Word of the Day Holidays Around the World and a FREE song:)

We wanted to take this opportunity to share a little bit about our Word of the Day resources.  These resources are a great way for your kids to learn important, relevant, seasonally appropriate vocabulary for each month.  December is a perfect month to give this great program a try as it is solely focused on holidays around the world.  You can get it today and tomorrow on sale here!  We will be focusing on a different holiday each week in this blog post, so be sure and check back for updates.

Hanukkah

Since it is the beginning of December, this is the best time to introduce you to the center of our Word of the Day resources, our Word of the Day Calendar.

These calendars are an awesome resource because they provide a word of the day, interactive student calendars, and a daily math pattern.  Days 3-9 are all about Hanukkah.  

You can  purchase our book about Hanukkah now on sale during the Cyber Smile Sale! This book comes in color and black and white for the kiddos to highlight the holiday words. There is also an acappella  recording of the song.   We will be releasing more holiday books this week so stay tuned. For your students:  Hanukkah is a holiday celebrated by the Jewish faith.  It celebrates a time in Jewish history when the Maccabees were at war and their oil was only supposed to last 3 nights.  Instead it lasted 8 and that is why the Jews light 8 candles on a menorah each year at Hanukkah.  They exchange gifts each night, celebrating with latkes, a dreidle game, and family time.  Children win gelt through playing dreidle or will sometimes receive it as a gift from relatives.
Here's a fun, easy, process-based menorah craftivity for your kiddos:

I drew a menorah on the board for the students to copy on their green construction paper.

Then they glued popsicle sticks for the candles.

Next I put glue on each stick and they sprinkled glitter on them for flames. They loved this part:)

For more details, check out our Holiday Fun post

See some other fun ideas for Hanukkah below:

8 Fascinating Facts About Hanukkah

Books About Hanukkah

Hanukkah Crafts

Hilarious Parody Video That Tells the Whole Story

St. Lucia's Day

Another great word of the day product is our concentration game.  A fun, inexpensive way for your kiddos to learn more about holidays around the world.  Click here to buy it now!

For your students: St. Lucia's Day is on December 13 and celebrates Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Sweden.  The girls all dress in white and wear wreaths with candles in them.  They serve cookies and other treats to their families.  One traditional treat for St. Lucia's day is saffron bread.  Boys wear white hats with stars that are appropriately named "starboy hats."  This holiday is meant to bring light in the darkest time of the year.

See this holiday blog feature Pam did in her classroom.  It includes a snippet about St. Lucia's Day.

Here are some more ideas for St. Lucia's Day:

St. Lucia Wreaths

American Girl St. Lucia's Day

Authentic St. Lucia's Day

Starboy Hats

We wanted to take this opportunity to share a little bit about our Word of the Day resources.  These resources are a great way for your kids to learn important, relevant, seasonally appropriate vocabulary for each month.  December is a perfect month to give this great program a try as it is solely focused on holidays around the world.   

Hanukkah

The first resource we want to introduce you to is our Word of the Day calendar.

These calendars are an awesome resource because they provide a word of the day, interactive student calendars, and a daily math pattern.  Days 3-9 are all about Hanukkah.  

You can  purchase our book about Hanukkah or the growing bundle with all 5 holidays!  This book comes in color and black and white for the kiddos to highlight the holiday words. There is also an acappella  recording of the song.   We will be releasing more holiday books this week so stay tuned. For your students:  Hanukkah is a holiday celebrated by the Jewish faith.  It celebrates a time in Jewish history when the Maccabees were at war and their oil was only supposed to last 3 nights.  Instead it lasted 8 and that is why the Jews light 8 candles on a menorah each year at Hanukkah.  They exchange gifts each night, celebrating with latkes, a dreidle game, and family time.  Children win gelt through playing dreidle or will sometimes receive it as a gift from relatives.
Here's a fun, easy, process-based menorah craftivity for your kiddos:

I drew a menorah on the board for the students to copy on their green construction paper.

Then they glued popsicle sticks for the candles.

