The Happy Learning Den: February 2020

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Social and Emotional Learning Is Essential for Students

Hi friends!

I am back again today to share with you why Social and Emotional learning (SEL) is an imperative foundation for safe and positive learning. SEL enhances students' ability to succeed in school, careers, and helps them in becoming a productive member of their community. After all, we are preparing them for life outside the walls of our classroom and of our school.

Students are more successful in school and daily life when they:

Can manage themselves
Understand the perspectives of others
Make positive personal and social decisions

Teaching students about kindness, sharing, and empathy etc. improves student attitudes toward school. What does this mean for you? Less behavior issues! Less behavior management is necessary once students are able to learn (and put into practice) effective social and emotional learning. However, this learning cannot only be taught in isolation. Effective programming involves coordinated classroom, school wide, family, and community buy-in. Everyone needs to be on board about educating the whole child. (In other words, it's more important that a state assessment in isolation.)

In order to be successful (in life), students need to learn how to understand their own emotions, strengths and weaknesses, and have positive mindsets.

SEL curriculum will help your students manage stress, control impulses, and persevere through challenges in order to achieve personal and educational goals. It gives them the ability to understand, empathize, and feel compassion for those with different backgrounds or cultures (tolerance). I did create curriculum for SEL, and have plans for several more units in the near future. In my classroom, I focus on about 3 SEL traits per month. This gives me a chance to focus and review with my students throughout the entire year the core competencies. If you are interested, you can see my growing bundle of SEL HERE.

Your classroom is one of the places where students learn social and emotional skills. An effective SEL program should be explicit, focused, and active. You need to make sure that you are targeting specific social and emotional skills, emphasizing personal and social skills, and actively helping your students master the skills.

Wishing you a week of peace and learning,

~Sandra @The Happy Learning Den

Sunday, February 16, 2020

How SEL Makes a Difference for Your Struggling Students

Hello again, friends!

I am here again to talk to you about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

Some people view social and emotional learning (SEL) as about “soft” skills that are not connected to academics. But I am here to tell you that it is a critical part of how we help struggling students through our academic intervention programs. As a teacher, you need to foster connections with your students for students to have a satisfactory amount of work completion. I have found that most of the students in intervention programs are students who struggle to have “traditional” connections to our school.

One of the things that I do is teach students specific SEL skills each month. During the first month of school, I generally start with PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. After all, students need to understand that they are personally responsible for their actions toward classroom materials and assignments, as well as their own behavior for the entire school year. Otherwise, you will have an epidemic of students who consistently "forget" to turn in classwork and homework assignments. And then when you remind them because you have finally gotten through the last pile of papers to grade, they of course, don't remember where the work is.... or they insist they turned it in!

So during the months of August and September my focus is RESPONSIBILITY. I have 4 lessons that I weave through the first weeks of school. With all the paperwork that needs to be filled out by parents and then returned to you, the student interest inventories, the getting to know you activities, etc. I find that it is imperative to start with being responsible.

My Being Responsible Unit has 4 lessons, just like most of my SEL units do. If you would like to see it click HERE. However, because responsibility is critical for success, I separated one of the lessons into three parts.

Lesson 1

Being Responsible: What it Means, Sounds, Looks, and Feels Like

Lesson 2

Take Responsibility: Making a Choice

Lesson 3

Being Responsible: Following Through

3 Day Lesson-Being Responsible

•Day 1 (part 1) : Why Do We Do Homework?

•Day 2 (part 2): Creating a Homework Space

•Day 3 (part 3): Planning Ahead

I would love to hear how you teach your students to be responsible for themselves and their own learning. Please comment below and share your thoughts!

Until next time,

~Sandra @The Happy Learning Den

Sunday, February 9, 2020

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING BELONGS IN OUR SCHOOLS

Hi again, friends!

I don’t know about you, but it feels like the focus within classrooms has been centered on assessments for at least 15 years. How students perform on state exams are supposed to tell the story of student achievement—or at least, most of the story.

However, more and more research has discovered that social and emotional learning (SEL) is essential for student success. But teachers already knew that!

Children have a difficult time achieving academic success when they do not know how to interact appropriately with others. Bullying, emotional outbursts, and fighting can make it hard for any child to focus on the academic skills taught in the classroom. Such issues can also take time away from the dedicated educator and administration, forcing them to spend more time on disciplining students. It is in these moments where social and emotional learning can make a difference.

