Reestablishing Classroom Rules

The notion that establishing classroom rules once during the school year is hardly realistic. Through the years, I have found it helpful--even necessary to reteach, model and rehearse the "Class Rules,"  especially after Fall/Winter or Spring breaks.  Students often seem to forget (or choose not to remember) the rules that they followed before the holidays.

There are many different schools of thought regarding classroom rules. There are teachers who let the children decide on the rules and how they will be implemented.  Other teachers have rules already in place that they expect to have followed.

This is strictly 'teacher preference' and both methods have merit.  You may wish to use both!

Student Discussions of Class Rules

Letting the students decide on the rules provides for 'buy-in' and ownership of the process, whereas having rules already in place enables the class to 'hit the ground running.'  Either way, it is you call -- there is nothing saying that you cannot do both as the year progresses.

I would, however, keep the number of rules down to 3 or 4, especially during the first days of school.

You  might wish to start with your own "ground rules."  These are things that are important to you to maintain control and support your teaching. You can tell the students at the start that later on that week or later in the term, they will be asked to discuss and develop a new set of class rules.  If you choose to do both, students will have a chance to "try out" the rules and to think about what is important to them for a pleasant classroom experience in the classroom.

In the first days, making the class rules the central focus of the class hours can be very fruitful.  Give the students a chance to discuss the reasons and purpose for a given rule, the disasters it might help prevent, and the consequences if a rule is not followed.  Keep asking questions and help the students to imagine circumstances in which the rules help.

ACTIVITY: First Day Focus on Class Rules

One of my first day activities involves the children in discussion of the rules.  I supply art materials -- paper, colored markers or pencils, etc.  -- so that they can illustrate what each rule "looks like."  I give them different settings and ask, "What does this rule look like in the classroom?  In the hallway?  In the cafeteria?  On the playground?"

After the students have had the chance  to draw or write comments, as a whole group, we compile information on a chart.  I keep the chart posted where it is visible and use it to reinforce the rules during the first weeks.

A final thought about rules...

Not only do class rules need to be taught, modeled and rehearsed to be truly effective, but the teacher needs to be consistent and fair in applying them.

What I have found with respect to Class Rules is that spending a lot of time on the rules upfront during the first days of school, and reviewing them often in the early weeks, helps avoid ongoing headaches through out the rest of the year!

All the best,

Steve 

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How to Implement Community Building Activities for Elementary School Children

Community building activities are designed to help students know one another and work together. When you promote team building and cooperation among elementary school children, you give them the opportunity to develop their interpersonal skills with kids from other homes, backgrounds, and cultures.

Apart from working as a team and establishing relationships, being able to build trust is important in school. And with the right mix of community building activities, you can prepare students for the new life ahead of them.

Why are Community Building Activities Important?

At the beginning of a new year, schools welcome new students and encourage their already-known students to interact with them. Even teachers try their best to help new kids fit in into the classroom and school system.

However, there have been cases where some students kept to themselves. In other cases, new students have been bullied into silence and withdrawals, therefore losing the opportunity to mingle, make friends, and have fun.

Inasmuch as elementary education is the primary level of actual learning for many children, it should be filled with games and activities that allow them to connect with other students and appreciate the school experience.

In essence, the onus lies on the teacher to engage students in community building activities for kids that enhance social skills and verbal fluency. The right ideas come with the following benefits:

·         Students in the new class are often eager to express themselves during team games

·         Every child gets to feel a sense of equality

·         The need for critical thinking is gradually developed during activities

·         Physical health is encouraged through movement-based activities

·         The learning environment becomes welcoming and supportive.

How to Implement Community Building Activities

Now that you appreciate the value of community building activities for elementary students, let’s discuss the ways through which you can execute these ideas.

·         Try a STEM Activity

Even though STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) is common during summer, you can integrate some of the interesting STEM activities into the classroom.

Put the students into groups and give them some materials to create something (like a design). Additionally, you could ask them to solve a puzzle or try to crack a code.

·        Parachute Games

Parachute games are another group of community building activities that encourage students to work together and depend on each other.  

·        Talk About Yourself Activity

Ask the children to write something about themselves on a tiny piece of paper. Afterward, have them fold it neatly and drop it into a basket. Play a song and have a child pick one when the music stops.

When the papers have gone round, let each child read the content of their paper and identify the child who wrote it.   

Conclusion

Are you looking to bring out the best in the students in your elementary class? Consider including some community building activities in your classroom routine.

Encourage each child to contribute something or get involved in one activity or the other. In  time, you’ll find that they’ve built strong and impactful relationships.

Benefits of Encouraging Children to Read Over the Summer Months

When summer vacation begins, parents of elementary school children think of keeping their kids engaged in some extracurricular activities. Before summer break, teachers would have spent their time teaching new material besides taking them through new concepts. But once school vacation commences, children just stay away from all things academic as far as possible.

After all, it is a natural tendency for children to start playing, going to meet the grandparents, and even visiting cousins and friends. They may simply idle away their time. But there is an opportunity for parents to incorporate a little reading or writing sessions intermittently.

Why is this Summer Reading Necessary?

It is natural for children to forget a substantial amount of what was taught in school and spend their summer without a care in the world. But that just means that when school re-opens after the summer break, they go back having to relearn what they have learned in the previous school year. 

This is why educational experts from around the world have agreed that it is a lot more than just a great habit to encourage children to read during their summer vacation as well.

How to Encourage Children to Read during the summer?

While a few children might simply love studying and go to sit and read on their own, most kids in elementary school would need some incentives to sit and read. School teachers and parents might get together to draft a summer reading plan for the same effect.

In order to prevent summer reading loss, teachers might have a program where they can have at least five or six of the children’s favorite lessons on board. They can give as an assignment and have an evaluation prepared after the first week school reopens.

Children can pick one of their favorite books for the summer and read it out loud for thirty minutes at least every day during the break. This would be a great way to keep the child engaged during the holidays too.

As they say, “The child that reads becomes the adult that thinks.”

Harvard Studies on Cellular Inflammation Fuel Innovative Diet Program

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Dieters dissatisfied with ineffective, run-of-the-mill diets now have access to a groundbreaking program that guarantees weight loss of 8-16 pounds in 14 days.  Brian Flatt, a seasoned nutritionist and owner of R.E.V. Fitness, developed 
The 2 Week Diet in response to “mainstream diet programs that are time-consuming, inefficient, and just plain ineffective.”

After reading well over 500 medical studies, dozens of diet books and reviewing hundreds of diet systems, programs, gadgets, pills and potions, Flatt put together what he feels is “the ultimate rapid weight loss diet system.” This program is the result of more than a decade of research and more than two and a half years of real-world tweaking and testing.

According to nutrition experts like Dr. Alessio Fasano, holder of the W. Allan Walker Chair at Harvard Medical School, the primary culprit of weight gain is cellular inflammation. The 2 Week Diet applies groundbreaking findings like these to optimize the body’s natural fat-burning mechanisms.

“If we take control of cellular inflammation, we can effectively increase our ability to lose weight, burn fat, increase metabolism, and permanently stave off body fat,” Flatt said.

His 2 Week Diet also:

Corrects common misconceptions popularized by the mainstream dieting industry

• Provides dieters with a straightforward, step-by-step plan of action
• Produces rapid results to fuel dieter motivation
• Avoids outdated and ineffective techniques like “Count every calorie” and the “Eat less, exercise more” mantra

“Most of the diet plans out there approach weight loss with a slow and sensible approach,” Flatt said. “It’s true that eating certain foods and following rigorous workout programs will produce weight loss. Unfortunately, the process moves at a snail’s pace. The reason is simple: these plans don’t attack stubborn, stored body fat.”

The 2 Weeks Diet provides dieters with nutrients essential for good health and proper functioning, while eliminating foods that slow—and even prevent—fat burning. Ordinary diets burn carbohydrates and proteins before fat, but a specialized diet can circumvent that order. It also helps dieters maintain lean body mass and increase their metabolism.

To learn more about the 2 Week Diet, please visit (https://bit.ly/2KHeKAa).

Dr. Fasano Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384703/

ABOUT THE 2 WEEK DIET

The 2 Week Diet focuses on three main components to help dieters lose unwanted weight: diet, exercise, and mindset. Dieters learn what, when, and how to eat for optimized weight loss. They also receive supplement and exercise advice to accelerate the process. Finally, they develop the mindset—or willpower—to lose weight and keep it off. Brian Flatt, nutrition coach and owner of R.E.V. Fitness, developed the 2 Week Diet in Southern California.

STEM -- Fun Projects for 3rd & 4th Graders Over the Summer!

Who says learning Math and Science cannot be fun? This summer, introduce 3^rd to 4^th graders to the excitement and intrigue of STEM projects. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program introduces new concepts and activities to children that prove stimulating and truly engaging. Learn how parents or caregivers can participate in elementary grade STEM activities for kids.