Next I put glue on each stick and they sprinkled glitter on them for flames. They loved this part:)

See some other fun ideas for Hanukkah below:

8 Fascinating Facts About Hanukkah

Books About Hanukkah

Hanukkah Crafts

Hilarious Parody Video That Tells the Whole Story

St. Lucia's Day

Another great word of the day product is our concentration game.  A fun, inexpensive way for your kiddos to learn more about holidays around the world.  Click here to buy it now!  We have lots more great resources for holidays around the world that you can check out here. 

For your students: St. Lucia's Day is on December 13 and celebrates Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Sweden.  The girls all dress in white and wear wreaths with candles in them.  They serve cookies and other treats to their families.  One traditional treat for St. Lucia's day is saffron bread.  Boys wear white hats with stars that are appropriately named "starboy hats."  This holiday is meant to bring light in the darkest time of the year.

Below are a few pictures of the St. Lucia wreaths and starboy attire Pam does in her classroom:

Here are some more ideas for St. Lucia's Day:

St. Lucia Wreaths

American Girl St. Lucia's Day

Authentic St. Lucia's Day

Starboy Hats

Las Posadas

Las Posadas is a holiday that started in Mexico.  It is now celebrated in Mexico, Guatemala, and a few other South American countries.  The celebration is a time to remember the birth of Jesus and the journey Joseph and Mary took to find a place to give birth.  In spanish, "Las Posadas," means "the inns," which didn't have room for Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus.  This holiday is celebrated from December 16-24 with parades, piñatas, and other festivities.  Each night a child dresses as an angel and leads the parade through town.  They stop at each house and are refused lodging until they reach the end of the procession.  The poinsettia is a flower used for decoration during Las Posadas.

Here are some ideas for Las Posadas:

Book and activities from a Latina mom

Piñata craft

Handprint poinsettia

Mexican Carol

Christmas

Christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world in many different ways.  It began as a way to remember the birth of baby Jesus and grew into many different traditions.  Many families have a Christmas tree that they decorate with ornaments.  Kids hang stockings for Santa to fill and he leaves presents under the tree.  Families also give presents this time of year.  Lots of people like to eat candy canes and bake cookies for Santa.

Here are some pictures of activities Pam has done in her classroom:

Here's a summary of our Sugar Cone Christmas Trees:

We had so much fun decorating sugar cones to look like Christmas trees.  You just color white can frosting with green food coloring and frost a sugar cone.   The students also created a snow village on the plate.  We used powdered sugar for snow.

  

These are just a couple examples of the finished products.  This is so much easier than the gingerbread houses! You can use teddy grahams or gummy bears as villagers.  You can also make candy sleds to go on the plate and marshmallow snowmen!



Here are some other Christmas ideas:

St. Nicholas Day

Christmas in Other Countries

Candy Cane Hunt

Christmas STEM



Kwanzaa


Kwanzaa is a holiday celebrated by African-Americans around the world.  Families celebrate from December 26-January 1 and they focus on seven principles: umoja(unity), kuji-chagulia(self-determination or working hard), ujima(working together and being responsible), nia(purpose), kuumba(creativity), imani(faith).  Families have a kinara with 3 green candles, 3 red candles, and 1 black candle.  All gifts are handmade to symbolize the labor of the parents.



Here are some Kwanzaa ideas:

Have your kids pair up and make gifts for one another.  This is a nice way to celebrate unity.

Umoja or unity chain

Video about Kwanzaa

Lots of great Kwanzaa crafts



As a bonus, we also have a Holidays Around the World poem freebie for you.  Hope your kiddos enjoy it!







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TPT Cyber Smile SALE! and FREEBIE:)

We are excited to share some fun holiday resources with you! And they are all on SALE!

Here are some exciting offers we have for you during the sale!

 31 words to teach your kiddos about holidays around the world.  Includes Hannukah, St. Lucia's Day, Las Posadas, Christmas, Kwanzaa.  Interactive calendars for your students, a journal page, and a math pattern that grows with each day! Just click on the picture above to see more!











 Here's what one of our happy customers had to say about this awesome resource: "Thanks so much for this great resource. I t has really been a great tool for learning new vocabulary and then being able to incorporate it into the writing." 

We have added a cut and paste student calendar with two options for you to customize your class experience.

Here are a few writing examples that my kiddos did in November with our calendar words. As you can see, the words are a great way to keep them on topic      

This is a fun game that assesses your students' knowledge of the holiday words from our December calendar.

One customer had this to say about our Brain Bounce: "Just what I needed to choose for valuable work for the extended reader- thank you" 

 This made a great center for my kiddos! I added little magnifying glasses and told them that they were "word detectives"

Here's what one of our teachers said about our resource: "Loved it. My students had fun trying to find the words."

This fun game includes holiday words from our December Calendar. There is a picture that matches each holiday word.

Here is a comment from one of our satisfied teachers: "Awesome for a station" 

We also have this game that includes these holiday words. Click on the picture to see more:) There is a word and picture to match.

Our resources are great for multiple years.  One of our teachers said "Great for vocabulary activities and is fun! Can't wait to use it again this year in 2nd grade!" 

We also have holiday math products!

Here are some thoughts our customers shared with us:

Some are saying these fun fact family task cards are "PERFECT for centers! Thank you."

"Great word problems. I will be using them as of Monday. Thank you!" 

"My students love SCOOT! Thanks!" 

You will enjoy the fun manipulatives we have included that are a staple for all our Scoot games.

Bestseller

"Thank you, my students really enjoyed this - who knew that practicing math could be so fun?! ;)"

Look out for more of our brand new fun holiday products that we will be announcing here.

We also have units that include our songs and activities. Our Community Helpers unit was in the TPT newsletter and our Five Senses unit was on the TPT blog. Check them out as well as all our fun scoot games that the kiddos love to play!

We appreciate y'all stopping by and looking at our resources. Definitely check out our store and be sure to follow us if you haven't already, so you will be notified of all our new resources and FREEBIES:) 

Enjoy this poem about holidays around the world. 

Smile and Happy Shopping:) 

Storewide Educents SALE!

Hey all,

We want to invite you to check out this awesome site for educational resources.  The unique feature of Educents is that sellers' prices aren't available elsewhere for less.  You are ensured the lowest price by visiting Educents.  It is a very popular resource amongst homeschool teachers with a limited budget and now through Monday, they are slashing prices EVEN FURTHER.  Our entire store is 20% off.  For Black Friday & Cyber Monday, everyone gets an extra 10% off already discounted educational gifts PLUS free shipping on all orders. We also hope that y'all will follow our store so you will be notified of all our new deals:)


http://www.educents.com/sol-train-learning

Educational Toys & Games | Subscriptions

Curriculum | Musical Instruments

Here are some exciting offers we have for you for December:

 31 words to teach your kiddos about holidays around the world.  Includes Hannukah, St. Lucia's Day, Las Posadas, Christmas, Kwanzaa.  Interactive calendars for your students, a journal page, and a math pattern that grows with each day! Just click on the picture above to see more!

 

This fun game includes our holiday words from the December Calendar. There is a picture that matches a holiday word.

We also have this game that includes these holiday words. Click on the picture to see more:)

Scoot games that help your kiddos practice addition and subtraction from 0-20. There are cute manipulatives as well as recording sheets and answer sheets  if you want to use this as a center Lots of Winter fun that will last through December, January, and February!

Didn't find what you're looking for? Educents is offering an extra discount and free shipping on DOZENS of educational products on Black Friday!

10 Reasons the Word "Teacher" Shouldn't Exist

The actual definition of teacher is this: one whose occupation is to instruct.  Speaking as a teacher, daughter of a teacher, and friend to many teachers, this definition falls depressingly short.  That being said, I have to give good ol' Webster the benefit of the doubt as the actual definition of "teacher" wouldn't fit nicely onto a dictionary page.  Here are 10 reasons why the word teacher shouldn't exist:

1.  A Teacher is also a Mentor:
Good teachers don't just teach material, they teach life, and live by example.  They don't just do their jobs, they are passionate about learning, students, and helping students learn.  There is one teacher in particular that will always stand out to me as an example of this: My 6th grade teacher, Mr. Madison.  He taught Social Studies, but he knew Social Studies was about more than just our history.  After the Columbine shootings, he scrapped his entire lesson plan that day.  We talked about how we felt and what we thought.  He respected us as individuals and knew this life experience would teach us far more than the material he had to share.  This same teacher also shared with us a story about never making excuses.  It was about a boy who didn't have arms or legs and yet accomplished as much or more than any other able-bodied person.  He taught us to persevere and to have strength of character.  His occupation was to instruct, but his passion was to inspire.

