The Power of Power Pics

I am in love with Power Pics.  Power Pics are pictures that correspond to content standards in both math and language arts.  Each Power Pic contains a question, an answer, a gesture, and a picture that the students can associate with the gesture.  Here is an example of a question and an answer taken from the Setting Power Pic:  What is a setting?  A setting is where the story takes place.  While students are answering the question, they are making the gesture associated with the concept and looking at the picture.  They then use "Teach Okay" to share the answer and the gesture with their partner.  This process activates all areas of the students' brains, because they are seeing, saying, hearing, and doing.  After the concept is taught, the Power Pic is placed on either the math or the language arts Power Pic wall and reviewed frequently using the answer and the gesture.  The result is better comprehension and recall of content, which I have witnessed first hand since school has started.  Below you will find a picture of what my Power Pics Walls, after eight days of school, looks like.  As you can see, we have covered a lot of content since the beginning of the school year.

When I first heard about the Power Pics wall, I associated it with my old "Words to Know" wall.  On it I would place key vocabulary words.  Although I usually included a picture with the vocabulary words, the kids were only seeing and hearing the content.  There was not much saying involved, unless you count repeating the definition after me, and there was definitely no doing.  The Power Pics wall is so much better.

One of my favorite Power Pic lessons so far this year has been open and closed syllables.  For these I created my own Power Pics.  I wanted the students to get the idea that in an open syllable the vowel hangs out and in a closed syllable it is sandwiched between two consonants.  So, I decided to use a sandwich for my picture.  For my open syllable pic I was unable to find a picture of a sandwich with one slice of bread missing, so after I printed the Power Pic, I just used a black marker to cross out one of the slices of bread.  To further bring home this concept I brought in a sandwich that I had made at home.  I associated the meat with the vowel and the two slices of bread with the consonants on each side.  When discussing open syllables I took off one slice of bread to demonstrate that the vowel was hanging out.  After two days 100% of my students were able to identify open and closed syllables and explain the difference between the two.  Of course, the gestures that they had learned were usually involved in their explanations.  I have created a link for both of the Power Pics if you would like to use them.  Just remember to use a jumbo black marker to cross out the top slice of bread in the open syllable pic.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eixzkozfbz84ia2/closed%20syllable%20language%20art%20pic%20template%20-%20Shortcut.lnk?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwxpchqm4iktxn3/open%20syllable%20language%20art%20pic%20template.pub?dl=0

I have also had a lot of fun with the Power Pic for a sentence.  Students are taught that a sentence is a complete message.  The picture is a phone ringing, and the gesture is pretending to hold a phone to one's ear.  Students are taught the "midnight phone call test":  Imagine that you are sound asleep and wake up to the phone ringing.  You pick it up and listen.  Then you ask yourself, "Was what I just heard a complete message?"  We had been working on this concept daily, and the students were getting very good at distinguishing between fragments and complete sentences. That's when I decided to put them to the test.  I wanted to see if they could tell where to place the periods in a piece of writing, by reading it and listening for complete messages.  So, I typed up a short passage for the students to proofread.  I left out both periods and capitals at the beginning of some sentences.  I chose to leave out the capitals, because we had also been using another Power pic to help us learn that every sentence must begin with a capital letter.  Right before the students began proofreading, I had a brainstorm.  I told the students to hold the phone to their ear, and when  they got to the end of a complete message, to hang up the phone and say "click".  It seemed like a natural extension to the sentence Power Pic, and I have to say that it worked beautifully.  Not only could most of them proofread a piece for periods, but when they wrote multiple sentences, most of them were doing a good job of knowing where their periods went.  Teaching kids what a sentence is and how to write in complete sentences has never been so easy.  Thank you Coach B. for the Power Pics.  They are amazing!

If you do not already have a Power Pic wall  up in your room, it is not too late to get started.  Create one space with a blue border for your language arts pics and one with a red border for your math pics.  You will also want to put letters and numbers along one side and on either the top or bottom of each wall.  This creates a grid system that makes it easy to find each Power Pic when you are doing review.  It also teaches kids how to read a grid.  Don't you just love those added bonuses?  You can find the pics themselves at the Whole Brain Teaching website.  The address is www.wholebrainteaching.com.  Be sure to register.  Once you do, you can go to downloads on the right hand side.  Within the download section you will find Power Pics for both math and language arts through the third grade.  They are yours to download and print.  By the way, did I mention that all of the downloads are free?

Week One in the Life of the Brainies

The Brainies were very excited.  The first day of school was here, and in a few minutes the students would be entering the room.  All of the Brainies were in their designated spot on the board in front of the room, so that all of the students could easily see them.  Below is the selfie that they took:

                                    

As the first day got underway, the Brainies each waited patiently for their turn.  The moment finally came in the afternoon.  Miss Ray introduced "Capital", "End Mark", and "Because Clapper" to help the students share orally about their first day of school.  The three Brainies were all so proud and were hoping that the students would eagerly use them.  It was awkward at first, but soon the students were beginning to catch on, and you could tell by their smiles that they all thought the Brainies were a lot of fun.

Day two was very exciting!  In the morning the students received their book bags, and Miss Ray taught them how to read using the "Capital" and "End Mark" Brainies.  It was a great sight seeing all of those little hands moving while they were reading.  A few students still hadn't caught on, but as Miss Ray walked around watching, modeling, and encouraging, they began to get the idea.  It was amazing how engaged all of the students were.  They were so focused on making the Brainies, that there were no off task behaviors.

By the time red/green writing arrived, the students had the idea.  They were having fun making the Brainies, as they wrote about the best part of their day, using a "Because Clapper".  One little girl wrote:  The best part about today was the Brainies, because they are fun.  All of the Brainies had huge smiles on their faces when they heard that.

Day three was a big day for "And".  He had been waiting all week for his turn, and he was very excited!  First Miss Ray showed the students how to play Puzzle 1 from the writing game.  The moment came when students had to make lists of two items.  Over and over "And" was being used as students said things like, "dogs and cats" or "footballs and baseballs".  The "Comma" Brainie even got a turn when students had to make lists of three items.  You could hear zoop (comma's sound effect) all over the room as students said things like, "mom, dad and sister" or "apples, oranges and bananas".  When they were done, the students were all asking if they were going to play again tomorrow.  Of course, Miss Ray was happy to oblige.

Day four was even more exciting for "And".  In the morning Miss Ray introduced students to Super Speed Grammar to help them learn about nouns.  As they shared with their partners the nouns that they saw in each slide, they were asked to used Brainies and the following sentence frame:  I see __________ and __________.  It was another workout for "And", along with "Capital" and "End Mark".

Later in the morning students not only played Puzzle 1 again, but they also learned how to play Complexor: And, which is also a part of the writing game.  By this time the students had the hang of  "And" and were able to use him in complete sentences, which they then wrote in their writing journals.  There was even more work for "And" at the end of the day, when students had two write a sentence sharing two things that they had learned that day.

Another Brainie also made his debut on day four. It was "5 W+H".  In preparation for the Crazy Professor Game, students learned how to ask each other questions about their phonics' story.  It was great to hear all of the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions that were flying around the classroom.  "5 W+H" felt very proud.

The highlight, however, for all of the Brainies was when students began to use them during "Teach Okay", without Miss Ray even asking them to.  There were a few students who received Super Improver Stars for this.

On day five the students were using the Brainies more and more.  Today "Comma" got a real workout, as Miss Ray taught the students the Complexor:  Comma List.  Students also learned a new Brainie: "Triple Whammy Sentence".  "Triple Whammy" was so excited.  He had been waiting all week for his moment.  He worked as a team with "And" as students created "Triple Whammy" sentences during the Complexor game.  Students then wrote "Triple Whammy" sentences in their writing journals, using one of three sentence frames that Miss Ray provided.  Students could choose from the following three sentence frames, which Miss Ray explained were in three levels like a video game:

The "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeazy" sentence frame:  I like __________, __________ and __________.

The "Challenge" sentence frame:  My favorite __________ are __________, __________, and __________.

The "Super Duper Challenge" sentence frame:  My three favorite nouns are _________, __________, and __________.

Some students even asked if they could do all three!  Miss Ray's response:  Well, if you really want to.

The Brainies were loving life, but then the moment came when "If Then" was glowing.  He wasn't expecting to be used this week, so he was just kicking back, watching many of his other Brainie friends at work.  Then, it happened.  At the end of reading (Remember, students have been reading books all week using the Brainies.), one of the students raised her hand and said, "I found a new Brainie in my book.  She the pointed to "If _____, then _____" and made the gesture.  Miss Ray had never even mentioned this Brainie.  The student just saw it on the board.  It was a glorious moment for the Brainies, and for Miss Ray as well.

Another highlight came on day five.  Sadly, however, the Brainies did not get to hear it.  It was the end of the day and the students were in line and on their way outside to meet their parents.  On the way, one student raised her hand and said, "I have been using the Brainies when I read at night.  Is that okay?"  It was one of those "Miss Ray would like to jump up and down and shout at the top of her lungs how excited she was, but instead she contained herself and very calmly told the student that she thought it was a great idea" moments.  Miss Ray then stopped the line and, out of curiosity, asked her students if anyone else had tried reading with the Brainies at home or had shown the Brainies to their parents.  To Miss Ray's surprise and delight, almost everyone raised a hand.  It was just too bad that the Brainies missed all of this.

It had been a great first week of school in the life of the Brainies.  They are resting this weekend, but they are all very excited for week two of school.

I hope that you all have enjoyed my story of the Brainies.  If you are not familiar with the Brainies or the Writing Game, you can access them both by going to www.wholebrainteaching.com.  Register on the site. (Registration is free.)  Then you can access all of the free downloads.  After you have registered, just scroll down the right side of your screen and you will see a bar labeled downloads.  Click on it, and and not only will you find the Brainies and the Writing game, but you will also find a number of other great Whole Brain resources.

First day of school reflections

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!

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.

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.

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 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.

                  

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.

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:

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.