems in my class were rare in the 1980s through the 2000s. When I saw these issues coming into the gifted program, I knew trouble was ahead, and I bailed. 

Whether you teach gifted or not, there is always room for fun and challenging center work, whole or small group activities, partner or independent practice, emergency substitute plans, and of course, help for those who homeschool. May I suggest logic puzzles?

Not long ago, I wrote about a new set of brain teasers based on my original sports logic puzzles. These sports math brain games have been a top seller, so let me re-introduce them to you.

Math Brain Teasers and Logic Puzzles About Sports for grades 5 - 8

Keep your gifted and talented sports fan engaged in critical thinking skills with logic puzzles and math brain teasers as a print or digital resource. These ten challenging sports puzzles provide fun for kids! Quick and easy setup provides easy use for teachers, too.

Inside this no prep, high interest resource, you'll find:

1. 8 Grid Logic Puzzles

• Football
• Soccer
• Field Hockey
• Basketball
• Baseball
• Tennis
• Cricket
• Ping Pong

2. 2 Math Brain Teaser Picture Puzzles

• Score, Goal, Win with Basketball
• Swim, Badmitten, Soccer

3. Writing Prompts

• Parts of Speech Fill ins to Complete a Story
• PreWriting Questions for a Sports Story Prompt
• 8 Writing Prompts for Early Finishers

4. Answer Key

5. Printable Pdf. file

6. Google Slides Link

7. Easel Worksheets

Read what teachers, like you, have said.

Jade C

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  There is a variety of types of puzzles, which makes it fun for the students. I am using it as part of my remote learning problem-solving/STEAM lessons. Even though the answers are provided, I like to do the puzzles. Boy, it is a great mental exercise. I love Joyce's products! You can always count on high quality.

FAWM

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  My students love solving puzzles, and this was perfect for them!

MSMagic

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  My students had a lot of fun with these. We played them in teams, and the time just flew by!

Interested in other sports puzzles?

New Sports Puzzles

Primary Sports Puzzles

Thanks for reading!

Joyce

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High School Logic Puzzles for the Year

 Every time I struggle to make a high school logic puzzle, I am once again reminded of why they are scarce on TpT. Making challenging logic puzzles and getting them to work is not easy. I find myself constantly writing and rewriting these to make them solvable.

Friends have criticized me for not charging enough for them, too. It's hard to find the right price because high school puzzles are basically three pages each and one class activity.

Nonetheless, I enjoy the mental challenge of creating them. I especially like playing with clip art to find the right combinations of attractive, yet mature enough for older students.

Although this one is not as difficult as some others, try it for FREE.

If you teach high school or you have a bunch of younger, smarty-pants kids in class who can seem to solve anything, check this out!

Make class time fun with seasonal high school logic puzzles or secondary brain teasers for teens and improve critical thinking skills in print or as digital resources! This set includes 18 challenging brain teasers for teens,  perfect for brain game activities. Quick and easy setup makes this product suitable for use in centers, with early finishers, or as emergency sub plans.

Inside this no prep resource, you will find:

• 14 Resources
• 40 Pages
• 18 Logic Puzzles
• Complete Answer Key
• Printable Worksheets
• Google Slides Link
• Easel Worksheets

Bonus Item:

• Football Logic Puzzle

Find 13 Resources of No Prep Math Brain Teasers for high school students on the Following Topics:

• April Fools' Day                                        Print and Digital Worksheets
  
• Easter
• End of School Year
• Summer Jobs
• Back to School
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Winter
• Valentine's Day
• St. Patrick's Day
• Playground Memories
• Female Rockstars
• Football Logic Puzzle

What teachers like you said about high school logic puzzles in this bundle:

SCP
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Absolutely love your logic puzzles! You are a wizard Harry! Thank you brilliant as usual!"

Kimberley

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I used this as a supplement during a GT meeting in the first semester. The students LOVED that this was challenging but still achievable! My admin also loved this for a quick brain game. Thank you!"

Layla

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I used this as a fun assignment just to give my students a break from the everyday routine. We used it the day before we left for a break. It was really fun and engaging for them. The students really enjoyed it but it still kept them quiet and interested before a break...not just a "free day". Will definitely be using again in the future."

Ashly

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "My kids found this very hard, but it was a fantastic way to work on their goals."

Thanks for tuning in.

Joyce 

Catch My Products

Click Catch My Products for best sellers

Click logo for newest resources