Updated Super Improver pictures

Here is my super improver wall as of Thursday.

My students recently asked me to join them on the wall and we got a new student. My new student and I are working hard to move up to the next level.

Smarty and Doofus!

I have to say when I first saw Coach B talk about the Smarty and Doofus strategy... I didn't think it would work for me. First of all I haven't started Prove It in my classroom yet. I thought I would at least wait until I had introduced that! However, I was losing my kids attention FAST during a rounding lesson today so I went for the Smarty and Doofus plan!

WOW! This was amazing. My kids were having a BLAST explaining how to round with sockless hand puppets! I will post more details about this later... but I had to share right away! I may not have done it correctly ... but this just goes to show... the goofier... or should I say DOOFIER the more excited your kids get!

Pardon the interuption!

I know I promised a blog each day about my first week of school... but I have to take a break!

I spent a lot of time in my classroom today getting ready to introduce my students to new procedures the next step in Whole Brain Teaching. I am going to tell them that they are now ready for WBT 2.0!

One of the changes will be from the Super Improver Wall to the SUPER IMPROVER... TEAM!

Another change this week will be to RULE 1... rule 1 is no longer going to be Follow Directions Quickly.... it will be follow directions immediately! I am going to have a lot of fun with that one!

I am also going to try to switch from using the YES/NO WAY for so many of my whole class responses... my kids LOVE it... but I need them talking in complete sentences!  I spent a lot of time writing notes into my lesson plans reminding myself to encourage complete sentences. I think the best way to do this will be to practice the wrong way with the kids so they know the difference!

Lot's of changes this week (during a Read-a-thon fundraiser for our PTO may I add!). Wish me luck!

LINES!

Have you been patiently waiting for my post about lines... GREAT JOB... Ten Finger Woo to YOU!

Your patience has paid off... here you go!

Wednesday, August 15th (Still the first hour)  ... CONTINUED

 I called them one at a time up to show them their places in line and once they were all in line I sat them back down.

"One of the ways we are going to follow RULE 1!" 

"Follow directions quickly (with gesture)", the students caught on quickly!

"One of the ways we are going to follow directions quickly is lining up! When I say LINES... you are going to say LINES, LINES, LINES and quickly and quietly (I just can't do the WOO!) get in line. I also need to you to push in your chair as you leave your table. When I say Lines, what are you going to say?"

I pointed at them and they said, "LINES, LINES, LINES"

"Great job! After you say LINES, LINES, LINES, how are you going to line up?"

About ten students said, "Quickly and Quietly!"  A couple of students said, "and push in our chair!"

"Great! Let's try it! LINES!"

"Lines, Lines, Lines" (Most students said lines and all lined up quietly. A couple of student forgot to push in their chairs).

"You all did a great job of lining up quietly! I am amazed! I am sad though because not all students said LINES, LINES, LINES and I see some chairs not pushed in. Okay, let me try something. I am going to say something and I going to see if you can read my mind and do want I want you to do! ......... (smiling and leaning towards them as I rub my hands) SEATS!" 

I heard giggling from a couple and most of them said "SEATS, SEATS, SEATS!" 

"WOW! I am so excited that I am going to ... OH NO!"

"WHAT?" 

"I was going to mark on the scoreboard but I haven't taught that yet. I guess I will have to wait."

"NO! Tell us now... mark on the board... we wants points" (I am eating this up!)

"I don't think you are ready. We only have seven minutes until Music and we need to practice lining up again!" 

A couple oh them started begging by putting their hands together. A few jumped up and said we are too ready!... WOW... if they only knew that they were playing RIGHT INTO MY HANDS! MUAH HA HA!

"CLASS"

"YES"

"Hands should be in the listening position. CLASS!"

"YES (all hands in listening position)"

"Okay I'm ready to tell you about the scoreboard. Whenever you do a good job of following the rules. Like Rule 1..."

