Great Halloween craft ideas!

I found an adorable website that has a TON of Halloween craft ideas for kids. Being able to do things like this in the classroom is probably one of the things I miss most about teaching since switching to a virtual classroom- so promise me you'll try just ONE of these fun ideas! 

Here are a few of my favorites: 

(click the picture to take you to the link)

Halloween finger puppets:

Felt pumpkin face game:

Hand print spiders:

Beaded pumpkin craft:

To see more kids crafts, check out http://www.thecraftycrow.net.
You can also see more Halloween crafts and game ideas at http://room-mom101.blogspot.com/search/label/Halloween.
Happy October!

Top 10 Read Aloud books starring mighty girls!

I know a lot of parents out their who like finding books for their girls that feature strong girl role models outside of the regular Disney princess realm. I like a little of both. No, I'm a teacher, I like A LOT of both! :-) 

A Mighty Girl's top recommended read aloud chapter books are perfect for reading aloud with elementary-aged children or as independent reading for older children.

Visit A Mighty's Girl's top read aloud book recommendations by clicking the picture below:

Most of these books should be available at your local library. Happy reading to all your MIGHTY girls!

Homeschooling multiple children at different grade levels

Thanks for all of the emails I got in response to me asking what kinds of things you would find useful for me to blog about! Keep 'em coming! My goal is to hit at least one topic per week, maybe 2 if I'm feeling ambitious. :-) 

Question: How can I keep one child working/entertained while working with another child on a lesson, especially if they are in different grade levels? 

Good question. This is one thing that I cannot speak from experience about. I have a plethora of resources when it comes to keeping toddlers entertained. I know many of you have young children (and how you still find time to still teach the other ones full time is beyond me). So here are some ideas for keeping the young ones entertained so you can help the older ones with school:

(These ideas are seriously amazing.)

Mama's Ultimate Guide to Occupying Toddlers During School Time

40 Ways to Distract a Toddler

Toddler Busy Bags

The Stay-At-Home Mom Survival Guide

50 Toddler Activities

I can personally attest to lots of the ideas mentioned above- THEY WORK!

Now, for the older kids. This is a list of 10 keys from homeschoolshare.com of a mom who has 7 kids under the age of 10, and homeschools all of the school aged ones. I'd bet on her advice. 

Key 1: Combine Combine Combine

No matter the age range you’re facing there are subjects that can be done with the whole family together with creativity.  Our family learns history together by reading living books. Older children are welcome to listen in or even be the one reading aloud to the younger children.  Anyone 3rd grade and under can narrate to me, draw a picture, or make a notebook page about the day’s reading.  Older children discuss their book with me or write about it.
In practice this could look as follows for a family learning about the Middle Ages beginning with the Vikings, Huns, and Goths (all alive and pillaging in the same general time period):

• Family Read Aloud:Famous Men of the Middle Ages – short biographies of characters such as Theodoric the Ostrogoth, Rollo the Viking, and Atilla the Hun, read 1 per day.
• Under 3rd Read Aloud:Leif the Lucky – story of Viking Leif Ericsson, divide into short sections to read over a week or more.
• 4th-6th Independent Read:The Vikings – A more detailed story of Leif Ericsson, read 1 chapter per week, or 1 per day as fits your child.
• 7th-9th Independent Read:The White Stag – Story of Atilla the Hun from a Hun point of view.
• 10th-12th Independent Read: The Lantern Bearers – Battles in Britain while Huns and Goths are attacking Roman territories in Europe.

Art, music, and science can be combined similarly.  Everyone is learning about the same masterpiece or topic at their level.  Younger children may only learn basics about an artist, for example, then be turned loose with pastels to reproduce the art, while older children can learn more about the artist, materials, and techniques used before attempting to use them personally.
You may also be able to combine a few children close in age for some subjects.  At my house right now I do phonics, writing, spelling, and math with two children simultaneously who are pretty much at the same level.  They were born 13 months apart, while each one has strengths and weaknesses, they combine well in these areas.

 

Key 2: Rotate Mom Around the Table

Most days you’ll find all 6 of my children ages 12 mos –10 years doing ‘table time’ together.  They are given independent work that needs mom’s occasional help and I walk around the table as needed.  The littlest ones are seat-belted in booster seats playing.  An example from a recent morning:

• The 5th grader, who had a lesson on finding the area of a triangle earlier in the week, is doing a practice page on the topic.  I occasionally answer her questions or remind her to get back to work.
• The Kindergartener and 1st grader, who had a lesson on adding doubles previously, do a page practicing that and the last several skills.  I help read word problems and answer questions using the manipulative blocks as needed.
• The Preschooler (age 4) plays with math manipulatives.  This particular day it was magnetic pattern blocks.  He built the pictures from pattern cards – he didn’t need me except for praise when he finished each picture.
• The next Preschooler (age 2yrs 8mos) also plays with pattern blocks matching shapes and colors.  I ask him to “find all the yellow hexagons” or “put all the green triangles in a pile” when he needs some direction.
• The baby, just turned 12 months old, spends math time with a large wooden puzzle.  He chews on pieces, puts them in and out of a bowl I set beside him, and ultimately tosses them to the floor.  My role?  Smile, talk to him, and clap occasionally.

As children finish their math I begin rotating through with the next activity for them, be it phonics practice, reading, writing assignments, etc.  I try to alternate something active with something sitting, so it may be practicing spelling words while hopping across the room toward me with each correctly spelled word, or writing their words on the dry erase board instead of sitting at the table.  Little ones are given a new activity at the table or on the floor as needed.

Key 3: Stagger new lessons in a subject.

This idea has become really helpful to me this year.  I do not teach each child’s new math lesson on the same day.  If Monday finds my 5th grader ready to learn new concepts then the other ages are practicing independently or taking the test.  The next day the 5th grader is practicing her new concept, the K and 1st are learning a new concept with mom, and so on.
New spelling/phonics lessons are staggered as well, with the K and 1st grader’s new lesson on the day they did not have a new math lesson, while the 5th grader’s new spelling lesson will be on the day after her new math lesson.  Writing is the same – if we are about to embark on a new writing unit it is done on separate days from the other grades new writing unit.
You do have to be comfortable in your skin with this approach.  There is not a neat and tidy “start the chapter on Monday and take the test on Friday” routine.  I resisted it for a long time but dived in full force this year.  I have goals we’re heading toward and we’ll get there at our own pace.

Key 4: Train for independence.

With my oldest daughter I literally sat beside her for every subject while holding a baby or toddler.  I micromanaged and she let me.  Then I realized that if I were to work one on one for 2-3 hours per day with each of my children I would be doing school from breakfast to bedtime.  It wasn’t practical.  That is when I started looking for the ways I could encourage my children to work independently on some of their schoolwork.
As I described above with table time, each child has work they can do with minimal help from me.  In the beginning we used workboxes, which we’ve done in a variety of forms from boxes to hanging files in a crate.  This was a wonderful way to train my children to ‘do the next thing’ and ‘work without mom’.  I placed a book to read in one folder with a note telling them what pages to read.  Another folder might have a math practice page, then the third would be a reminder to practice piano, and so on.
I’ve found some children naturally want to work on their own, while others won’t lift a pencil unless you’re right next to them.  Training these children to work independently is done in small steps.  Sit together and go over instructions, help them get started, and then go do something for a few minutes in another room.  Tell them you’ll be back in just a minute.  Switching loads of laundry or sweeping the kitchen kept me close enough they could see me, but I wasn’t right there beside them.  Once they’re used to that extend your time away by tackling two chores before returning to check on their progress.
Some children are easily distracted.  For those darlings try unusual solutions:

• A desk in a quiet space – we have one by the bathroom.
• A clipboard so the child can go work on the floor in the hall where there are no toys or siblings to distract them.
• Headphones with music on low to tune out distractions – make sure it’s instrumental so they don’t get distracted by words to a song.
• Sometimes even a checklist helps keep them on task.

Key 5: Don’t Teach Everything Every Day

Did you know there is no law saying you must teach history or science or art every day, or even every week?  You are the one in charge.  Choose a schedule that works for your family.  At my house we have core subjects that need done daily.  These are the priority and take up 1-2 hours of the morning between all my children.  Our core subjects currently are:

1. Religion– Reading scriptures, discussing the gospel, singing hymns, and memorizing scriptures.  This is done as a group and takes about 20 minutes.
2. Math – This basic needs regular practice to master it, so it’s a core for us.  We work as a group around the table with mom rotating between ages.  It usually takes 20-40 minutes (40 on a day when someone is getting a new lesson).
3. Reading/Phonics– It needs daily practice but does not take a long time each day.  5-10 minutes with each child who is learning to read.  We may practice a new concept as a group, like how to read words with a silent e, then I sit with each beginning reader for 5 minutes.  They read to me and we work on anything they stumble over.  Older children spend this time reading to themselves.
4. Writing – This basic is also a daily thing.  Young children do copywork pages with a single letter to copy, then progress to copying a word, phrase, or sentence.  Copywork takes 1-5 minutes at the table.  Then we begin actual composition lessons, which take between 5 and 25 minutes for each age group.  I have two groups at this stage currently, the rest are only doing copywork.

We can knock our core subjects out between 8:00am-10:00am easily every day.  That leaves us two more hours to tackle everything else and we’re done by lunch every day.
In that 2 hour block before lunch we typically choose to do either history OR science as a family, plus one other non-core subject.  We may do 2 days of science and 3 of history each week, but there are other possibilities.  Want to know some others we’ve done?

• One week focused on history, then one focused on science.
• One month focused on history, then one on science.
• One semester focused on history, then one on science.

You can do the same thing with any subject.  Who says you must do art, spelling, music, government, or health every day of the school year?  Take control of your family’s learning.  Perhaps you want to do art on Mondays in that 2 hour before lunch block with science.  On Tuesdays you do music with history in the same block of time.  Wednesdays may find you learning about health, or spending the whole 2 hours on science because you want to do some experiments.  Maybe you choose to alternate months for art/artist study and music/composer study.  Whatever you do make it work for you.
When you get children in the upper grades (8th and up) they will be spending more time on school independently.  They read harder material, they write longer compositions, they may even be learning a language or doing a special study related to their interests.  They do the morning work with the family, they work for part of the afternoon hours independently, and they are ready the next morning for some time with mom and the family again.
I plan to have ‘office hours’ for my older students like they would find with a college professor.  During the afternoon hours when little ones are napping I’ll be available for one on one questions and time to work with them in their studies if they need me.  However, at this stage they’ll need to be the ones to approach me.

Here are some links to additional blogs/websites with home school advice on this topic:

10 tips from a home schooling mom of four

Home schooling multiple grades: a typical day

Using a homeschool checklist

This book, Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families is available on Amazon and gets great reviews.

How do I juggle multiple homeschool children?

I hope those help! There are seriously SO many resources out there for homeschooling. If any of you have any other additional ideas/suggestions/resources please comment below!

Books for Boys

Over the years of teaching, one thing I've definitely noticed is that girls typically like to read more than boys. It's harder to sell a boy on a book than it is to a girl. For some reason. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus? Maybe. But if you start talking to a boy about what his interests are, he's essentially telling you what kind of books he would read. 

Some boys really like fictional humorous stories (like Diary of a Wimpy Kid) while others would rather read about whatever bug they're obsessed with or their favorite sports team. If they don't like reading fiction, give them more than just fiction to read, and see if you start getting a better response when you say, "Hey it's independent reading time!" or "Want to go to the library?"

Example: Last year in second grade I taught a little boy named Max who "hated reading." His mom thought she had tried every kind of book, every book that was popular, books his friends were reading, etc. He didn't like them because he "just didn't like to read." I was feeling frustrated as well, but after some digging, I found out one of Max's passions was building and inventing. He loved making little inventions out of whatever was lying around, or making giant structures with Legos. 

This was my light bulb moment.

I started finding some books on kid inventors or even just books with ideas of different things he could make- looking intentionally for ones that had written instructions instead of pictures. Did he love it? You bet! He loved it because it APPLIED to his life and he was INTERESTED in what he was reading. That's the key, folks! 

This was also a light bulb moment for his Mom. She thought he SHOULD be reading fiction and novels, because that's what you're supposed to read, right? You HAVE to read those books for some classes. While that is true, if a love for reading isn't even there yet, let's work on that first. Then they'll be a lot more willing to try out some other stuff later on down the road.  

If your boy says they don't like to read- I'm calling their bluff. They simply haven't found something that interests them...YET. 

Here's a list of books I found on readkiddoread.com especially for boys:

PAGETURNERS for ages 8-12

ASTRONAUT ACADEMY by Dave Roman

Hakata Soy leaves his past as the leader of a superhero team to attend Astronaut Academy, a school on a space station orbiting Earth.  He hopes to make a fresh start in life, but his heroic past keeps catching up with him.

CHARLIE JOE JACKSON by Tommy Greenwald

Charlie Joe shares the tactics that have gotten him all the way to Middle School without EVER reading a whole book. Reluctant readers ready to learn his secrets will find instead that they have just finished (and enjoyed!) an entire book.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID (Wimpy Kid series) by Jeff Kinney

Writing and drawing his stick-figure pictures in his new journal helps Greg deal with middle school, overbearing parents, and two brothers.

THE HAUNTED SCHOOL (Goosebumps series) by R.L. Stine

Tommy has a hard time making new friends at his new school. And the school is big--so big, Tommy gets lost. And that's when he hears the voices, kids crying for help, coming from beyond the classroom walls...

HERO by Mike Lupica

Fourteen- year-old Zach Harriman knows he has a pretty amazing dad.  He accepts that his dad’s job as a government agent with a high security clearance means that Zachary must be kept in the dark about much of what he does.  When Zach’s father dies in an airplane crash, Zach starts to learn just how many secrets his dad really had, including his super-hero powers--and that the powers are hereditary.

 

THE LIGHTNING THIEF (Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) by Rick Riordan

Percy is about to find out the truth about the father he's never met. "Lost at sea" is all his mother has ever told him. Well, Percy's father is a god. A Greek god. A real one. And that makes Percy a demigod, a half-blood, and he's now in mortal danger. 

MIDDLE SCHOOL: THE WORST YEARS OF MY LIFE (Middle School series) by James Patterson

Middle School doesn’t begin well for Rafe Khatchadorian. Between run-ins with the school bully, Miller “The Killer” and a book of rules that the school actually takes seriously, to say Rafe is disillusioned with the educational system would be understatement. And so it’s totally understandable when his best friend, Leonardo, suggests that Rafe set out to break every rule in the book. 

SIDEKICKS by Dan Santat

In this graphic novel romp, Superhero Captain Amazing needs a new sidekick. Enter four super pets, all vying for the coveted spot as his right-hand man… er… animal.

 

THE STORM MAKERS by Jennifer Smith

Twins Ruby and Simon move to a Wisconsin farm, and suffer the consequences of the worst drought in history. Enter MOSS, the Makers of Storm Society, and Simon discovers he holds powerful weather-changing powers.

SWINDLE (Swindle series) by Gordon Korman

Griffin sells an old Babe Ruth baseball carp to a memorabilia shop, where the owner gives him 120 bucks for the card, claiming it is a knockoff made in 1967. What a liar! Griffin soon sees the dealer being interviewed on TV, showing the selfsame 1920 baseball card, worth a cool million. Griffin assembles a heist team and together they plan to steal back that card.

THE UNWANTEDS and others in the series by Lisa McCann

In Quill there are three types of people: Wanteds, Necessaries, and Unwanteds. Wanteds, as their name suggests, are the most valued members of society. Necessaries are tolerated for whatever menial skill they may possess. And Unwanteds, typically those showing a flare for creativity and resistance to conformity, are put to their deaths. Or so the Quillians think.

THE WITCHES by Roald Dahl

A recently-orphaned boy stumbles upon the yearly meeting of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children while staying at a posh hotel. But wait. These are not ordinary ladies. Alas, the group is actually made up of nasty witches, who are meeting to hatch a hideous plan to turn all of the children in England into mice.

 

BABY MAMMOTH MUMMY by Christopher Sloan

The discovery of baby mammoth Lyuba allows for a never-before-seen inside look at prehistoric Sibera, 31,000 years later.

EVERY DAY ON EARTH: Fun Facts That Happen Every 24 Hours by Steve & Matthew Murrie

Your taste bud cells are replaced at a rate of 50,000 a day. Almost 40,000 trees are cut down every day just to make paper bags. What else happens around the Earth in the span of a day? 

GREAT MOMENTS IN THE SUMMER OLYMPICS by Matt Christopher and Stephanie Peters

Relive great moments in Olympic summer sports history, especially in the games of Track and Field, Gymnastics, and Swimming.

GET THE SCOOP ON ANIMAL POOP by Dawn Cusick

There comes a time in every kid’s life when poop becomes an object of fascination, and this entertaining and informative introduction to coprology, the study of feces, is sure to satisfy every imaginable scatological curiosity. 

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS ALMANAC 2013

TRANSITIONAL BOOKS for ages 7-10

 

BAD KITTY GETS A BATH and other titles by Nick Bruel

You think you have a problem pet that rules your roost? Get a load of this quintessential bad kitty, a sleek, black, rowdy ruffian who is none too happy about getting a bath. OK, that’s an understatement. 

THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS (Captain Underpants series) by Dav Pilkey

George and Harold hypnotize their principal, mean Mr. Krupp, and turn him into their superhero creation Captain Underpants.

DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK (Magic Tree House series) by Mary Pope Osborne

A mysterious treehouse whisks Annie and Jack to the past--and in this first novel, that means the land of the dinosaurs. But how will they get home?

DRAGONBREATH: CURSE OF THE WERE-WIENER (Dragonbreath series) by Ursula Vernon

At lunchtime in the school cafeteria that day, Danny's overly large and bright red hot dog bites Wendell's finger. By the next day, Wendell's finger has turned candy-apple red, and his back is growing hair. Sneaking into the cafeteria's walk-in freezer to investigate, Danny finds an unusual package of hot dogs with the label "Were-Wieners, a product of Transylvania."

 

EVERY THING ON IT by Shel Silverstein

A new collection of 30 never-before-seen poems and drawings from the remarkable writer and artist Shel Silverstein.

THE FENWAY FOUL-UP (Ballpark Mysteries series) by David Kelly

Can Mike and Kate solve the mystery of who stole the Red Sox's star player's lucky bat, right in front of everyone's noses? Each book in this series is set in a different American ballpark stadium.

 

HORRID HENRY (Horrid Henry series) by Francesca Simon

Horrid Henry and his neighbor Moody Margaret set out to make the grossest sludge ever glopped together.

 

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate

Ivan barely remembers his life before the mall.  He has some wonderful friends: there’s Stella, the stoic elephant twice his size; there’s Bob, the homeless-by-choice dog who sneaks into the mall every night and sleeps on Ivan’s big belly; and there’s Julia, the human daughter of George the custodian, who does her homework by Ivan’s domain every evening and who shares a love of art with him. Yes, that’s right: Ivan is an artist.

SQUISH: SUPER AMOEBA by Jennifer Holm

Squish is an amoeba in elementary school with a good heart but facing a lot of obstacles. A mysterious enemy is threatening our hero, as if the usual pitfalls of weird parents, obnoxious bullies, homework, and more weren't enough. Kids will really identify with this unlikely hero who has to save the world even though all he really wants to do is get through the week.

THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka

Alexander T. Wolf would like to set the record straight. He says, "I don't know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it's all wrong . . . The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar."

ENCYLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA by Robert Sabuda

A look at all things dinosaur, packing in facts on more than 50 species, and the six major watercolored pop-ups are spectacular.

HENRY AARON’S DREAM by Matt Tavares

Every kid has a wish–a dream for his or her own future. Henry Aaron was no exception.  He wanted to play baseball, but baseball stadiums in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama in the 1940s were for “WHITES ONLY.” It took perseverance, enormous talent, and courage for Henry Aaron to not only hold onto his vision, but also to make it a reality. 

WEIRD BUT TRUE: 300 Outrageous Facts by National Geographic Kids

Did you know that... The world’s oldest pet goldfish lived to be 43 years old? The world’s longest soap bubble was as long as four school buses? On Neptune, the wind blows up to 1,243 miles an hour? The whole family will be dazed and amazed by this remarkable assortment of crazy but very true facts.

YOU NEVER HEARD OF SANDY KOUFAX? by Jonah Winter

For six years, 1961-1966, Koufax was known as the greatest lefty pitcher ever. Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer, Willie Stargell, said, “Hittin’ a Koufax fastball was like tryin’ to drink coffee with a fork.” In high school, this Jewish kid from Brooklyn aced every sport, and soon the scouts came calling.  This has to be the coolest-looking sports biography ever.

Happy reading! :-) 

Picnic @ Nunn's Park

Thursday evening we all met at Nunn's Park for a picnic! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and all of the leaves changing colors around the canyon were picture perfect. 

We enjoyed some yummy picnic food and dessert, and the students had loads of fun exploring around our picnic site on a scavenger hunt! Not only did they have to collect things, but see, hear, smell, and feel things. Many students also found yellow and black fuzzy caterpillars to take home as pets!

Then it was time to tie-dye our shirts. I can't wait to see how different all of them turn out, because everyone definitely put their own creative touch on their shirt. 

Some students also worked on animal leaf creations. I LOVE this project! If you're looking for something fun to do outside, this is it! 

Check out some of this fun pictures you can create all by using LEAVES! 

To see more leaf art creations, check out this website:

 http://www.kokokokids.ru/2011/09/fall-leaves-craft-ideas.html

Now get outside and enjoy this AMAZING weather!!

facebook page!

We have a class facebook page! 

If you have a facebook account, like our page and get updates, announcements, and see fun pictures from field trips and events!

Click here: www.facebook.com/mrshoulinsclass

Story time!

Don't forget to come to story time at the Provo City Library this Friday from 2:00-2:30! 

We will be reading some fun stories together and doing some fun activities in the story time area. 

K-4 students will be all together with yours truly, and 5-8 students will be with Mrs. Goodwin! 

See you Friday!