Tuesday, September 2, 2014

First Day of School

     I can't believe that the first day of school came and went so quickly today!  I am exhausted but so excited about all that I accomplished with Whole Brain Teaching.  I reviewed the webcasts on the whole brain teaching website, including the first hour, the first day and the first week to get ready to meet my students today.  
    Some of the things I covered today include: the 5 rules (yes, all of them), the scoreboard, the name game, class-yes, mirror, teach-ok, and the capital letter and end mark brainies!  It was a very busy day and I also reviewed Read to Self. The good news is that they did the Daily 5 in 1st grade, so they are experts. We did 2 minutes of stamina for Read to Self! It would have been longer but I have a friend who is going to need to build up stamina slowly.  One of my favorite moments is when several students told me that the books that they had picked last Friday during Open House were not good fit books.  I had not given them any reminders about good fit books but it is obvious that their 1st grade teachers did a great job with this! They will be able to pick new books tomorrow.
    I am delighted to be introducing WBT at the beginning of the year.  I discovered WBT last Spring and started using it at that time. I also know after today that I need to keep working on mirror and teach-ok.  Neither of these come naturally. :).  I was successful using the scoreboard - we had about 30 tally marks by the end of the day.  
    Are you using any WBT techniques? How is it going?
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5 comments:

  1. Nancy Stoltenberg Director of WBT CertificationSeptember 2, 2014 at 10:54 PM

    Congrats on your first day back, Mary!! Sounds like a great day of WBT!!
    Nancy
    Mrs. Stoltenberg's Second Grade Class

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  2. SoTotallyJennyDSeptember 3, 2014 at 12:41 AM

    Sounds like a great first day back Mary! In no time at all the "mirror" will be automatic for you. Half way through my school year and the kids sometimes recognise a change in my voice and automatically repeat the important facts I'm saying without me even calling for "mirrors!" - and they create their own gestures if my hands are full!! :-)

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  3. The Math ManiacSeptember 4, 2014 at 12:18 PM

    I love reading about your experience with WBT and thanks for visiting my book study! I am curious which rule is the hardest for you to follow and which is the hardest for your students.

    Tara
    The Math Maniac

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  4. Mrs. Carlson's 2nd Grade ClassSeptember 4, 2014 at 3:55 PM

    Following directions quickly is what we are working on - we have only been in school for 3 days so, we are practicing over and over again and using the scoreboard to encourage them. I love the WBT rules cover everything that the kids can come up with. :)

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