First Day of School Plans

     Last year I posted my first day of school plans and heard from many that they found this helpful, so I decided to do the same thing this year.  Below you will find my first day of school plans for the 2015/2016 school year.  If you compare last year's plans to this year's plans, you will notice that the majority of it is the same.  The biggest changes were made at the end of the day during writing.  Since I will be piloting the WBT writing game, I structured what I am asking the kids to do around the game.  I hope that you find this helpful.  

Day One Lesson Plan

9:00-10:45 (Stop to pick up breakfast and eat when called down to the lunchroom.)

    *Class Yes

      Please look at me.  My name is Miss Ray, and I am so happy that you are here.  When I say class, you say       yes, fold your hands in a listening position, and look at me with laser eyes.  Practice.

    *Introduce and practice rule one

     Rule one is follow directions quickly.  When I say rule one, you say follow directions quickly.  Let's try that          again, but be fast.  Give rule one commands:  Look up.  Look down.  Raise one hand.  (Faster.)  Raise              both hands. We have rule one so that we will have a fun organized classroom.   

    *Introduce the Scoreboard

     We are going to play a very fun game called Scoreboard, and all you have to do to win is keep the                      scorekeeper happy.  I am the scorekeeper.  When I put a mark under the smiley face, that means that you        are following a rule and making the scorekeeper, me, happy.  When you see me making the mark, you will          clap your hands together quickly and say Oh yea.  Let's practice.  Practice.  When you are doing something        that makes me, the scorekeeper, unhappy, you will receive a mark under the frownie face.  When you see me      making the mark, you will quickly shrug your shoulders and groan.  Practice.  Next practice rule one using          the scoreboard.  Stand Up.  Too slow.  Groan.  Sit down.  Still to slow.  Groan.  Look at your partner.  Oh           yeah!  etc.

    *Play the Name Game

     1.  Emphasize how quickly everyone must respond.

     2. When I point at you, quickly say your name.
     3.  No matter how the child responds, say, "Louder please."

     4.  If a child is shy, skip him/her.

     5.  After pointing to a few kids, say to the class, "Repeat after me."  Point to these students one at a time.              Say each name and have the class repeat the name.  If you forget a name, simply say to the class, "Who          is this?"  They will tell you.

​     6.  Continue this pattern with the remainder of the class.One minute fun burst:  Practice Rule one using different voices.  Teacher leads.

    *Heavy Duty Practice of Rule One Using 3-peats:

• red folders
• ​folders away
• pencils out
• pencils up
• pencils away
• bodies and chairs
• seats
• line 

10:45-10:50  Take students on a bathroom break using the procedures for line just learned.

10:55-11:10  Introduce "Silent Mirrors" and "Mirrors Off" by having students copy teacher's movements using big gestures and stopping when the teacher says, "Mirrors Off".  One minute fun burst:  Students take turns mirroring each other.  Peanut butters begin.  (Students will learn who peanut butters are and who jellies are.)  Then use "Silent Mirror" to introduce procedures for bathroom, water, and tissue.  

11:10-11:20  Prepare for lunch  

11:20-12:00  Lunch  (Teacher goes to lunch duty at 11:50.)

12:00-12:35  Intro. "Teach Okay" to review rule one and introduce rules two and three.

Step One:  "When I clap twice, you clap twice;"  Do.

                 "When I clap twice and say teach, you clap twice and say okay."  Do.

*Repeat until all students follow smoothly and quickly.  Use scoreboard.

Step Two:  Repeat above, but add full body turn.  Practice until all students follow smoothly and quickly.  Use scoreboard.

Step Three:  "I want you when you turn to your neighbor to use big gestures and repeat rule one over and over, until I call you back with class.

* Do this step over and over until all students follow smoothly, use a full body turn, and big gestures.

Intro. rule two using non-examples:  Ask a student to blurt out while you are talking.  Congratulate him! Great blurting!  Then say, “Class, let’s do that again. But this time when Jack interrupts me, I’ll say Rule 2 and you exclaim, making the hand motion, ‘Raise your hand for permission to speak!” 

Students practice rule two using "Teach Okay".

Intro. rule three using non examples:  Ask a student to leave his seat without permission.  Great job of breaking the rule. Jack leaves his seat again, you call out Rule 3, and the kids exclaim, “Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat!’ 

Students practice rule three using "Teach Okay".

One minute fun burst:  Students practice rules one, two, and three with partner using silly voices.

12:35-1:25  Specials:  

1:25-1:55  Introduce students to Super Speed Math.  

One minute fun burst:  Use "Teach Okay" to practice the first three rules with your partner, using the silliest voices that you can.

1:55-2:55  Show Oral Writing posters (Question, Answer), Capital, Period, and "Because" Brainies, Slides from persuasive writing writing game one.  Explain to students that everything we do in our classroom is part of a very special kind of teaching called “Whole Brain Teaching.  Ask students the following question:  Why do you like Whole Brain Teaching?  Emphasize that questions must be answered in complete sentences. Introduce the gesture for complete sentences.  Place the following slide on the board:  “I like Whole Brain Teaching because ___________.  Students use "Teach Okay" to answer.  Tell students to take turns answering (Peanut Butters always begin) and fill in the sentence frame as many times as they can.  Show students the Improver slide, explaining how they are going to improve their writing by using capitals, periods, and the because clapper.  Students take out writing notebooks.  Students write their sentence in their notebooks with a focus on capitals, periods, and the because clapper.  (Point out the writing board where the label sentences must start with a capital and end with a period are displayed.)  Teacher walks around and does red/green writing, focusing only on capitals, periods, and the because clapper

One minute fun burst:  Using magic mirrors teacher calls out a gesture or Brainie learned today, and students must show that gesture/Brainie.  (Mirror, Tag Team Switch, capital, period, complete sentence please, rules one-three)

2:55-3:16  End of day procedures:  Introduce "Circle Walk" for students to pick up their backpacks.  Collect any supplies at that time that students have in backpacks.  Explain green folders (anything inside green folders goes home).  Teach procedure for stacking chairs.  Assign students their permanent number.  When they line up to go home, they are to line up in number order.  Explain to students that from now on, they will always line up in this order.

Diamond Rule Update

Today's post will be short and sweet.  I simply wanted to share with all of you a change to the Diamond Rule that Coach B. unveiled at the National Conference.

Many of you will remember that the Diamond Rule first came out last fall:  Look at the one who is teaching.  This was a very important rule because in Whole Brain Teaching it is often the students who teach each other.  If you would like to know more about this rule, please see the separate post that I have written on this topic.

After almost a year of implementation, we all began to realize that there was something missing and this rule could be made even better.  The problem with the old Diamond Rule is that we don't always want our students' focus to be on the teacher or another student.  Sometimes we want them looking at a chart, a book, or a power point.  This is what led to the new and improved Diamond Rule:

Keep your eyes on the target.

Now when we ask or gesture for the Diamond Rule, our students will know that their eyes are expected to be on the target, whatever that target might be at the time.  I am excited to begin the school year with the new and improved Diamond Rule.  I hope that you will be too.

Super Improver Writing

In this post I am sharing the next big new thing that I learned at the National Conference.  It is called Super Improver Writing.  Super Improver Writing is a way to motivate students to revise and edit their own writing by linking their writing to the Super Improver Wall.  It is very simple and easy to do.  Here is how it works.

1.  Ask students to write for 5-10 minutes, depending upon your grade level.  The topic can be assigned or free choice.

2.  Next, post for the students to see two or three skills that you would like them to include in their writing.  This could be anything from making sure that all sentences start with capital letters to including an adjective in each sentence.

3.  Give the students an additional five to ten minutes to write, challenging them to make sure that they are using these skills in their writing.  They may also go back and revise or edit what they have already written.

4.  Award Super Improver Stars to students who improved their writing by using the skills that you posted.

In looking ahead to next year I am considering using Super Improver Writing during my Red/Green Writing time.  (Please see separate posts on this topic.)  I am also considering individualizing it, based upon the writing levels of my students.  I am still playing around with how I want to do this.

I am also going to use Super Improver Writing with my Genius Ladder.  (Please see separate posts on this topic.)  When students get to the Genius Paragraph level I will give them 10 minutes to write.  I will then post skills based upon what we are working on in writing and give them 10 minutes to revise/edit.

I can also see myself using it at times during our regular writing block.  I already know how motivated students are by the opportunity to earn Super Improver Stars, so my plan is to use this technique as often as possible to motivate them to revise and edit their own writing.

The New and Improved Five Step Lesson Plan

This has been an amazing week!  I just got back from the National Whole Brain Teaching Conference in Pineville, Louisiana.  The conference itself was soooo much fun and I learned soooo many new things.  If I tried to include them all in this one blog, it would take way too long.  Instead, I have decided to share them with you one at a time, beginning with my favorite - The New and Improved Five Step Lesson Plan.

For anyone who is not familiar with the original five step plan, you can find many in-depth posts on my blog that cover this topic.  Below are the names of the original five steps:

1.  Question
2.  Answer
3.  Expand
4.  Test with QT
5.  Critical Thinking

The changes to this plan have happened in steps three and five, with the biggest change being in step three.  It is now all about ramping up the critical thinking skills in every lesson.  Instead of waiting to focus on critical thinking in step five, it now takes place during step three.  This occurs with the assistance of critical thinking sentence frames.  After teaching the concept and providing the students with examples using the Mirror Words and Teach Okay format that we have always used, we then introduce students to critical thinking sentence frames.  Below is an example of a critical thinking sentence frame that could be used when introducing students to the denominator of a fraction:

I see a group of ______________.  The denominator is ______ because ____________________.

The frames above ask students to take what they have learned about fractions and create their own denominators with things/people in the classroom.  The key to all critical thinking sentence frames is to include a "because clapper" in every set of sentence frames because it requires students to give a reason for what they believe.

Next year I will be using these frames with every lesson.  My plan is to create a data base of critical thinking sentence frames for second grade that can be used year after year.

Since critical thinking was introduced in step three, step five is now called "Advanced Critical Thinking".  This step almost always involves writing.  In the spirit of funtricity, a WBT buzz word, I have my students write to Biffy Bluebird.  She is a fun WBT cartoon character.  I explain to my students that she knows nothing about __________ (whatever we are studying).  Their job is to teach her what it is and explain to her how to do it.  The kids really enjoy doing this.  Occasionally, time permitting, I will choose a few pieces of writing at random and tell the kids that I am going to pretend that I am Biffy Bluebird and try to follow their instructions.  This can be a lot of fun and very educational for the students as they watch, usually with much laughter, the results.

So there you have it.  The changes to the five step lesson plan.  I would just like to end with one very important reminder.  Remember, all five steps can, but do not usually, occur on the same day.  It usually takes me between three and five days to cover all five steps.

I hope that you find this information to be helpful as you begin to think ahead and plan for the upcoming school year.

Good-byes

I love teaching, but I hate having to say good-bye to my students on the last day of school.  Every year was tough, but this year was particularly tough.  I had this amazing group of students - my inaugural WBT class - whom I did not want to leave.  We went through the year together and they were my willing guinea pigs.  We laughed together, learned together, and had so much fun together.  I am not sure who loved Whole Brain Teaching the most - my students or myself.

As I reflect back on this school year, there are so many things that I learned.  I can't even begin to tell you how many ah, ha moments I had.  It was a journey that was a lot of hard work, but I will never regret taking it.  I have grown so much as a teacher this past year.  The highlight of the year was becoming a certified Whole Brain instructor.  I am looking forward to the future and am excited about being able to share what I have learned with others.

Over the summer I will begin looking ahead to next year.  I am looking forward to next year in a whole different way.  Last year there was the excitement of beginning something new and the fun of trying to learn and figure everything - and I do mean everything - out.  This upcoming year I am excited about knowing what I am doing and not having to figure everything out.  

Many people have asked me what I am going to change for next year, and my answer is not really a lot.  Yes, I will make a few minor tweaks, and because I know what I am doing, my timeline for some things will change.  However, all of the strategies, techniques, and games that I have used this year will remain.  My motto is "Why mess with perfection?"  After all, in my book WBT is about as close to teaching perfection as you can get.

Another question that I have been asked is what my favorite parts of WBT are.  That is a tough one, because the real answer is everything.  However, as a challenge, I posed the following question to myself:  If you could only implement ten components of WBT, what would those ten components be?  This led to my list of ten WBT must haves.  Here it is:

1.  The Super Improver Wall

2.  Mirror Words

3.  Teach Okay

4.  The Brainies

5.  The Genius Ladder

6.  Red/Green Writing

7.  Puzzlers and Complexors

8.  The Scoreboard

9.  Class Yes

10.  The Rules

I am just thankful that I am not actually limited to only ten. If, however, you are just starting out in WBT and are looking for a place to begin without getting too overwhelmed, these are the ten that I would definitely start with.  My suggestion would be to  master these ten, and then branch out and continue to explore the wonderful world of WBT.  You can find more information on all of these topics right here on my blog, or you can go to WholeBrainTeaching.com for free downloads and webcasts on each of these topics.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful and restful summer.  Maybe I will see you at the National Conference in Louisiana.  Have a great vacation!!! 

WBT Freebies

If you are just getting started in WBT, I would like to share would you a wealth of free teaching resources that you may have not yet discovered.  I am speaking about all of the wonderfully amazing free downloads that are available on the WBT website.  They will make you ask yourself how you had ever taught without them and why you had not found them sooner.  At least those were the questions that I asked myself when I stumbled across these goodies.

Let's begin with where to find them.  First, you need to go to the WBT website.  The address for this site is www.wholebrainteaching.com.  The next step is to register on the site.  The good new is that it doesn't cost anything to register.  You just need to create a user name and password.  Once you've done this, log into the site and all of the downloads are yours.  There is just one small caveat to this.  The only thing that Christ Biffle (the founder of WBT) and the board members ask is that you share these resources with at least ten of your colleagues.  WBT is a grass roots educational reform movement, and by you sharing what you have found, you will be sharing a little bit of teacher heaven with others.  To get to the freee downloads, scroll down the right side of your screen.  Directly beneath WBT certification, you will find the tab for free downloads.  Click on it, and three pages of unbelievable downloads are waiting for you to access them.

When I first started learning about Whole Brain Teaching, the downloads were one of the very first things that I discovered.  The problem was that there were so many of them, and I had no idea what any of the names meant.  Whole Brain Teaching definitely has a language of its own, so to me it was like reading Greek.  Therefore, I spent a lot of time downloading and reading, trying to find the ones most applicable to me and the ones that I wanted to implement in my classroom right away.  It was very time consuming, and it would have been nice to have had someone to guide me through the process, suggesting which downloads would be most appropriate for my grade level and which ones I would want to look at right away.

I am hoping that in this blog post I can be that guide for you.  I'd like to begin with my top three picks for you, regardless of your grade level.  These three downloads all involve writing and will work in synergy with one another to make your writing program a complete success.

1.  The Brainy Game:  I love the Brainy Game because it will teach you how to do all of the oral writing gestures that are used all day long in a WBT classroom.  It will also provide you with beautiful color pictures that you can print and display in your classroom.  You will find that the Bainies will quickly become a favorite of both you and your students.

2.  The Writing Game:  I love the writing game!  What it does is take writing and break it down into its smallest components.  These components are then taught to the students one at a time in a game format known as complexors.  The concept behind it is really simple.  You wouldn't take someone new to tennis and put them on the court to play by simply demonstrating each shot.  A good tennis coach would break each shot down and teach his student one step at a time how to make that shot.  Practice alone does not make one a better tennis player.  You have to practice the correct way.  Writing is no different.  As educators we are good about giving students plenty of opportunities to practice their writing.  Unfortunately, what they are practicing is often incorrect.  By using complexors, you are providing your students with a fun way to practice the smallest components of writing correctly.  The complexors are then used by the students within writing puzzles.  the puzzles provide a structure for writing.  It is without a doubt the best way that I have ever found to teach writing.

3.The Genius Ladder:  I love the Genius Ladder.  It has made a huge difference in helping my students understand how to write a complex sentence correctly, as well as how to write a paragraph with a topic sentence, detail adders, and a concluder.  To learn more about the genius ladder, please see my separate post on the subject,

Next I would recommend taking a look at all of the Super Speed Games.  These games are so much fun for the students, because they are all about beating previous scores and previous times.  This is something that as teachers we know all students love to do.  They are learning, and they don't even realize it.  I have divided the Super Speed Games into two groups.  The first are games that are appropriate for all grade levels.  The second are for beginning readers/learners.

All Levels

1.  Electronic Super Speed Grammar:  Hands down you will find no better way to teach students the parts of speech, as well as to work on what a complete sentence is.  It is one of my favorite downloads.

2.  Electronic Super Speed 1,000:  This is a reading game designed to help students learn the 1,000 most frequently used words in the English Language.

3.  Electronic Super Speed Math:  The most successful way I have ever found to help students master there basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts.

4.Smooth Bumpy Planet:  I have to be honest.  This is a game that I have not used yet with the whole class.  I remember reading about it last summer and thinking how awesome it would be to use when teaching number concepts like skip counting, place value, and even basic addition and subtraction facts.  Until recently, however, I had forgotten about it.  Just recently I was looking at it again and kicking myself for not using it this year when I taught my students skip counting, place value, and how to count to 1,000.  I will be definitely be using it on a regular basis next year.  I have already laminated the number charts.

For Beginning Readers

1.  Electronic Super Speed Rhyme:  The focus of this game is word families.

2.  Electronic Super Speed 100:  In this game students learn the first 100 sight words.  Let me just point out that this game is great for special education students who need many, many repetitions of a word before they can own it.

3.  Super Speed Letters and Phonics:  This game will teach students their letters and sounds.

4.  Super Speed Numbers:  This game will help students learn how to count to 100.

5.  Biffytoons:  This is a great way to introduce beginning readers to basic sight words.

In addition to the above downloads, I would also highly recommend for kindergarten through third grade teachers the language arts and math power pics.  These can be downloaded by subject and grade level.  They are visuals with gestures and definitions that accompany math and language arts standards.  They are used as part of the WBT five step lesson.  (Please see my posts on the five step lesson.)

Finally, I would recommend Mind Soccer for everyone.  Mind Soccer is the WBT review game that is usually played on Friday afternoons.  It is a lot of fun, and the students look forward to playing it every week.

There are many other downloads available that you will also want to check out, but what I have given you is a good place to start.  I hope that you have found me to be a good guide through the world of WBT free downloads.  Happy teaching WBT style!

Red/Green Writing Across the Curriculum

I have been using red/green writing since the first day of school.  I love it!  If you are not familiar with what it is, here is a brief overview:   To get started all you need is a green and a red pen.  Assign students a ten minute quick write.  Make the topic open ended so that students can not claim to be finished.  Announce the focus skill/s that you will be looking for.  At the beginning of the year start with neatness.  Then, every one or two weeks, add an additional skill that you will be looking for.  Students are responsible for both the previous skills and the new one.  As students are writing walk around with your pens.  Place a green dot next to an example of something the student did right.  For example, a word that is written very neatly, a capital at the beginning of a sentence, or an end mark used correctly.  Place a red dot next to an error, but do not say anything.  You want the student to correct the error on his/her own.  I found that my students knew exactly what they had done wrong as soon as I made the mark, because they knew which focus skill/s I was checking for.  My class hated getting red marks.  As a result, they were much more careful when they wrote.  They would get so excited when they had all green marks on their papers.  If you want to know more about red/green writing you can go to the Whole Brain Teaching website and watch video 531.

My understanding and appreciation of red/green writing has definitely grown since I first started using it.  At the beginning of the school year I was very good about making the topics that I assigned open-ended.  However, I soon discovered that red/green writing was a perfect place for step five of the WBT five step lesson, critical thinking.  (Please see separate posts for more detailed information on the five step lesson.)  The critical thinking piece of the lesson generally involves writing, but it is hard to fit in during my regular reading and math blocks.  So, on some days, I would provide students with an assigned topic that supported what we were learning in reading or math.  Students still had plenty of time to write on topics of their choice, but now I was also asking them to write about what they had been learning.

I have also decided that red/green writing does not have to occur just at the end of the school day.  I often use it during my regular writing block.  Some days I will even allow my students to do their own red/green writing.  They absolutely love this.

To demonstrate the power and versatility of red/green writing, I went through my students writing notebooks and selected samples of red/green writing that they have done during the school year.  Underneath each photo I have written a brief description of the assignment.

In writing we were learning how to properly use the "but" Brainie.  We were also working on adjectives.  We had taken the Genius Ladder to the Extender level during writing time, but did not have time to write our Genius Paragraphs.  So, I asked the students to write them during red/green writing.  In our class we use a smilie face to show that a paper is correctly indented.

This piece of writing was from the early fall.  We were beginning our unit on place value.  I had created a math Power Pic through which the students learned that a place is a home for a number.  After a few days of learning about places, I asked them this question during red/green writing time:  What is a place?  Students had also just learned what a "for example popper" was, so many had started using it in their writing.

This paragraph was written in the early spring.  I had introduced students to even numbers with an even number Power Pic that I had created.  After a week of studying what even numbers are and what their relationship is to doubles, I asked them the following question during red/green writing time:  What are even numbers?

The Genius Ladder and red/green writing really do work well together.   We did the ladder that this piece of writing stemmed from after a couple of weeks of addition with regrouping.  the "Blah" sentence was:  The student traded in a ten for ten ones.  At the "Spicy" level my kids had to add an adjective to describe the noun student and at the extender level they were asked to use a "because clapper."  They wrote their Genius Paragraphs during red/green writing time.  I did ask them to use a "for example popper".

During writing we were learning how to write a triple whammy sentence with a because clapper.  Students had orally practiced a number of sentences.  I asked them to choose one and to write a five paragraph essay about it.

During phonics I taught students what we refer to in our classroom as the "Good-bye 'e' rule".  It is our term for the "e" drop rule.  At the end of the week, during red/green writing, I asked students what the "Good-bye 'e' rule was."

Sometimes I ask students to explain something to Biffy Bluebird, one of the WBT cartoon characters.  We had been studying time, along with explanatory writing.  I told the students that Biffy Bluebird knew nothing about how to tell time and it was their job to teach her how.

     

 
We were studying point of view.  I had given the students a passage about a cat named Cupcake that had traveled 150 miles from a campground that he had run away from back to his home.  The passage was written in third person.  I asked the students to retell the story in first person, from the point of view of Cupcake.

This piece of writing was not done during red/green writing, but during our regular writing block.  We have been working on writing informative text and have been doing a lot of comparing and contrasting in our writing.  After reading a passage about Saturn and Earth, students were asked to write a paragraph telling how the two planets are different.

My purpose in writing this blog was to spark your imagination and help you to realize all of the possibilities that await both you and your students with red/green writing.  Happy writing!