Keeping your 8 or 9-year-old occupied and entertained when it comes to Mathematics and Science can be hard through standard curricula. Rather than leaving children indoors before the TV or gaming station over the summer holiday, why not make it a learning experience with simple, affordable and a new approach to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Math?

The STEM projects introduced for the home offer an innovative take on education when numbers, chemical combinations and structures are concerned. To keep the minds of 3^rd to 4^th graders active, it needs to be engaged in a different approach whether in the classroom or at home. Students introduced to the concept of STEM have shown much promise and interest compared to standard projects and programs. This is owed to the interactive manner in which these concepts are taught allowing children to visualize the formulas and techniques rather than learning it parrot-style on paper or mobile devices.

When STEM is introduced at the elementary stage, educators have found that learners show more interest in pursuing Math and Science later on. To reap the rewards of STEM learning outcomes, it must be introduced early.

Owning to the diversity of topics and integrated lessons STEM introduces, it can overlap between subjects. The greatest challenge in structured academics is providing students with engaging and exciting learning materials to apply the new concepts taught in the classroom. STEM provides this opportunity through problem solving activities, group work and a truly fun way to understand Math, Science, Technology and Engineering.

We provide a breakdown of a few simple activities you can do with young ones in the 3^rd to 4^th grade.

An exciting project to perform with your children is the creation of their very own lava lamp! You will need: 

Water

Cooking Oil

A Color Dye (simple food coloring will do)

Clear Plastic bottle and Top

Seltzer Tablets

How to Create Your Lava Lamp

*Fill the bottle half with water and combined cooking/vegetable oil.

*Add the color and wait till it settles

*To see the lamp in action, simply drop the Alka Seltzer tablet into the bottle and watch the color particles dance around.

Color Dispersion with Milk

This activity is so simple you could grab items from the pantry!

You Need

Dish washing liquid

Milk

Food coloring (different colors)

How to Create a Rainbow of Colors

*Pour 300ml of milk into a shallow dish

*Add a few drops of food coloring

*Add the dishwashing liquid and watch the colors disperse

The project educates learners on the dispersion of liquids and the difference between soluble and non-soluble solutions.

STEM introduces fun concepts to teach elementary students how to incorporate the principles of the Sciences and Math with Engineering and Technology. It is a simple way to engage with children and integrate the educational aspects of academics in a visually appealing and an interactive manner.

The Importance of Routines in the Classroom

Give your students something to look forward to and the discipline to follow through.

Morning routines help get the day started out right. Students ease into projects because they’ve had time to fire up their brains, hold discussions about their discoveries, and prepare for harder tasks and projects that require greater involvement. How you choose to approach mornings in the classroom could very well set the tone for the learning environment you teach in.

Here are some of the things that are achieved through dedicated morning routines.

Students see value in familiarity.

Established morning routines save time and valuable resources. They give students a set of expectations to follow. Morning routines are initiated without much thought or persuasion, too. You don’t have to coax students into getting busy because they are already familiar with what to do and how to do it.

Procrastination goes by the wayside because students know what it takes to get started.

Even when new lessons are introduced, your class know who they’ve been partnered up with. They know where to find their supplies. They’re acquainted with how much time they must complete certain tasks. There isn’t a lot of wasted time first thing in the morning because your students are procrastinating completing tasks or projects.

Your class is taken care of while you are away.

In the event of your absence, you have fewer things to worry about. Your substitute can take advantage of the Morning Work book you’ve left for him or her to view. Your students are prepared because they’re doing similar work throughout the rest of the year, so they’re ready to help the sub as much as they can.

Your classroom benefits tremendously when following a morning routine. It prepares students for the day ahead of them especially in the event of your absence. It gives them time to mentally prepare for other subjects, projects, and tasks with greater ease. It also requires discipline because follow-through is required to complete the routine and move onto the next area of focus for the day.

How to Prepare Your Classroom in the Event of Your Absence

Give your emergency substitute the tools and resources needed to teach class skillfully.

Emergencies happen when you least expect them. That’s why it’s important to be prepared by having emergency sub plans available in the event of your absence. Doing so ensures that your class receives the instruction they need to complete class projects with ease. They won’t be left in the dark because you’re away for a day or two.

In addition to purchasing files including Emergency Sub Plans for Middle School Teachers, you can do the following things to prepare for emergency absences successfully.

Create a sub binder that can be added to throughout the year.

Divide the content into sections based on subject and theme. Use a table of contents to explain where to look for specific lesson plans. You can also include information that is pertinent to your classroom as a day-at-a-glance page.  Letting the sub know the typical routine your students go through in a given day helps things go much smoother when you’re away.

