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!

Coach B.'s Visit to Las Vegas

Coach B.'s visit to Las Vegas was awesome!  I can't tell you how great it was to meet him in person and watch him in action.  This post is dedicated to all of the "fine tuning", ah ha moments, and new ideas that I walked away with at the end of Coach's visit.  Numbers one and two were my biggest ah ha moments.  After that, they are listed in no particular order.

1.  My biggest ah ha moment was in regards to Mirror Words.  The first thing that I noticed was that in both my classroom and during both training days, Coach B. used Mirror Words even when he did not go right into a Teach Okay.  This was huge for me, because for some reason, I had always connected Mirror Words with the Teach Okay.  As a result, I only used it right before I did a Teach Okay.  To explain why I thought this this way, I need to go back to the beginning.  If you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I was a self-taught Wibbiteer (slang for a Whole Brain teacher).  I watched videos and everything that I could find on line about WBT.  Most everything I learned about I felt like I understood pretty well, but Mirrors were confusing to me from the beginning.  When I first started, I thought that the students had to repeat exactly what you said, along with your gestures.  (I guess I thought of a mirror and it brought to my mind the idea of mimicking the other person.)  Thankfully, through the intern program, I quickly learned that my understanding of Mirror Words was incorrect.  The goal is for students to paraphrase what you are teaching them.  This was very eye-opening to me, because since students didn't need to copy my exact words, I could give them more than a simple sentence to teach.  I could actually say things like, "Explain to your partner ____________."  It changed my lessons.  They became so much easier to chunk.  My teaching changed completely.  Now I feel like I have the final piece of the puzzle.  I feel like a free woman.  I can use Mirror Words anytime I want to, not just before a Teach Okay!  Thinking about it now, I realize that I probably should have known that.  After all, I never felt like Silent Mirrors or Magic Mirrors were tied to my Teach Okay.  However, the past is the past, and I am just happy that thanks to the modeling of Coach B., the light bulb has finally come all the way on.

2.  I really enjoyed watching Coach B.as he taught step two of the five step lesson plan: the question.  My biggest take away was that during Mirror Words we can do more than just simply state the question.  We can say things like, "I have a question.  A really big question.  It's a ginormous question.  Here is our question for today."  We would then go on to state the question two different ways.  It just made step two a lot more fun.  Then, right before calling for a Teach Okay, we can either say "Mirrors Off" and ask students to share the question with their partner, or simply go right into the Teach Okay.  I loved it, because it really brings that element of funtricity to what had not previously been a very exciting part of the lesson.

3.  Coach B. talked about something that I think is super important.  It will not change what I am doing, but it gave me more insight into why I am doing it, which will help me better explain WBT to others.  He said that when we teach our students, we are really teaching them a foreign language.  Words like numerator, denominator, hexagon, preposition etc.  they have never heard before.  When learning a foreign language, we can't just hear the language.  The way that we learn it is through speaking it.  After modeling the first two steps of a fraction lesson, Coach B. stopped and talked about how many times we had used the words numerator and denominator in the past few minutes.  Repetition is key to learning a foreign language, and it is the repetition created by the first two steps of the five step plan that makes those two steps so powerful.  That was a great take away for me.

4.  My next insight was in regards to think time.  He said that when we give kids think time, we don't know what they are thinking about.  I had not thought of this before, but it made sense.  However, I was not sure that this would work with my ELL students, who I feel often need a few moments to think about what they want to say, particularly right before oral writing.  So I talked to Coach B. about this.  I shared with him what I currently do:  Right before asking students to think of a triple whammy sentence I have them put their heads down and hold up one finger for each whammy they think of.  When three fingers are up, I know they have their triple whammy sentences.  He thought that  this was interesting and suggested that I try it both ways and see what the differences are in the students' responses.  That is exactly what I am going to do.  I am anxious to find out if my students can come up with triple whammy sentences without the think time.  If they can, I am considering saying good-bye to my think time.

5.  Coach B. talked about one of the most powerful things that you can teach your students:  No two sentences start with the same word.  If you are familiar with the Writing Game, this is actually found on the paper clip editing checklist.  I have it typed out and ready to go on my wall, but I had not yet taught it to my students.  I was going to, I just hadn't given much thought yet to when.  I am happy to report that the wait is now over.  Last Monday I began to teach my students this very important rule, and it is now hanging on my red/green writing wall.

6.  Coach used a half finger Wooh with my students.  It was awesome!  He would say, "Give me an eleven and a half finger Wooh".  For the half finger students bent one finger and very quickly and in a high voice said, "Woop".  It was awesome!  I use them all the time now.  My kids say that Coach B. has really got me hooked on the half finger Woohs.  I told them that they were right.  I love them!

7.  I learned a fun option for three-peats.  As soon as students have followed a direction, such as blue folders, they raise both hands in the air and either cheer out loud or silently until you signal for them to stop.  Another idea would be for them to snap their fingers.  This keeps the students busy if you need a moment to help a student who can't find what you have asked for.  I love it!  I implemented it this week with my class - I chose the silent cheer - and I am happy to report that it is a success.

8.  Coach also officially introduced as a strategy something that he has always done:  Give me a _________.  For example, "Give me an oooh!" or "Give me an aaah!"  We practiced inserting these statements into our lessons, and it just added a little more funtricity to them.

9.  It was a lot of fun when Coach B. came and played Mind Soccer with my students.  He modeled a component of Mind Soccer that I remembered seeing on videos, but until he modeled it, I had forgotten all about it.  When a team got a question right he would point to them and say cheer, and then he would quickly point to the other team and say moan.  It made the game a lot more fun.  I will definitely be doing that from now on.

10.  My last big take away was to amp up the funtricity.  I feel like we have a lot already, but watching Coach B., and the way that he was able to make everything fun, was contagious.  The limbic system in the brain is so important to learning.  If we can't engage our students emotions, they will not retain the information, which is truly what learning is all about.

I am so happy that I had the opportunity last weekend to work with Coach B.  There are not enough positive adjectives to describe him.  I, for one, am just very thankful for Coach B.'s passion for helping others.  It is truly one of the things that make him so special.  Happy Whole Brain Teaching!

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.