Where to even begin? Day one was better than I could have ever imagined! The morning went so smoothly and so quickly. It all started with "Class Yes". From the smiles on my students' faces, I knew that they were hooked. Rule one was a lot of fun, especially when I tied it into the scoreboard. My favorite part of the morning, however, was the "3-peats". What a great management tool! If you are not familiar with them, this is how they work: First. make a list of all of your class transitions that you want to happen quickly and smoothly, and then come up with a code word/words for each one. Here is the list that I taught my students today:
Transition Code Word/s
Getting out pencils Pencils Out
Getting out a folder (insert folder's color) folder
Putting pencils away Pencils away
Standing behind desks Bodies and chairs
Lining up Line
Going to the meeting area Meeting area
Sitting down at desks Seats
Putting a folder away Folders away
Next, teach your students that when you say the code word, they repeat that word three times as they are following the procedures that you taught for the direction. It is amazing how quickly things happen! To speed things up even more, I added "Beat the Clock" to the bottom of my scoreboard for line and folders. Whenever I said the code word, I started counting. I then recorded on the bottom of the scoreboard the number of seconds it took for my students to accomplish the task. By the end of the day we were lined up in a straight quiet line in under six seconds. Wow! Let's all give a ten finger Wooh for 3-peats.
I saved the best part of the day for last. It was oral writing with the Brainies and red/green writing all tied together. I began with a question. I asked the students what the best part of their day was. I then had them put their heads down to think of an answer. To assist them I posted the following sentence frame on the board: The best part about today was ________________. When students could complete that sentence in their minds they gave me a thumbs up. I then had them share their sentence with their partners using "Teach Okay". It was at this time that I introduced "Tag Team Switch". (When one student finishes his sentence, he high fives his partner and says, "Tag team. The partner then shares his sentence.") I then called the class back together with "Class Yes" and introduced them to the following Brainies: capital and end mark. Next, I had students share their same sentences again using the techniques I just described, but they had to include the Brainies. After that, I taught students our procedures for sharing with the whole class. They absolutely loved saying "Class" and hearing the response "yes" when it was their turn to share. Most students remembered the Brainies when sharing, but for those who didn't, we just gave them a "Your still cool." Then they would try again, but this time using the Brainies. Next, I introduced the "Because Clapper". In my plans I had written that I would introduce "Adders", but I decided to wait on them. The "Because Clapper," just seemed to fit better. I used the same procedures as above, but this time the students had to add onto their sentences a reason why what they chose was the best part about today. Finally, I introduced them to red/green writing. (I give a detailed description of what this is in a previous post.) I asked the students to write the sentences that they had been sharing orally. I can honestly say that I have never had such great sentences from a class on the first day of school. Even though I was only marking for neatness, not one student in the class forgot his capital or period. Keep in mind that I am the inclusion room, so the majority my students have entered my room significantly below grade level. Here is something else I did as I was walking around. (This was not part of my red/green writing, but I couldn't resist.) When I saw that a student had capitalized a word incorrectly - as we know many students will - I would simply point to the word and say, "Did we use a capital Brainy on this word?" Most would say no and immediately make the letter lowercase. Others would say no and just look at me. I would then ask, "If we didn't use a capital Brainie, why did you capitalize the word?" They immediately made the correction. I seem to be using this word a lot today, but I will just say it again, "Amazing!"
In conclusion, (Wow, I just used another Brainie! I can't wait to teach this one to my students.) WBT rocks! Teaching has never been so much fun! I can't wait to go back tomorrow. Oh, I almost forgot. An added bonus is that this is the first time since I have been a classroom teacher that I have not had a raw throat on the first day of school. Another reason to not talk so much!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
My Writing Program
I love all the components of the WBT writing program. The more I studied each component, the more excited I became about teaching writing next year. The question, however, that I kept struggling with was, "How do I put all of these various components together?" I had the general idea, but I was interested in the nuts and bolts of what writing would look like in my classroom on a day to day basis. Since I knew that my mind would not rest until I figured it all out, I got to work. I decided to map out exactly what my first ten days would look like, so that I could get some practice in "putting it all together". After that I just wanted a general idea of what I would be doing the rest of the year. You might have already noticed that I am a list maker, so I put these plans in my favorite form: a list. Please know that these plans are very tentative and sketchy. I just feel better having something down on paper. I would appreciate feedback, especially from any second grade teachers who have already taught WBT writing for a year.