2.  A Teacher is also a Caregiver:
Let's face it, teachers spend 7-8 hours a day with their students.  This is 1/3 of their day.  If you count 8 hours of sleep, teachers see students for half of every waking day.  If you are a preschool teacher, you may see your students even longer.  Teachers wash boo boos, give hugs, offer comfort when a child is sad.  They make sure children have something to eat, and a coat if it's cold.  They provide for their students.

3.  A Teacher is also a Parent:
For some students, their teachers are more parents to them than their parents are.  Sometimes a teacher will fill a space that an absent dad or mom has left.  Ask teachers how many times they've been called "mom" or "dad" by a student.  If you are a teacher, you know what I'm talking about.  This is absolutely not a slam on parents.  Some of you are very involved and are invaluable to your child's teacher, more than you know.  Still you can't be with your child all day, and you trust your child's teacher to guide him or her in your absence.

4.  A Teacher is also a Mediator:
Teachers have to mediate conflicts every day amongst a multitude of students.  They have to know how to remain neutral, see both perspectives, and help the students resolve their differences in a productive way.  Sometimes a teacher must negotiate between the two students to come to a resolution.

5.  A Teacher is also a Psychologist:
No not all teachers attended school for several years to earn their PhD in psychology.  They are not permitted to counsel you or your child.  They are not qualified to diagnose any student's psychological state.  That being said, teachers have to understand their students in order to motivate and develop them.  Many teachers have a basic understanding of ADHD, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, Autism, Emotional Disabilities and more.  Good teachers want to understand the road blocks a child faces so that he or she can overcome them and be more successful.  They want to understand the emotional toll these road blocks take in order to improve the child's self-esteem.  In order to do this, a teacher has to attempt to understand each student's mind and way of thinking.

6.  A Teacher is also a Punching Bag:
Sadly this occurs more than you might think.  Teachers actually put themselves in harms way in order to help their students.  We have heard story after story from a friend of ours that teaches in a special needs class.  She has been punched, kicked, bitten, and more from her students.  There are preschool teachers that work through this on a daily basis as they show little ones proper social behavior.  Teachers in middle and high school will often deal with physical altercations either directed at them or between students.  There are numerous scenarios when teachers allow themselves to be abused for the sake of their students.

7.  A Teacher is also an ATM:

Due to budgetary constraints in some school districts, teachers will often spend their own money $400-500 per year on behalf of his or her classroom for supplies, materials, teaching resources, and everything else they provide for their students.  Every holiday gift, Valentine's surprise, Friday treat, is paid for by your child's teacher.  Teachers will sometimes spend countless dollars just so that their rooms can look nice for the kids, or they'll grab some fidget toys for their more restless students.  They will create treasure boxes to encourage good behavior.  It is estimated that each teacher spends about

8.  A Teacher is also a Data Entry Specialist:
Now more than ever teachers are having to track data on their students.  As education moves toward a more individualized approach, teachers test students throughout the year, input their benchmark scores, and analyze the scores to determine which objectives need extra focus.  Teachers assume this role to make each student's educational experience more successful.

9.  A Teacher is also a Bodyguard:

From 1996-2012 alone, there have been 45 school shootings.  During each of those shootings, teachers adhered to the lockdown protocol, turning off the lights, hiding in a dark place away from all the windows.  Those teachers had to keep their students safe.  They had to remain calm while their hearts beat so hard they almost exploded in their chests.  In the Sandy Hook massacre, one teacher died protecting her kids(article here).  In these times, teachers show up at work every day to protect their students.  Many of your children's teachers would die for them.  