Social-emotional learning can positively impact students, teachers, and school districts. Students learn the skills needed to self-regulate and constructively work toward solutions that benefit them in the classroom. We, as a nation, need to educate children holistically. Multiple benefits are often seen with SEL. It promotes a favorable school climate and students have increased academic success. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) nurtures a climate that is inviting, participatory and caring for all learners. With SEL, you help children develop the social skills that will serve them for their lifetime.

An added benefit is that you may have fewer disciplinary issues, which leads to students becoming more motivated in the classroom. Our students need more than simply academic knowledge to thrive. They need transferable soft skills that will allow them to understand others and work collaboratively to achieve desired outcomes. By providing tools for students to learn to manage their emotions and problem solve can allow them to better contribute to our schools and communities. By implicitly teaching SEL, there is an opportunity for educators, administrators, and school districts to make a positive impact on communities for years to come.

I have created a series of lessons and activities that I have used in my classroom the past few years. These have all had an incredible impact on student behavior and academic success. Frequently I hear from colleagues about how "student x's" behavior is much different in my room that in a previous class. I am not a better teacher. However, I use my SEL plans and activities in my classroom weekly. That is what has made all the difference.

If you are interested in seeing my SEL lesson plans and activities, you can click HERE and go directly to my TPT store.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!

Do you have any questions about incorporating SEL into your classroom? Leave your comment or question below, and I will do my best to answer you!

Until we meet again,

Sandra @The Happy Learning Den

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Math Test Prep and Review

Hi friends,

Do you feel like pulling out your hair? Are your students chewing up their pencils? Do you just want to scream every time someone talks about "the test?" Do you feel like you are drowning?

Test Prep causes serious stress for teachers and students alike. You wonder what standards you have covered. You think about lessons students have missed due to absences and gaps in understanding. You worry that students won’t remember the concepts you taught early in the year. This is completely normal! A couple of years ago, I changed the way I approached test prep and test review. Today I would like to share my system, and maybe it will help you too!

1. Don’t wait until “testing season” to prepare. Spiral review is your friend. Take a few moments each day to go back to topics covered earlier in the year and do a quick review on the topic. I make one copy of my 5^th grade Math Test Prep for All Year Bundle (shameless plug!) and each morning before we start math, my students take out dry erase boards and work through the problems at their desks. You can use these packets or choose problems from your textbook. Don’t spend a ton of time doing this. Just 4-5 problems each day is perfect. I like to review the chapter we previously covered when working on a new chapter. This way the previous content stays fresh in their brains.

2. Task Card Scoot. You can use task cards you already have or even quickly write out your own problems on note cards. I do have over 50 sets of reading, math, and science task cards (another shameless plug!) in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you need more. I place the cards onto student desks and they solve the problem on their the dry erase board. Next they put their answer on a lined sheet of paper. Then, move one space to the left to complete the next problem. I continue with this until all the questions have been completed. This is a fast and fun way to assess who has it and who needs a little more work. If you don’t have large enough dry erase boards, just have students use an extra piece of paper to work the problem out as they scoot around the room.

3. Keep it fun! Students don’t need to sense the added stress of testing. Try to keep the spiral review and test prep as fun as possible. Turn questions into games. Let students get up and move (play Scoot, 4 Corners- if they think the answer is A, they move to one corner, B, another corner, etc.) Students will appreciate you for making review easier and less stressful.

4. Track the data. Keep track of which students have mastered each standard as you move throughout the year. It doesn’t have to be a huge task. You can just make a pencil and paper list or create an excel sheet. I like to use the Checklists included in each Standards and Scales resource because it is quite simple in its approach.

I keep these in a binder; one sheet for each standard per student. It is easy to take a quick look and see which students need help with which standard. I have Fifth Grade Florida Standards and Scales for Reading and Math, as well as Common Core Standards and Scales for Math in my store. And to be honest, Common Core Standards and Florida Standards are basically the same.

While I do currently teach 5th grade, and make what I need in the classroom, I do make other resources for other grade levels, that my colleagues request. Plus, I differentiate almost everything for my students based on what is needed, so I have multiple levels of test prep.

I have bundled everything for greater savings: