Coach B. is back! Coach B. is back! I am so happy that Coach B. is back with new webcasts at Whole Brain Teaching website. On Monday night, he returned with lots and lots of new ideas as well as reminders of other techniques that I can't wait to try out in my classroom.
I have been using Class-Yes since school began several weeks ago but watching the webcast, I was reminded of using lots of variety and Coach B. included 20 new variations. I will also start using Class - Boom. Today, I did introduce the all-star attention getters - using content to get their attention. My class did great! They did so well responding to some math facts and I threw in a brainy, nouns! I told them to be listening for the different Class-Yes variations. I told them that they were acting like 3rd graders (we are 2nd graders) and they were so proud of themselves.
One new idea is using echo leaders for Class-Yes for challenging students. The idea is to have a small group of students including a challenging student echo the teacher Class-Yes. Another idea that I love is the leader box. Tell your challenging student that you will put their name in the leader box if they improve is a certain area. Whenever the teacher wants, she can pull out a name and that student can lead the Class-Yes. I have not started the leader box yet but I plan to in the future.
Other exciting news, I taped the beginner brainies to their desks. I have been meaning to get to it but like all teachers at the beginning of the year, I have been sooo busy. I think waiting ended up being a good thing. The students were so excited about it and were anxious to share with me the ones that they already know. I promised that I would teach them the rest soon.
I want to leave you with one last idea that I love - one minute Brainy Time. For one minute, have the students orally respond to this sentence stem: "We use Class-Yes because ________________. I love the critical thinking that this inspires in the students. I will be trying this very soon.
How do you get your students' attention? I would love for you to comment below.
I can't believe that we are almost done with the second week of school. I love all that Whole Brain Teaching has already added to my teaching. The kids seem to be very receptive. Yesterday, I noticed that they were a bit off and not responding very quickly to the 5 rules rehearsal or any of the Brainies that they have learned this morning. So, while the kids were at lunch, I realized that I had not marked the scoreboard very much in the morning.
My solution, of course, was to step it up in the afternoon and that helped. I also introduced the Super Improver Wall and they were excited to earn some stars. After I explained that I was looking for improvement; their behavior showed improvement and they were more excited about doing the Brainies and other fun things.
I have introduced several Power Pix and I love the way it is a good way to review skills. I have introduced sentences, fragments, nouns and in math, we have learned about 100s, 10s and 1s. We are reviewing these almost daily - I need to figure out how to remember to practice every day.
I remembered to practice mirrors and mirror words and Teach-ok is really coming along. I get a great a compliment from my assistant principal - she was doing a walk through in my classroom and said that my classroom management was excellent and that the kids were fully engaged! A 10 finger woo for WBT!
What is working in your classroom?
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?
So, I made it through back to school night! We do ours before school starts and it is our first chance to make an impression on our parents. I always get so nervous. It is one of the hardest parts of my job - Ha! This is my first time that I have introduced Whole Brain Teaching to my parents because last year I started in the Spring with WBT. I explained the 5 rules, the scoreboard and the Super Improver Wall to the parents and I think it went well. At least no one had questions - is that a good thing???
Tomorrow is Open House where the students get to come in and meet the teacher and drop off supplies before school starts on Tuesday. I am so excited to meet my new students.
Here are some pictures of my class now that it is done.
I also put up a poster size brainies but I forgot to take a picture. :( I can't wait to meet my students tomorrow and get started on Tuesday. I am looking forward to a great year with Whole Brain Teaching starting from the very first day of school!
Other exciting news - my donor's choose project for a tablet was funded. I can't wait to use it this year.
It was good to finally get back to school and see my colleagues. I have been busy working in my room over the last week. I will have pictures soon. On the first day back, our new principal shared this powerful video with us - Ted talks: Rita Pierson. It is a wonderful reminder to teachers that we do make a difference in the lives of our students.
I am also excited to share that even as I am learning about and implementing WBT, another teacher came to ask me a question about posting the rules. I shared with her that there was no right way to post rules and that she could find many examples of the rules on Teacher Pay Teachers, as well as checking out the website: Whole Brain teaching website. There are webcasts there that explain the rules in more detail.
I received my class list yesterday and after talking to their last year's teachers, I know that I will have a wide variety of learners from very low in math (thinking that math time was writing time - all year long!) to very high level learners (one student completed the entire screening which apparently NO other child had done previously). It could be a very interesting year! So, I went to the WBT website to see if I could find anything for my low math learner - I am not sure whether or not he recognizes numbers or if he can count by ones or exactly where he is but I have downloaded the Super Speed numbers and I will have it ready to go, just in case. My plan is to quickly get some idea where he is so that I can start interventions by the end of the first week. I used Super Speed addition and subtraction last year and the students and I loved it. Both the Super Speed numbers and addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are available as a FREE download from the WBT website. :)
Finally, I am a huge fan of donors choose. For the next two days, Bill and Melinda Gates are funding half of some projects including mine, please consider donating or sharing my link:{here}.
I would love to know how you differentiate your instruction for your low learners.
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I am finally in my classroom - Yeah!! I keep seeing other teacher's beautiful classrooms on Facebook and that many teachers already have started teaching. In my district, teachers don't officially go back until next Wednesday but I will be taking a day off later in the week to take my daughter to college so, I was even more anxious to get started. Here is a picture of my before classroom:
I spent about 2 hours yesterday with my daughter, moving furniture and trying to get organized. My daughter put up the bulletin board paper and borders. I will add more pictures as I go! The bad news is that my wardrobe decided that it was old and 3 of the shelves fell and can't be fixed. The good news is that I will get a *new* (to me) one.
Now, I am busy trying to figure out where to put my Super Improver Wall and power pix. I can't wait to use both of these this school year. For more information about whole brain teaching, check out the website: (here)
Are you back to school yet? I would love to know how things are going at the beginning of the year.
Sooo, I am still not in my classroom and I have to admit that I am getting anxious - particularly after seeing many teacher-bloggers posting their finished classrooms. My solution is to stalk follow other bloggers for lots of new (to me) back to school ideas.
I read this post: 5 Common Mistakes that Will Lead to an Out-of-Control Classroom on Corkboard Connections. The first mistake was not having clear expectations and procedures. After discovering Whole Brain Teaching at the end of last year, I think I have that covered. Over the years, I have become a big believer in spending lots and lots of time at the beginning of the year practicing procedures. I use Daily 5 in my classroom and the 2 sisters emphasize that practicing procedures is very important. WBT also emphasizes practicing procedures so that the students KNOW what is expected of them - no excuses. WBT teachers practice the rules and procedures over and over again and not just at the beginning of the year but all year long. WBT teachers also make the practice FUN by timing the kids and having the kids practice in a variety of different ways.
Another post I read is: Why You Shouldn't Let Your Students Decide the Classroom Rules. I admit to doing this for many years. At the beginning of the year, I would take time and have the class create the rules for the year with my guidance, of course, and the kids would sign it. Then I posted it on the wall and I would promptly forget about it! My school became a PBIS school several years ago and so that was the basis for the classroom rules. Now, after learning about WBT, I started with implementing the 5 classroom rules: Rule #1: Follow directions quickly, Rule #2: Raise your hand for permission to speak, Rule #3: Raise your hand to leave your seat, Rule #4: Make smart choices, and Rule #5: Keep your dear teacher happy. I LOVE these rules and when I introduced these to my students with gestures - they loved them. We practiced them several times a day so, there is no excuse for not remembering the rules.
Check out whole brain teaching at: Whole Brain Teaching for more information on the 5 rules and lots of other information about all aspects of whole brain teaching! Best of all - it is FREE! I love free.
I would love to know what you do for classroom rules. Do you let your students help develop the classroom rules? Please share your comments.
