I know it's been awhile since I've been on here.  Wanted to catch you up on all the cool things my kids have been doing with the S.O.L. Train songs.

(Top) We learned "Spend a Little, Save a Little," and one of my kids used the exact words from the song for his piggy bank project.  I think the song really helped him understand the concept of saving money.








(Bottom) One of the students understood the concept of chores from the song and wrote a word problem.                                                                            I am so proud!

After we learned the" Community Helper" song, we made a big book.  Here are a few samples.

"Quality Students"  was one of my students' favorite songs this year.  We had fun doing the motions as we danced to the song.  My students learned all about what quality meant and they learned to spell it.  One of the students asked if we could make a book about quality students, so we did!  I was excited to see one of my ESOL students use words from the song when he did his page(top left)  He was always saying "Quality Students do it right!"

Quality Quentin

So excited to debut our quality mascot THIS SUMMER.  Join us at Empire every other Friday morning.  We'd love to meet you and see how you like the show!

S.O.L. Train THIS SATURDAY, January 19!!

Hello everyone!  We are so excited to announce a S.O.L. Train performance at School Crossing in Williamsburg, VA.  We will be there THIS SATURDAY, January 19, from 1-3p.  Come meet Conductor Brii and have a chance to win some cool prizes!!

Happy New Year!! We sang the song "Quality Students" to remind us how we should behave. It was exciting to see how the students remembered the song and motions to the song! The students recited what a quality student does during our class meeting.

Teachers Pay Teachers

I didn't mean to post two of these in a row, but it turns out the previous one didn't post without me realizing it.  I wanted to mention the terrific website teacherspayteachers.com.  It's a place where teachers can access lesson plans, songs, and other great teaching tools while supporting fellow teachers.  S.O.L. Train now has a page with all of their Social Studies songs and they're offering a free download!  Check it out here and have a great holiday break.

More On Community Helpers

I was breaking down the song, and when we started talking about "are always standing by"  I asked the students what that meant and they thought it was when someone was right beside you.  I explained that it meant that the community helpers are always ready to help us and one of the students said that is like you Mrs. Beckner because you are always here to help us.  Another student said, "Yeah you help us to learn,"

Community Helpers

I started my unit on community helpers on Monday and my students did not know what they were.  We started singing the song, "Community Helpers" and every time we do a paper on the subject, the students break out in song.  I asked the students who the community helpers were today and most of the students raised their hands and could correctly tell me.  It was exciting to hear a student say "community helpers help our community"  which is from the song.