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.

S.O.L. Train so far...

So here's what's happened so far:

-First week of school: Started using "S.O.L. Train:Come On and Ride into Social Studies."
-Second week of school: My ESOL students, who could barely speak English, were reciting parts of the "Quality Students" song.  Ex: "My name is...and Quality Students do it right."
-Third week of school: Vietnamese ESOL student comes to me and says, "Mrs. Beckner, Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y, Quality Students do it right!" Hispanic ESOL student can't recognize the letter L, but connects it with a lyric from the song, "we love to learn."
-Last week I was reading "Alphabet Rescue," where the lower case letters are helping the upper case letters put out a fire.  One of my students says, "Look Mrs. Beckner, it's like 't-team working together'."  Another student chimed in and said, "Yeah that's like the song."  I couldn't believe how quickly these children were able to infer concepts from the song in another context.  Even I couldn't have predicted the positive effects of this product!

Hello World

Hi fellow teachers and education enthusiasts.  I have created this blog to share with you the impact S.O.L. Train has had on my kids and my classroom.  I will be posting fun anecdotes about what my kids have learned, and helpful tips for how to use this great learning tool in the classroom.  Enjoy!