I was interupted with... "Follow Directions quickly"

"Great job! Yes! Whenever you follow directions quickly I can give you a tally mark on the smiley side of the board. When I give you a tally mark on the board you will clap your hands together like this (I showed them the right way) and say Oh YEAH! Let's practice. Here is a smiley mark give me a Might Oh YEAH!"

"OH YEAH"

"Great job! Okay, there is another side to the scoreboard. If the class is breaking a rule I will mark a frownie. When I make a frownie mark you will bring your shoulders WAY up to your ears and drop them back down while groaning... like this (I showed them the proper way). Let's try this. Frownie Mark, give me a Mighty Groan!"

(Mighty Groan)

"Your shoulders didn't come up high enough. Mighty Groan"

(Mighty Groan... with more students participating)

"Great shoulders on that one. Give me a Mighty OH YEAH!"

"OH Yeah!"

"Not everyone clapped their hands and said OH YEAH! Give me a Might Groan!"

(Mighty Groan... and some groaned too long... HA HA PERFECT.)

"OH I am sorry some of you didn't read my mind! When you give a mighty groan I want you to do it quick like this! Mighty Groan!"

(Mighty GROAN)

"Too slow. Mighty GROAN"

(Mighty GROAN!)

"That was awesome!" Mighty OH YEAH!"

"Oh Yeah!

"Okay all those marks were for practice. Time to do it for real." (I erased the marks I had made)

"Okay, time for music! LINES!"

"Lines, Lines, Lines" (Not all students said lines and many were SLOW POKES!)

"Not everyone said LINES, LINES, LINES. Give me a Mighty Groan"

GROAN

"Great shoulders on that groan! Mighty Oh Yeah!"

"Oh YEAH!"

"Seats!"

"Seats, Seats, Seats"

"Everyone did a great job of saying seats three times! Mighty Oh Yeah"

"Oh Yeah"

"Oh, bummer, not everyone clapped their hands when they said Oh Yeah. Give me a MIGHTY GROAN!"

Mighty groan.

"Remember when I say LINES, EVERYONE is going to say lines three times and line up quickly and quietly. We want to follow directions quickly so that we can get more smilies! ...... LINES!"

"LINES, LINES, LINES!"

"Great job! Give me a Mighty Oh YEAH!"

"Time for music let's go! (I took the scoreboard with us so I could show the music teacher (she is also using some WBT!)

The scoreboard is shown in this picture next to the Genius Ladder.

 
STAY TUNED ... for how our day continued after Music!

How is it possible?

Seventeen days of school... This doesn't even seem possible! TWENTY-FOUR days left until the end of the quarter! YIKES!

I certainly owe my followers a run down of the first days of school!

Monday, August 13th:

After a day of meetings we had the third grade Meet the Parents night. As always I got nervous... I love meeting the kids... but always worry how I appear to the parents! This year I decided to mention my WBT training and mentor status. I described a little about Whole Brain Teaching and mentioned how this will help their students become better learners! I didn't do the WHOLE lesson on the parts of the brain but I mentioned a couple, complete with gestures. Many parents REALLY nodded their heads and looked at spouses or other family members that were with them. I took that as a good sign!

Most of the students brought their supplies and I had them put paper, pencils, and Kleenex in a central location and the rest of their supplies went to their lockers. I did have names on desks however I mentioned to parents that the seats would probably change soon. This is what I said, "Many of you have already found your child's desk. I do not know your child yet. I look forward to getting to know them during the first days of school. The seats they are in right now are temporary and I will change them as I get to know them as learners. Please feel free to contact me if you have concerns about your child's sitting arrangement. YOUare the experts on your child. I am not... YET! (BIG SMILE)." The parents seemed to like these comments.

Wednesday, August 15th - FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL - (My tenth year of teaching!)

Our school day started in the gym with an opening assembly with the theme of Olympics. After welcoming the students, we showed them a slide show of pictures taken (using a green screen in our building) of the teachers and staff as Olympic athletes. I am working on getting my picture to share with you for your entertainment! One of the pictures even showed a picture of the royal family with our principal's picture placed over the Queen's face! The kids LOVED that!

After the assembly I took the kids to the side of the gym and taught my Class-Yes lesson. This was difficult because of the chaos of other classes leaving the gym. (Video coming soon). Laughter and giggles were immediate... and I saw a couple of stressed faces turn to smiles! On our way back to the classroom I showed the tables that we would sit at during lunch, I was amazed at how relieved the students seemed after knowing where to sit. Some of them REALLY do worry about that!

Before entering the classroom, they put ALL supplies in their lockers. I didn't want ANY of the supplies distracting from what I had to teach them. This was an issue most of the day. These eager learners really wanted their supplies in the classroom. A couple of them wanted to ask questions but I used Coach B's advice and said, "I will answer questions later. Please have a seat". As soon as they found their seats, I started following the cue cards (Available on Teachers Pay Teachers)  I had made using Coach B's First Hour/First Day Webcasts.

 

Program 532 WBT The 1st Hour

Program 533 WBT Day One

I pointed out the Morning's Lesson List on the dry erase board. I quickly checked off the first lesson telling them what a great job they had already done. We reviewed class yes. I reminded them about the importance of putting hands in the listening position. "Great, lets move to lesson 2!" My principal walked in at this point and said, "Lesson 2? You haven't even been in your class five minutes!" 

My kids grinned and I said, "Let's show her Lesson 1, that we learned before even coming to class! CLASS!" 

"YES"

"CLASS, CLASS"

"YES, YES"

"Classity, Classity!"

"Yessity, Yessity!"

Our principal clapped for them and smiled, "Well, I am certainly impressed! I don't think any other class in the school has learned their first lesson as quickly as you have! Keep up the good work!" 

At this point, I wished that I already had the scoreboard running! Oh Well, It would start soon! Time was ticking, I had to have them to Music Class in 15 minutes and wanted to teach them Rule 1 and introduce the scoreboard! 

I taught Rule 1. We practiced saying it over and over. We practiced in different funny voices. I wanted to teach the scoreboard at this point, however I needed them to know how to line up! I decided to teach them LINES because we would have to line up soon for Music.

THIS POST IS ALREADY SO LONG...  So you have to wait until tomorrow to get more! Tune in tomorrow to hear how I taught the three peat within 10 minutes of being in my class!

Teaching even when not in the room!

Hello everyone!

I am a victim of back to school BOG DOWN! I barely have time to make my husband dinner let alone blog! I am trying to get better!

OKAY... so I have started something really fun! I know that I am going to be out of my classroom AT least 35 days this school year. I can't stand the thought of not actually TEACHING my kids for that many days. Step 1 was get a reliable sub! CHECK! She loves the class-yes and is working hard to learn more parts of WBT.

NEXT step... make videos lessons!
I decided that even the days that I am gone (at least on planned days) I can still teach my kiddos. So I am making videos for mini lessons for the sub to show!

Here is the first video:

Here is the second:

I felt a little silly making these videos... but they were a HUGE success! When I made the first one I didn't really intend on making a video EVERY TIME! However, my kids loved it! They asked me to make another one. On the second sub day, my sub was going to reward my students with a Magic School Bus video and they asked to watch my videos instead! WOW! A couple teachers in my school have views the videos and have expressed interest in WBT. I am so excited! My next step... Math videos (I always dread leaving math lesson plans... now I may not have to!) 

Level FOUR!

I was so excited to see the following post on facebook and WBT forums this evening! WOWZERS! Congratulations to all my fellow Level Four Wibbeteers!

Let the Sizzles begin!! The First Level 4 WBT Certified List is in! Please give them your best Ten Finger Wooos!

1. Julie Gustin 1,443 CP
2. Becca Morris 1,348 CP
3. Deanna Schuler 1,318 CP
4. Lindsey Roush 1,160 CP
5. Melissa Smith 1,113 CP
6. Caroline Alexius 909 CP
7. Brandon Kerby 733 CP

If you'd like to see your name on this list, check out the WBT Certification requirements located on this site! Contact me (Nancy Stoltenberg) with any questions!