Day One: Introduce students to oral writing. (Question, Answer, Adders, Concluder will be posted on board.) Question: What was the best part about today? At the end of oral writing students will engage in 10 minute writing. Teacher will introduce focus skill of neatness and do red/green writing.
Note to self: At the end of oral writing pique the students' interest in the Wacky Star Fun Button by drawing the first line of a star on the board.
Note: Oral writing will continue on a daily basis as part of writing lessons or lessons in other subject areas.
Day Two: Use five step lesson plan to introduce students to what a sentence is. Have LA pic to display. Emphasize that from now on we will be answering all questions in complete sentences. During step three read-aloud short vowel phonic's story. Ask students to retell the story to their partner using the Two-Finger All-terrain Action Figure with Anti-gravity Boots Brain Toy. (Poster for each Brain Toy will be displayed in room.) For step five of the lesson, post the following sentence frame: The best thing about me is that I am ______________. (Students are encouraged to add several Adders.)
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Today I learned _____________.
Day Three: Do Coach B's lesson on what a sentence is. Stop at the end of level one. (This lesson can be downloaded from the WBT website. It is under free e-books/common core.) Also play the Writing Game: Puzzle one and Complexor "and".
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Today I learned ____________ and ____________________.
Day Four: Using LA Pic, review what a sentence is. Continue with Coach B's lesson on what a sentence is. Stop after level two. Play Writing game using the same puzzle and complexor as yesterday.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: The best parts about today were ________________ and ______________. Students may also choose to use yesterday's sentence frame.
Day Five: Using LA Pic, review what a sentence is. Continue with Coach B's lesson through level three. Teacher will guide students through using each of the following Brain Toys to share with their partner what a sentence is: Hand Puppets, Air Blackboard, and Props. Play the Writing Game. Do Puzzle 3, Subject/Verb Agreement
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: See yesterday.
Day Six: Introduce students to the Genius Ladder (first two levels) using the following Blah sentence: My mom ran. (There is a free download about the Genius Ladder on the WBT website under free downloads.)
Do Five step lesson on capitalizing the beginning of a sentence. Display LA Pic.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: After school today I am going to ____________ and ______________.
Day Seven: Begin with the Genius Ladder (first two levels) using the following sentence: A fireman burped.
Do five step lesson on end marks. Display the LA Pic.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Students may choose between any of the sentence frames learned with the word "and".
Day Eight: Play the Writing Game using the Complexor because. Be sue to teach the "because clapper". (See the Brainy Game for more information.)
Guide students through level three of the Genius Ladder, using the extender "because". Students will write as many sentences as they can think of at level three of the Genius Ladder.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: See yesterday.
Day Nine: Begin with the Genius Ladder, orally doing the first three levels with the following sentence: My sister cried. Use the extender "because".
Use LA Pics posted on Power Pics Wall to quickly review sentence, capitalizing the first word of a sentence, and end marks. From Coach B's Common Core Free e-book on what a sentence is, put up the "Cartoon Writing" slide of a cat that says, "In the morning, I _____________." Guide students through an oral writing lesson with the question being, "What does the cat say that he does in the morning?" Introduce students to "adders" and the gesture for "adders" (See the Brainy Game.) Students follow up the answer to the question with "adders".
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Over the weekend I __________ and _________________. (Today is the first day that students will be required to use adders. Teacher will not be doing red/green writing today.)
Day Ten: Look back at the Genius Ladder began yesterday: My sister cried. Review what students learned yesterday about adders, and guide students through orally completing the Genius Ladder. Students write an extender sentence, followed by as many adders as they can.
Note: During the first ten days of school, I also plan on introducing students to nouns, by playing Electronic Super Speed Grammar daily.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Teacher will give students red and green pens and they will do their own red/green writing on writing done yesterday.
During the remainder of September and the first week of October, my goal is to focus on teaching different extenders, through the use of the Genius Ladder. I will use the Writing Game to assist me with this. During oral writing I want to introduce students to Concluders, and teach the the Brainstorming Puzzles in the Writing Game. I would also like to spend some time on verbs, using Coach B's free Common Core e-book download and Electronic Super Speed Grammar.
Note: If I feel my students are ready, around the end of September or beginning of October, I would like to introduce students to the "Triple Whammy" sentence. As the year progresses, I can teach students how to add a detail sentence for each part of the "Whammy" and a Concluder. This would take place during red/green writing time. I will create sentence frames to post on the wall that students can use to guide them in how to do "Triple Whammy" writing.
For the remainder of October I will work on explanatory writing. I do a unit every year in which students write a book on "How to Make an Ice Cream Sundae". For our Halloween party, I make each student's sundae, according to the directions in each of their books. I am very literal, so it can be quite hilarious, especially when a student writes something like, "Put one scoop of ice cream on the bowl." During this month I will also focus on transition words.
For November and the first week of December my focus will be topic sentence paragraphs and simple essays, using the Puzzles in the Writing Game as a guide.
For the remainder of December I will work on letter writing, using the Letter Writing Puzzle in the Writing Game. This unit will culminate in letters to Santa.
In January and February my focus will be on narrative writing. Within the writing game I will use "adjective noun" and "descriptive sentence" complexors, as well as the Narrative Puzzle to work on writing narrative pieces.We will also spend time on "College Talk" verbs, and I will introduce students to conjunctions and compound sentences.
In March my focus will be research writing. I will introduce students to the "Paraphrase Complexor".
In April my focus will be Opinion Writing. I will consider using the "Argumentative Puzzler".
For the remainder of the year I will focus on more advanced essay puzzlers. I will also teach compound complex and mega complex sentences.
Day One: Introduce students to oral writing. (Question, Answer, Adders, Concluder will be posted on board.) Question: What was the best part about today? At the end of oral writing students will engage in 10 minute writing. Teacher will introduce focus skill of neatness and do red/green writing.
Note to self: At the end of oral writing pique the students' interest in the Wacky Star Fun Button by drawing the first line of a star on the board.
Note: Oral writing will continue on a daily basis as part of writing lessons or lessons in other subject areas.
Day Two: Use five step lesson plan to introduce students to what a sentence is. Have LA pic to display. Emphasize that from now on we will be answering all questions in complete sentences. During step three read-aloud short vowel phonic's story. Ask students to retell the story to their partner using the Two-Finger All-terrain Action Figure with Anti-gravity Boots Brain Toy. (Poster for each Brain Toy will be displayed in room.) For step five of the lesson, post the following sentence frame: The best thing about me is that I am ______________. (Students are encouraged to add several Adders.)
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Today I learned _____________.
Day Three: Do Coach B's lesson on what a sentence is. Stop at the end of level one. (This lesson can be downloaded from the WBT website. It is under free e-books/common core.) Also play the Writing Game: Puzzle one and Complexor "and".
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Today I learned ____________ and ____________________.
Day Four: Using LA Pic, review what a sentence is. Continue with Coach B's lesson on what a sentence is. Stop after level two. Play Writing game using the same puzzle and complexor as yesterday.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: The best parts about today were ________________ and ______________. Students may also choose to use yesterday's sentence frame.
Day Five: Using LA Pic, review what a sentence is. Continue with Coach B's lesson through level three. Teacher will guide students through using each of the following Brain Toys to share with their partner what a sentence is: Hand Puppets, Air Blackboard, and Props. Play the Writing Game. Do Puzzle 3, Subject/Verb Agreement
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: See yesterday.
Day Six: Introduce students to the Genius Ladder (first two levels) using the following Blah sentence: My mom ran. (There is a free download about the Genius Ladder on the WBT website under free downloads.)
Do Five step lesson on capitalizing the beginning of a sentence. Display LA Pic.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: After school today I am going to ____________ and ______________.
Day Seven: Begin with the Genius Ladder (first two levels) using the following sentence: A fireman burped.
Do five step lesson on end marks. Display the LA Pic.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Students may choose between any of the sentence frames learned with the word "and".
Day Eight: Play the Writing Game using the Complexor because. Be sue to teach the "because clapper". (See the Brainy Game for more information.)
Guide students through level three of the Genius Ladder, using the extender "because". Students will write as many sentences as they can think of at level three of the Genius Ladder.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: See yesterday.
Day Nine: Begin with the Genius Ladder, orally doing the first three levels with the following sentence: My sister cried. Use the extender "because".
Use LA Pics posted on Power Pics Wall to quickly review sentence, capitalizing the first word of a sentence, and end marks. From Coach B's Common Core Free e-book on what a sentence is, put up the "Cartoon Writing" slide of a cat that says, "In the morning, I _____________." Guide students through an oral writing lesson with the question being, "What does the cat say that he does in the morning?" Introduce students to "adders" and the gesture for "adders" (See the Brainy Game.) Students follow up the answer to the question with "adders".
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Over the weekend I __________ and _________________. (Today is the first day that students will be required to use adders. Teacher will not be doing red/green writing today.)
Day Ten: Look back at the Genius Ladder began yesterday: My sister cried. Review what students learned yesterday about adders, and guide students through orally completing the Genius Ladder. Students write an extender sentence, followed by as many adders as they can.
Note: During the first ten days of school, I also plan on introducing students to nouns, by playing Electronic Super Speed Grammar daily.
Oral Writing Sentence Frame: Teacher will give students red and green pens and they will do their own red/green writing on writing done yesterday.
During the remainder of September and the first week of October, my goal is to focus on teaching different extenders, through the use of the Genius Ladder. I will use the Writing Game to assist me with this. During oral writing I want to introduce students to Concluders, and teach the the Brainstorming Puzzles in the Writing Game. I would also like to spend some time on verbs, using Coach B's free Common Core e-book download and Electronic Super Speed Grammar.
Note: If I feel my students are ready, around the end of September or beginning of October, I would like to introduce students to the "Triple Whammy" sentence. As the year progresses, I can teach students how to add a detail sentence for each part of the "Whammy" and a Concluder. This would take place during red/green writing time. I will create sentence frames to post on the wall that students can use to guide them in how to do "Triple Whammy" writing.
For the remainder of October I will work on explanatory writing. I do a unit every year in which students write a book on "How to Make an Ice Cream Sundae". For our Halloween party, I make each student's sundae, according to the directions in each of their books. I am very literal, so it can be quite hilarious, especially when a student writes something like, "Put one scoop of ice cream on the bowl." During this month I will also focus on transition words.
For November and the first week of December my focus will be topic sentence paragraphs and simple essays, using the Puzzles in the Writing Game as a guide.
For the remainder of December I will work on letter writing, using the Letter Writing Puzzle in the Writing Game. This unit will culminate in letters to Santa.
In January and February my focus will be on narrative writing. Within the writing game I will use "adjective noun" and "descriptive sentence" complexors, as well as the Narrative Puzzle to work on writing narrative pieces.We will also spend time on "College Talk" verbs, and I will introduce students to conjunctions and compound sentences.
In March my focus will be research writing. I will introduce students to the "Paraphrase Complexor".
In April my focus will be Opinion Writing. I will consider using the "Argumentative Puzzler".
For the remainder of the year I will focus on more advanced essay puzzlers. I will also teach compound complex and mega complex sentences.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
First Day of School Plans
I am very detailed oriented, so when I am learning something new, I appreciate as many details about what I am learning as possible. With this in mind and figuring that there are others like me, I decided that instead of just giving you an outline of what I would be doing on the first day of school, I would post my actual day one lesson plans, copied directly from Curriculum Engine (our computer based lesson plan program). I realize that some of it will not be applicable, but I hope that you will find it as helpful.
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:
10:55-11:10 Introduce "Silent Mirror" and "Mirror 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
11:120-11:50 Lunch
11:50-12:35 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: Art (While students are at specials, teacher will assign student numbers.)
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, Adders, Concluder). Question: What was the best part of today? Students use "Teach Okay" and "Tag Team Switch" to answer. Emphasize that questions must be answered in complete sentences. Intro. gesture for complete sentences, along with the capital and period Brainies, and model what this would look like using the following posted sentence frame: The best part about today was ______________________. Students use "Teach Okay" and "Tag Team Switch" to answer. Ask a couple of students to share introducing at this time the procedure for sharing: Call on student and gesture toward him/her. Other students gesture towards student and does 3-peat of students name. Selected student stands and says, "class." The class answers, "yes." The selected student then shares his/her sentence and sits down. Teacher leads class in a "ten finger wooh" for the student. Students take out writing notebooks. Students write their sentence in their notebooks with a focus on neatness. (Point out the writing board where the label neatness is displayed.) Teacher walks around and does red/green writing, focusing only on neatness. Teacher introduces adders. Use the same procedures for adders that were just used with the answer. When students share their adders, teacher models walking fingers down arm. If an adder is off topic, teacher falls off mountain and says, "Off topic." Note: If time is short, students will only share adders orally, but will not record in notebooks. f students do a good job with their oral writing, draw one line of the Wacky Star Fun Button, but do not explain it.
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, adder, 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.
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
10:55-11:10 Introduce "Silent Mirror" and "Mirror 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
11:120-11:50 Lunch
11:50-12:35 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: Art (While students are at specials, teacher will assign student numbers.)
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, Adders, Concluder). Question: What was the best part of today? Students use "Teach Okay" and "Tag Team Switch" to answer. Emphasize that questions must be answered in complete sentences. Intro. gesture for complete sentences, along with the capital and period Brainies, and model what this would look like using the following posted sentence frame: The best part about today was ______________________. Students use "Teach Okay" and "Tag Team Switch" to answer. Ask a couple of students to share introducing at this time the procedure for sharing: Call on student and gesture toward him/her. Other students gesture towards student and does 3-peat of students name. Selected student stands and says, "class." The class answers, "yes." The selected student then shares his/her sentence and sits down. Teacher leads class in a "ten finger wooh" for the student. Students take out writing notebooks. Students write their sentence in their notebooks with a focus on neatness. (Point out the writing board where the label neatness is displayed.) Teacher walks around and does red/green writing, focusing only on neatness. Teacher introduces adders. Use the same procedures for adders that were just used with the answer. When students share their adders, teacher models walking fingers down arm. If an adder is off topic, teacher falls off mountain and says, "Off topic." Note: If time is short, students will only share adders orally, but will not record in notebooks. f students do a good job with their oral writing, draw one line of the Wacky Star Fun Button, but do not explain it.
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, adder, 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.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Room Decorations
I have been hard at work all week decorating my room. My students do not arrive for two more weeks, but I like to set up early, so that I have time to relax before the year begins. Below are pictures with brief captions. The only thing that I do not have up yet is my homework thermometer. It was ordered and has not yet arrived.
This is my language arts and math pics board.
This is one of my whiteboards in the front of my room. Since I will be playing Prove It each day, I decided to create an area to record student answers, along with effort points, answer points, and penalty points. You will also notice my Wacky Star Fun Button, a place to keep track of Mind Soccer minutes, and oral writing reminders. By the side of the board are posters that will be used during Mind Soccer.
This is my Genius Ladder. I decided to place my stop light transition words on the side of the ladder, so that my students will have easy access to them.
Here is my scoreboard with rule one above it. At the bottom of the scoreboard is an area for Beat the Clock, and a space for the Guff Counter, if I need it.
I decided to create a board with all of the Brain Toys.
Here is my Super Improvers Board and classroom rules.
I call this my Brainies Board. I was originally going to create a tree map, but I did not have the space. I created this board for me as much as I did for the kids. If I forget one of the gestures, all I have to do is peek at the board. Having all of the Brainies posted will also be helpful when we play Competition Brainies.
Here is a view of my classroom from the back.
This is the wall by the classroom door. The black bulletin board you see next to the language arts pic board is my writing skill focus board, which will be used in conjunction with red/green writing. Right now the only skill listed is neat handwriting. I will add skills to the board as they are introduced.
I hope that you enjoyed this mini-tour of my classroom. Be sure to check back next week. I will be posting my complete day one lesson plans.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Red/Green Writing
If you are looking for a good and an easy place to get started with the WBT writing program, I would highly suggest red/green writing. I had an opportunity to try this technique out at the end of last year, and I was amazed by my students' enthusiasm over it and the difference that it made in their writing. 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.
I have given a lot of thought to what I want red/green writing to look like next year. I used the WBT proofreading list as a starting point and created my own proofreading list, upon which I have placed the focus skills in the order that I will be introducing them during red/green writing time. This is the list that my students will be using to do Paperclip Proofreading. In Paperclip Proofreading, each student is given a paper clip that they clip beside their writing rules. Each rule has a proofreading task in parenthesis next to it. When students complete the task, they move their clips to the next rule. As a teacher you can tell immediately which error a student is looking for, based upon where the paper clip is at. It is also an easy way to tell which students are following directions. Just watch their gestures. On the WBT website there is a great free down load called Whole Brain Writing. There you will find additional information on Paperclip Proofreading, as well as other components of the writing program. Below is my proofreading checklist:
I have given a lot of thought to what I want red/green writing to look like next year. I used the WBT proofreading list as a starting point and created my own proofreading list, upon which I have placed the focus skills in the order that I will be introducing them during red/green writing time. This is the list that my students will be using to do Paperclip Proofreading. In Paperclip Proofreading, each student is given a paper clip that they clip beside their writing rules. Each rule has a proofreading task in parenthesis next to it. When students complete the task, they move their clips to the next rule. As a teacher you can tell immediately which error a student is looking for, based upon where the paper clip is at. It is also an easy way to tell which students are following directions. Just watch their gestures. On the WBT website there is a great free down load called Whole Brain Writing. There you will find additional information on Paperclip Proofreading, as well as other components of the writing program. Below is my proofreading checklist:
Writing Rules and Proofreading Checklist
1. Your paper is not wrinkled or torn. Your writing is neat and very easy for your teacher to read. (Smooth your hand over your paper.)
2. Every sentence must begin with a capital letter. (Press one finger on each capitalized word that begins a sentence.)
3. Every sentence must end with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. (Flick the end mark at the end of every sentence.)
4. No two words are squashed together. (Place the side of your finger between two words that look too close together.)
5. No sentence is shorter than 5 words or longer than 12 words. (Use your fingers to count the words in each sentence.)
6. No sentence begins with the word “And”. (Put your thumb under the first
word of every sentence to be sure it is not “And”.)
7. No sentence has more than one “and”. (Flick every “and” and make sure that no sentence has more than one.)
8. Two sentences in a row never start with the same word. (Using two different fingers, point at pairs of sentences to be sure they start with different words.)
9. No words are missing. My writing makes sense. (Point at each word and read it quietly out loud.)
10. Every word is spelled correctly. (lightly underline any word you think may be spelled incorrectly, and look for the correct spelling.)
I am going to create a small rectangular bulletin board on one of my walls. It will be titled "Focus Skills". On it I will post each focus skill as the students are responsible for it. They will be introduced in the order that they are on the proofreading list. So at the beginning of the year, the only one that I will have up will be neatness. Around the board I am going to post, possibly in speech bubbles, sentence frames for the red/green writing topics that I will be giving my students. As the year progresses, this will give them a number of ideas to choose from. After I have gotten through the third focus skill, I am going to introduce them to the proofreading checklist. They will each keep one on their desk during red/green writing. If they receive a red mark, they will place a tally next to that item on the list. To make it less confusing, I don't think I will give them the complete list. I will only have on the list those focus skills that I am editing for. Every so often I will give the students a red and a green pen to try doing their own red/green writing. The students will also use the list for Paperclip Proofreading, not just with their red/green writing, but with other writing as well.
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)