Class Cheers

    When I was pregnant with my first child, I noticed pregnant women everywhere! Certainly pregnant women were nothing new, but I was tuned-in in a way that I had never been before. Positivity is like that too! The more you look, the more you’ll find! 
    While there are lots of ways to reinforce positive behavior, I’m not a fan of many of them.  Mostly because there is often a flip-side to these techniques where something is taken away or witheld when behavior is not-so-positive.  There’s a lot of see-sawing and keeping track and I have a hard time being consistent and equitable.  Maybe that’s just me! 

     Class cheers, however, are something I can really rally around!  They encourage me to look for the positive and, together with the children, celebrate accomplishments, good deeds, kind words, and more! They are also just plain fun and the kiddos light up like a Christmas tree when the cheer is for them!

     So, if you’d like a few cheers in your “back pocket,” I’ve written one for each month of the school year allowing you to introduce a new seasonally-themed cheer from September to June. Use these to recognize individual children, partnerships, teams, or even the whole class while building classroom community and creating a positive learning environment. 

You can get the March Cheer FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

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Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

   

  

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Hands-in-Your-Lap Rhymes

      While criss-cross applesauce might seem like magic in September, it has usually lost its charm by December.  So if you’re like me and find that your classroom management needs a tune-up right about now, try these monthly hands-in-your-lap rhymes to provide a consistent, but novel routine for gaining children’s attention. 

     The first two lines of each rhyme invite children to move their hands in fun and engaging ways such as flickering like a candle, kneading dough, or flying like a bird. In the third line, the word “lap,” introduced in the September rhyme, is playfully switched out to match a seasonal theme and children can imagine their lap as a mixing bowl, mailbox, flower pot, nest and more.  The last line, Ready, set, go! is repeated throughout and signals to children that teaching and learning is about to begin!

You can get the March Hands-in-Your-Lap rhyme FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

You might also like this:

Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

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The 100th Day of School: How it All Began

     

     Did you ever wonder how the 100th day of school began?  Many years ago, I had the pleasure of connecting with one of its originators while writing a book about this time-honored tradition. 

Here's what I found out:

     Back in 1979, Lynn Taylor, along with her colleagues David Cooper and Mary Hurdlow, celebrated their first 100th day of school.  The idea grew from their experience with a program called Math Their Way and an activity called The Days of School Graph.  Lynn published the idea two years later in the Center for Innovation’s newsletter and it all grew from there.

      On that first 100th day, Lynn remembered using Sesame Street’s The Count to do a magic trick, where he transformed 100 pennies into a one dollar bill. Presto chango! 

   

     She also shared her 100th-day snack, a recipe she called Hiyaku, named after the Japanese word for 100.

     Our 100th day is coming up this week and we are inviting parents in and setting up Investigation Stations.  

Check it out here!

And what's the 100th day without a fun hat to wear! 

Grab your FREEBIE here!

So, what's in store for your 100th day? 

Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie