FREAKY FRIDAY Tomorrow!!

This year there are 5 Fridays in October, so you will be treated to 'spook'-tacular deals for 5 weeks!

The deals started on October 2nd and will run each Friday through October 30th!

Here is how it works:

Each Friday the participating sellers will select one product from their store to mark down to just $1 for the day!

How will you find these products?

There are 2 ways:

1. Type freakyfriday into the TPT search engine

2. Click the links to the participating stores in the linky at the end of this post and it will take you directly to that store's $1 deal for the day!  

You can also click the first link- it will bring you to all the $1 deals of the day!

So what will you find from me this week?

We are offering our BRAND NEW Missing Numbers Pumpkin Scoot 0-10.  So cute and the kiddos loved it.  Check back Friday for more details!

            

Ready To Find All the $1 Deals for Week 1 of Freaky Friday?

An InLinkz Link-up

Be sure to check back next week to find out what Week 3's deal will be!

5 Teaching Habits That Are Hurting Your Students

You are an awesome teacher.  You care about your kids, and you work hard to help them grow.  But it's possible that one of these habits is keeping your students from fully thriving in the classroom:

1) The Sitting Decree:

Many of us have been taught that the only way to maintain order in the classroom is for children to stay seated.  If they are seated they cannot be disruptive or distracted.

In fact, movement within the classroom ENHANCES a child's learning experience.  "Movement is a powerful teaching tool, and when we as teachers thoughtfully incorporate physical elements into instruction, we elevate the learning experience," states Aleta Margolis in her Washington Post feature, Letting kids move in class isn’t a break from learning. It IS learning.  In her July 8 Washington Post article, Angela Hanscom states the rise of fidgeting in the classroom and attributes it to lack of appropriate movement opportunities throughout the day.  Teachers can use natural movement in the classroom in many ways:

• Mike Anderson lists a few examples of transitional movement in his article Move Around the Room
• Aleta Margolis suggests a number of great activities that combine several learning experiences at once and promote productive movement
• We have a number of songs, games, and other resources that have movement built in to enhance the students' learning experiences. We also have popular Scoot games that the kiddos love and it gets them up and moving as they learn:)  

2) The Silence Rule:  

Naturally if children are talking, they can't possibly be working.  They lose focus, and worse, cause their friends to lose focus.  Aldous Huxley (1958) states quite the opposite: "Language permits its users to pay attention to things, persons and events, even when the things and persons are absent and the events are not taking place."  In their book, Content Area and Conversations, Fisher, Frey, and Rothenburg assert that conversation is how we learn and process.  It is important for children to converse about their thoughts in order to organize them.  This is especially true with auditory learners.  

Now some of you may be saying, "well I let my students talk in group discussions by calling on them."  That is a great start.  You can enrich your classroom even further by encouraging students to talk to you and to one another freely about the subject matter.  Here is an example of a conversation from Fisher, Frey, and Rothenburg's book.  Focus on the highlighted words:

Teacher: I was thinking about the life cycle of an insect. Do you remember the life cycle we studied? Malik?

Malik: Yes.

Teacher: What was the first stage in the life cycle? Jesse?

Jesse: They was born?

Teacher: Yes, things are born, but think about the life cycle of insects. Let's try to be more specific in our thinking. What is the first stage in the insect life cycle? Miriam?

Miriam: Eggs.

Teacher: Yes, insects start as eggs. Then they change and develop. They become larva after eggs, right? And then what? What happens to them after they are larva? Adrian?

Adrian: They are adults.

Teacher: They do eventually become adults, but there is a step missing. What is the step between larva and adults? What is that stage of the life cycle called? Joe?

Joe: Mature larva?

Teacher: Yes, there are two kinds of larva in the life cycle of some insects. But what I was thinking about was what happened to them after the larva before they become adults. Mariah?

Mariah: Nymph?

Teacher: Now we're talking about the three-stage cycle for some insects. Do the insects that change into nymphs come from larva? Let's look at our two posters again. Remember these? There is a three-stage process and a four-stage process. Let's study these again.

The highlighted words are the children's responses.  How much academic language was used?  What if you were to give the students a prompt with the same questions to answer in a group discussion?  How much more academic language would they use?  The more free the environment, the more the conversations will be allowed to develop.  You can monitor this by traveling around the room, listening, and interjecting where appropriate.  Which brings us to our next point...

To read more visit us at our new location!

Quality Behavior in the Classroom

Classroom Stories '15-'16

Only a month into the school year and already a quality attitude is permeating Mrs. Beckner's 1st grade classroom.  It's so exciting to see students taking responsibility for their own behavior.

The Girl Who Wouldn't Do Anything

This little girl would just sit on the carpet with a frown on her face and not participate. I spoke to her privately about how quality students always participate and try their best. I also reminded her that she was not being a quality student because she wasn't trying, and that she could not take Quentin home if she wasn't going to participate and be a quality student. Well the next day, she was a different student! She sang with us and she tried to count with us and she tried to do her class work. Then she came up to me and asked if she could take Quentin home and of course, I said "yes." 
She got the biggest smile on her face! When we walked outside to go home, she turned and gave me a big hug! 
  The students were making a list of soft and hard things the next day and this little girl drew Quentin on the soft side and looked at me and said that Quentin was soft. She was so proud and now she is trying her best!:)

The Students Who Are Quiet When They Need to Be

The first letter in our quality song is "Q-Quiet when we need to be." So, when I wanted the class to get quiet, I would sing, "Q-Quiet when we need to be." And my kiddos would say it too and get quiet. Now, when we are standing in line and the students are too loud, some of my students start singing, "Q-Quiet when we need to be." I just love how the kiddos are taking the initiative to get their classmates to listen.

The Boy Who Thinks Quentin is a Super Hero

This little guy drew a picture of Quentin and said he was making him a super hero.  He said, "Quentin is a super hero because he helps us to be quality students!"  How great is that?

Stay tuned for more quality student stories! :)

We hope you enjoyed hearing about these positive results in the classroom.  We will leave you with this:

Here's hoping your weekend is free of multitasking :)

Freaky Friday

FREAKY FRIDAY is Back! Click on the picture to purchase:

For those of you that were with us last year, you know we joined with a group of lovely ladies to bring you a selection of products in our stores for only $1!  There will be new products each week so make sure you tune in every Friday.  This is a great way to build your classroom arsenal for a fraction of the cost :)

We are offering our brand new October Word of the Day Books- There are 3 books that are in color and black and white that can be sung to familiar tunes.

Book 1: includes fall vocabulary having to do with Christopher Columbus like voyage, sailor, explorer

Book 2: includes senses and fall vocabulary with pumpkin parts, including rind, pulp, orange

Book 3: includes Halloween vocabulary like costume, mask, bat

There is also a single sheet that has the lyrics of the songs. This one is from our September Books.

We are fortunate to have a poster machine at my school so I like to take the page of lyrics and make them into posters for my kiddos to circle the word of the day. The words come from our Word of the Day Calendars.

My kiddos were excited to see their new book on Columbus on their desks this morning .

After they cut out their books and I stapled them together, they started reading them right away:)

I had students start asking me questions about the words compass and voyage. I just love that they are asking these kind of questions!



Click here for more details!

Fall with Community Helpers

It's almost October and Fall is officially in the air.  Children will begin telling you about what they are going to be for Halloween or what pumpkin patch they will be visiting.  You might have kids going on hayrides and drinking cider.  But before all of that, we have fire safety week, and with that, community helpers.

We cannot tell you enough about how great this bundle has been in the classroom.  It provides books, games, a song, puppets, and more fun resources for helping kiddos learn about community helpers.  Each activity is designed to further imprint the idea of community helpers on your students' brains.

Click below to get this great resource for 50% off in our Educents store!

There are a few printables like this one.  The sheet pictured below matches each community helper to his or her tool.

One of the sheets includes these adorable finger puppets that children can use while they are listening to the song.

A group of Pam's Summer School students came up with the idea to cut off the book match pages and use them as scenery for a puppet show.  

One little girl came up with the idea of creating a popup page for her community helpers.  She created environments for each community helper, then cut slits for her puppets to fit through.  You could take this one step further by having kiddos draw a map of their community.  They could include the places where each community helper works and then cut slits for their puppets.

Below is a video that talks more about our Community Helpers Bundle and offers you a FREE community helpers sheet.  Check it out!

Have an awesome week!!

Class Mascots

Hey all,

On Tuesday you got to meet Quentin, our class mascot.  As a class mascot, he gives the students an example to follow for good behavior and gives them an extra push to follow the rules.  We combine Quentin with the Baldridge program, teaching kids that being a Quality Student is the best way to work and behave in the classroom.  We have found that this holistic approach, combining behavior and performance, really encourages the students to do their best.  Having a class mascot is a fun way to emphasize whatever it is you want to emphasize in the classroom.

Minds in Bloom has a great article that reflects the same ideas we use in the classroom.  Creating a culture that includes the class mascot is a fun, low-pressure way to have a positive environment.

Scholastic has a fantastic article about how a class mascot can even motivate kiddos to write.  When Quentin goes home with a Quality Student, they write about him in his journal.  They get excited about their interactions with the class mascot and want to write about them, or at least draw them.

Eduplace has an activity on how to involve the kiddos in creating a class mascot.  This involves creativity and critical thinking.  It would be an awesome way to make the experience more fun for older kiddos!

2care2teach4kids shows you how to use a class mascot in a preschool classroom.

All of these articles support the same idea, that a class mascot is a great way to create a fun environment and motivate your students.  The one cool thing about Quentin, as you can read in our other post, is that we have done all the work for you.  Quentin has 2 songs, 2 books, and other materials.  The idea of quality is strongly encouraged within the Baldridge program and it's a great jumping point for you.  We have seen Quentin work wonders with students who had very strong behavior difficulties and firmly believe in the presence of a class mascot to make your life easier.  As you can see in our previous post, we do have a stuffed Quentin.

He's not for sale in our store, but we would be happy to send him to you if you want to do this in your classroom.  We would be willing to give you his books, songs, Quality Quentin dollars, along with him and other supporting materials for a discount bundle price.  If you're interested or have any questions, email us at soltrain.learning@gmail.com.  We believe he can make a real difference in your classroom.

If not Quentin, at least try a class mascot.  We guarantee you'll see a difference in your kiddos.  Share your successes below!

Have an awesome weekend and best of luck!

Our Awesome Class Mascot

My name is Quentin.  I am a "quality" penguin, and I want to show your kiddos how to be quality students!  There is a song my mother taught me in the book Quentin's First Day, where I learn what a quality student is.  I was nervous about my first day of school and mom made me feel better.  I taught it to my new friend, Mandy, to make her feel better too. Grab it for Free!

The students meet me at the beginning of the year and sing the "Quality Students" song every day.  They talk with their teacher about what a quality student is and earn Quality Quentin Dollars for being quality students.  Along with earning Quality Quentin Dollars and going to the prize box, one very lucky student gets to take me home each night for being the MOST quality student.

 Students like to give me presents.

  

The teacher asks me to hold the word of the day.

In my second book, Quentin's Quality Pumpkin, I remember the part of the "Quality Students" song that says "we take turns to be kind."  I learn that it's not as important for me to get the best pumpkin as it is for me to share with Mandy.

I like to hide in different S.O.L. Train Learning materials so I can remind kids how to be quality students.  I have a whole category just for me.  Click below to check it out:

You will be getting to know me more throughout the year as I tell more stories about my experiences in the classroom.  Have a great week!