10.  A Teacher is also a Teacher:  In addition to filling all these roles, a teacher is one whose occupation is to instruct.  They relay information to students in order to help them learn.  They guide them through each school day, helping them to be successful and doing everything they can to show students a love of learning.

Since it is a time of thanksgiving, take a moment to be thankful for your child's teacher or teachers.  They are much more than those whose occupation is to instruct.

I'll leave you with this comical insight from Lily Eskelsen Garcia:

Please share what else a teacher is:

Have a great holiday!

Fun Fall Friday and a Freebie

This week we wanted to share a fun Thanksgiving activity with you to get your kiddos ready for the coming holiday and practice sight words.  Our Cornucopia Cards have cornucopia horns with sight words written on them.  The students use the fruit manipulatives, matching the letters to the words on the cornucopias.  She said her students had so much fun and asked if they could "play again."  They liked it so much they thought it was a game!

Here is the teacher's guide:

Laminate the cornucopia cards and the fruit pieces then use it as a word center.  You can also copy them in BW to use as independent work. Just place the cornucopia  cards that you want to use with the letters that you will need to build the words in the cornucopia.

   • You can also use playdough or magnetic letters to build the words that are on the cards.

   • Another fun activity is to place the fruit pieces on a surface and let the students make new words.      They can write them down on a piece of paper to see how many words they are able to create.

Pam's students were able to use their alphabet charts, and match the letters to them.  The chart isn't included because it belongs to the county.

Download your freebie here.  If you like this activity, check out the whole party pack.  All your Thanksgiving party needs in one download.  Click below:

Stay tuned for our Holiday Party Pack coming in Dec.  We're very excited!! Your kiddos will love the Christmas sound boxes:)

Have an awesome weekend and holiday!

What if the "Real World" Was Like School?

Imagine your worst meeting day ever.  How many hours were you in meetings?  5, 6, 8?  Now imagine experiencing that every day.  Every day of work is comprised completely of meetings.  Imagine the content of those meetings is completely theoretical.  You are asked to learn, reflect, retain, review, regurgitate without ever being asked to DO something with what you've learned.  Now imagine not being able to doodle while you listen, or confer with your coworkers regarding any of the information you are receiving.  Imagine only having the opportunity to complete your to do list after work because there's no time during.  To top it all off, every assignment you complete is scored and you are tested at least once or twice a week on every facet of every meeting.  Would you stay at that job or would you quit?  I know I personally would quit.  It's amazing that more high school students don't.
  Here's the disconnect:
-The skills students are learning in high school do not accurately reflect the skills they need for college and the work force.  In this 2013 study(page 4) of student readiness for the business world, students scored less than 50% in most of the skills categories former employers saw as vital to their profession.  Now I'm sure you're saying, "well not everyone goes into business."  The reality is that everyone has to make money.  Business is the underlying unifier for most sources of employment, unless you decide to enter a field in government.  Even then, the government has to earn money to pay people.  Even non-profits have to earn money.

-Students' overall understanding of economics and finance coming out of school has created a financial burden for millenials.  In a June 2015 study(page 5) of millenials' financial health, newamerica.org determined that only 19% of millenials have both financial education and a simple savings account.  Given this information, does it matter that they have the quadratic formula memorized or that they know the Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620?

Please don't get me wrong.  Education is important, and there are some things students have to learn because they're unsure which career field they want to enter.  There are also things they need to learn because they are valuable, lifelong tools.  There are ways in which the structure has to be different because they are not adults yet.  However, think about back in the 1800s and early
1900s.  There weren't established high school attendance standards and "students" went to work at a young age.  Biology hasn't changed, which means our students are still capable of functioning in a work-like environment.  We just need to provide them with the right tools.

We will be exploring the idea of transforming high school throughout this series.  There will be interviews with colleges, businesses, administrators, teachers, and students as we try to imagine a secondary utopia that adequately prepares students for what lies ahead.  As this is a hot-button issue, we ask that your comments be respectful.  That being said, we welcome you to share your agreements and disagreements as we embark on this exciting endeavor.  View more innovative ideas at: http://xqsuperschool.org/

Have a great week!