12 Great Books for Gift-Giving (12/12/12)

Happy holidays! Have you finished your holiday shopping? Or started it? I have to admit we have no presents under the tree yet. This is a busy time at school (as you all know) so I'm always one of those last-minute shoppers. If you have any book-lovers on your list, here's some great books for gift-giving. I included a mix of young adult, contemporary, and a classic thrown in, as well. (Images courtesy of www.Amazon.com)

For The Hunger Games fan:

1. The Panem Companion by V. Arrow

For anyone (especially those that like tear-jerkers):

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

For females who enjoy dystopia love-triangles:

3. The Matched Trilogy Box Set by Ally Condie

For the conspiracy-theory fan:

4. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

For fans of The Giver:

5. Son by Lois Lowry

For those who love suspense-thrillers, with some twisted reality thrown in:

6. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

For Gary Paulsen (a.k.a. adventure, survival) fans:

7. The River by Gary Paulsen

More for The Hunger Games fans:

8. Blood Red Road (Dustlands, book 1) by Moira Young

and the sequel to Blood Red Road:

9. Rebel Heart (Dustlands, book 2) by Moira Young

For the Divergent fan:

10. Free Four: Tobias Tells the Divergent Story (Kindle edition) by Veronica Roth

For Stephanie Plum fans:

11. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

For anyone (especially those who appreciate the timeless classics):

12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Worth mentioning:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (This deluxe pocket edition is so cute.)

The Chaos Walking Trilogy (Kindle edition) by Patrick Ness (Includes The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men)

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (Don't expect a book like Harry Potter, though!)

Threat Vector by Tom Clancy

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson

The Mortal Instruments Box Set: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Finale (Hush, Hush series) by Becca Fitzpatrick 

For more suggestions, check out my pinboards on Pinterest for book lovers:

Books Worth Reading: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-worth-reading/

YA Literature: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/young-adult-ya-literature/

Books for Boys: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-for-boys/

Books for Girls: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-for-girls/

Do you have book suggestions? PLEASE post them below! :)

Happy Holidays, Friends!

Day 4 of The Twelve Days of Gift-mas for Teachers

Welcome to The Twelve Days of Gift-mas blog hop for secondary teachers! Each day you'll find a fantastic freebie that can be used in a middle or high school classroom. Thanks for coming by to Mrs. Orman's Classroom and Hunger Games Lessons for Day 4 (I run both blogs, so decided to post both places.)

"Four Calling Birds" is appropriate for my free gifts to you because I have FOUR priced items to fit that theme that will be FREE for 24 hours only, beginning at 6 a.m. (CST) today (Tuesday, Dec. 4th) until 6 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5th.

I teach English/Language Arts, so my special gifts are the following (click on the images of the products to get the free download):

To Kill a Mockingbird Introduction KWL Activity

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-Introduction-Guided-KWL-Activity

To Kill a Mockingbird Trial Organizer and Inferencing Activity for Chapters 17-19

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-Trial-Organizer-Activity-Ch-17-19

One mockingbird + three mockingjays = four calling birds!

Another "bird" related activity is my review activities for The Hunger Games characters, setting, and events in preparation of Catching Fire (you can also use it as an alternative final assessment of The Hunger Games, though it is just a simple review of characters and plot): 

The Hunger Games Review Activities

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hunger-Games-Review-Lessons-Characters-Setting

And...

The Hunger Games Meaning of Panem Activity

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hunger-Games-Trilogy-Meaning-of-Panem-Lesson

A fifth calling bird?? What?

Finally, here's a BONUS freebie that can be used with any book or story (fiction or non-fiction), any time! It's my Twitter Tweet Chapter or Lesson Review Activity. Use it with any content area to review a reading passage or lesson for the day!

Twitter Tweet Summary or Review Activity

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Twitter-Tweet-Story-or-Chapter-Summary

Tomorrow you'll be heading to Liz's Lessons for the 5th day of Gift-mas! You can check out all the pages in the link-up (below).

Happy Holidays and THANK YOU for all you do each and every day. You are appreciated! :)

Special thanks to Michelle Lundy from Making It as a Middle School Teacher for organizing and facilitating this blog hop!

Winter and Holiday Tips and Activities

In case you missed it, a group of 50 teachers collaborated on a Holiday/Winter eBook with free tips and downloads to use in your K-12 classroom. You can download it FREE by clicking on the link below:

FREE Holiday eBook

Happy Holidays, Friends!

Three New Holiday Clip Art, Frames & Borders for Commercial Use

I posted three new great clip art and frames/borders bundles this weekend, just in time for the holidays! All of the images are high-quality .png files. Make sure to download the previews to get all the information about each one.

These can be used in commercial products as long as they are protected (in PDFs).

Thanks for looking!


Christmas & Winter-Themed Frames and Backgrounds


Build a Snowman Clip Art Package


Christmas Clip Art Figures