Provide activities that are familiar but can be varied.

That way, the substitute teacher doesn’t spend a great deal of time explaining how an activity is done. They can teach the lesson and then give your students the opportunity to work together to come up with a solution to a problem or design a project that focuses on each member of the group’s strengths. These lessons are best utilized when you’re gone for an extended amount of time due to an emergency.

The ideas listed above help you get through an unexpected absence easily. By taking time to prepare in advance for an emergency, you’ll always be ready in the event one occurs. You won’t be stuck scrambling for content for your sub to teach.

Help your emergency substitute get through the day with greater ease. An emergency situation calls for quick thinking. Having emergency sub plans bundled and available is one way to think ahead.

What Makes a STEM Activity Great?

A successful activity sparks the imagination and gives kids creative skills they can use daily.

The right STEM activities possess a unique set of characteristics that help enhance the learning experience. If you’re looking for new ways to connect with your students, learning how Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math better them as individuals and scholars is key. The lessons that you teach to the kids you’re in charge of today can significantly benefit the world in the future as many young students grow up and work in positions where the skills come into play.

The six characteristics of an excellent STEM activity are explained below.

Characteristic #1: Real-world issues and challenges are emphasized.

Whatever is going on in society, the economy, and the environment is explored through STEM activities. Students learn how they can affect these areas positively.

Characteristic #2: The engineering design process guides the lesson being taught.

Children learn to identify problems as well as create and develop solutions. They get to experience big picture thinking and directly influence the outcome of a situation.

Characteristic #3: Students get to ask questions and get fully immersed in a hands-on experience.

Students collaborate to come up with the best solution. They get to see how things work personally by having a hand in the creative thought process.

Characteristic #4: Teamwork is key to the lesson’s success.

Kids work with their classmates to build upon one another’s unique ideas and skills. This facilitates faster and better solutions overall.

Characteristic #5: Students get to apply the math and science lessons they’ve already learned to the STEM activity.

Taking knowledge that they already possess, children get to apply it to STEM lessons. They see why the information was important in the first place.

Characteristic #6: There is no one right answer and failures are seen as yet another step to learning.

Kids learn that there are many outcomes with each lesson. They also learn to see failure as a part of the learning process.

Now that you know what characteristics make a STEM activity great, you’ll be better able to plan activities for your own classroom. You’ll be able to add value to your students’ day by sparking meaningful discussion following a successful science, technology, engineering, and math event. The skills that the kids in your class learn are ones they can use in everyday situations.

How Magnetic Slime Teaches Kids About Science

This fun STEM activity can be created in large batches for classroom settings.

If you want a STEM activity to do in the classroom that appeals to your students, don’t overlook slime. It’s pliable so it can be squished and stretched repeatedly. It can also be made to be magnetic which ties into your science lesson about polarity. This activity is one that can be done relatively inexpensively but it does require advanced preparation so make sure to allow enough time in the school day to prep materials.

Ingredients Needed to Make Slime

The ingredients needed to make slime include liquid starch, Elmer’s Glue, Iron Oxide, a neodymium disc magnet also known as a rare earth magnet, disposable mixing bowls, wooden popsicle sticks for stirring, and a box of plastic gloves to keep children’s hands clean and safe.

To prepare the slime for use, you’ll need to do the following things:

·      Take out the bowls and give each student one along with a pair of gloves and a popsicle stick. Pour the liquid starch into a bowl. You’ll want to use ¼ of a cup per student.

·      Add the iron powder. Two tablespoons are enough per bowl. Get the kids to put their gloves on so you’ll have less mess to clean. Then, have the children stir it until it is mixed with liquid starch.

·      Put the glue in and mix. Students will need ¼ a cup of white glue each. They’ll need to continue stirring it because at first, it won’t look like anything.

·      Take the slime out and continue squishing and mixing it. This is where the gloves help most. They’ll keep your students’ hands from being stained by the experiment.

·      Pat the slime dry. Then pull out the magnets and start experimenting with the creation.

If you’re concerned about expense, you could easily have children work in groups to reduce the number of supplies needed for the STEM project.

What Students Learn from Experiments Involving Magnets

Students learn a lot from magnets. By making the slime magnetic, you accomplish two things. You teach children how to create their own science experiments using common household items, and you provide them with memorable lessons that they can share with others.

Slime is wildly popular among elementary-aged students and pre-teens. It’s easy to make and is magnetic when made according to the recipe featured on the Frugal Fun 4 Boys website. Although the recipe is intended to be made in small batches, it can easily be adapted to fit your unique classroom’s needs.