Whole Brain Teaching - Management Techniques

Do you like to get control of your class in a quick and easy way?  You do?  Well, wait no more!  Using Whole Brain Teaching has been one of the best things I have done in the 22 years of teaching!

"When I say, "Class"

You say, "Yes""

"Class"

"Yes"

"Class"

"Yes!"

Now everyone in the class has stopped what they are doing and are looking at me for the next direction.  I use this all day long!  Now you're thinking -- I bet they get bored with this and stop listening.  Not at all because you change up the way you say, Class.  The kids always repeat back in the voice that you say class in.  So if I say Classity, they say Yesity.  

Say it like a pirate, high voice, low voice, slow or fast.  Be creative!

What I love is when I say "Class" in the cafeteria or when the students come in from recess and we have all 4 sections together and the entire group says, "Yes" and looks at me!  Whaat power!  Now you would think that the other teachers would get on board with me!  I'm working on it!

I had a sub the other day and I taught him how to do this and when I came in later he was using it and smiling!  Success!!

My students are taught that when I say class not only do they say yes but they stop what they are doing, fold their hands and look at me!  It is very effective.  It takes some practice but when they have it - they have it!

These 2 techniques will get you started.  Go to www.wholebrainteaching.com to get a boatload of information and everything is free.

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Five for Friday - First Week Freebies Little Priorities

This was our first week back after our building went through major construction.  There were little things that were not done for us to start with and we all made the best of it.

I finally got my Promethean hooked up.  That was a blessing!  I'm waiting for the doc camera and DVD player to get hooked up but that will come.

I'm so excited for the year to begin!  My children are getting so big!

Tia - Sophmore, Josh - Freshman, Abby - 8th, Jordan - 4th and Kyler - 2nd like me!

This snack was a big hit on the first day!  They were asking for it the next day too.  Many of our families have free and reduced lunch and can't afford snacks.  I wish I could afford to feed them every day!  Pick up the labels here.

Our students each have an ID card that they scan for lunch.

I assign them a classroom number.  Each card is labeled with that number.  I put them in the pocket chart and they grab the card on their way out to lunch.  It keeps things organized and fast!

I introduced all the rules this week with hand movements and they have them memorized.  I love the simplicity of Whole Brain Teaching Rules.  If you want these monster rules click here.

These bathroom passes have been great!  When a student wants to go to the bathroom they put this on their desk and that lets me know who left.  It also only allows one boy or girl to go to the bathroom at a time.

I'm using this weekend to get ready for my next week!

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Major Classroom Reveal 2015-2016

Our entire building had a major overhall!  This was my classroom at the end of July.

This was my classroom August 24th.  The first day I was allowed back into my room!  It has new carpet, paint, door, ceiling and air conditioning!!   How overwhelming!

After 11 hours of work it's starting to look like a classroom!  I see an end in sight!

I still need to do the bulletin board above the whiteboard.  I'm up to 18 students.  I decided to do rows.  I really like it for one of my WBT commands for lining up.  I say "lines, lines, lines."  The students repeat lines, lines, lines 3 times and stand behind their seats.  I look for  the line that does the best job and that line gets to go first.

I like my big windows too!!

 

I like my reading corner.  There is a lot of room fr students to find their favorite books.  I have a few more boxes to label.  Their individual book boxes are ready to be filled.  They each have a whisper phone in their book box.  The bluish square boxes are chapter books.  I'm just starting to level the books by lexile and guided reading.  This all takes time!

You can see part of my word wall.  I wish I had more time.  It's very crowded.  I already put up the words this year since they were all introduced in kindergarten and first grade.  I had more words than I could fit.  I have the extras in a bucket for students to read from if they would like.

These are the books that are sorted by guided reading level.  It assists them in picking good fit books.  I have too many and the boxes are getting crowded.  Now that I'm teaching 2nd I need to get more of the upper level books.

I got the labels from Mrs. Wills a few years ago.

This is my writing and word work centers.   My bulletin boards are blank in spots for my power pix for whole brain teaching.  I wish I had more board rooms.

Girls and Boys bathroom passes!

I assign each student a number for the year.  I labeled the pocket chart with their numbers and this is where I put their lunch cards.  They can easily get them without me having to sort through the pile.

Have a Monstrous Year!

Lori

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Monster Theme - Whole Brain Teaching Rule Poster Freebie

If you haven't started using Whole Brain Teaching in your classroom - this is the year!

Starting with the classroom rules is the best way to start.  I've been integrating Whole Brain Teaching for a few years and I started with the rules and added more in as I was feeling more confident.

https://wholebrainteaching.com/  Everything on his site is free.

I'm doing a monster theme this year so of course I had to make new rule posters.  

Here are 2 of them.  Click on them to download them for free for Google Docs.

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Persuasive Writing with Australian Animals and Freebies

Australian animals are so fun to learn about!  The students get so excited about how different they are.

The kids made these Aboriginal Dot Art paintings in art class.  

I love when we can integrate topics.

This is a form of the emu craft floating around on Pinterest.  

Gluing pipecleaners is not easy.  I think I would change that for next time.

We edged the paper with an ethnic roller that I found through School Specialty.

Now onto our persuasive writing.  Students had to think about which Australian animal they would like for a pet!  Yes a pet!  For my example I am choosing the dingo!

We are writing letters to our parents, using the O.R.E.O. mnemonic device to help write our letters.

Check out Our Cool School blog to get this poster and response sheet.

I am breaking down this assignment to work on all week.

Mentor Text: I Wanna Iguana  by Karen Kaufman Orloff

You can click the book cover to go to a youtube link.  It's not a professional video but it could be an option for you if you do not have the book.

During Reading:  Pause and discuss what makes Alex's letters so persuasive.

Day 1:  Opinion

Discuss how we want to hook the reader!

We could start with a question, make a bold statement or paint a picture.

My Examples:
I would really like to get a dingo for a pet.

Have you ever had a pet when you were a kid?
Can't you just see the whole family loving a pet dingo?

Can you imagine how cute I will look snuggled up with my new pet dingo?

In my classroom we are using Whole Brain Teaching so each student will share their opening sentence with their partner and then we will share the sentence with oral writing. Then they will each write down their opening sentence.  All this practice makes for some great sentences!


This is my favorite video on oral writing.  I have watched it many times.
Click to view.

Day 2:  Reasons

Some phrases to support the opinion could be:
For example, For instance, One reason, Another reason, Finally

Examples:
One reason, we should get a dingo is because we all love dogs and dingos are a lot like dogs.
Another reason, is we have been wanting to get a pet for awhile now.

We followed the same procedure with telling our sentence to our buddy with oral writing and then writing it down.

Day 3: Examples

Some ways to start these sentences could be:
Also, Furthermore, Likewise, In addition, On top of that, Specifically

My Examples:
Also, I will take care of the dingo.
On top of that, you have said I am a responsible kid.

Buddy Oral Writing

Day 4: Opinion
Ways to start a sentence:
Again, In fact, In conclusion, Indeed, Let's remember

My Examples:

Again, I would really like to get a pet dingo for the whole family.
Let's remember, that a pet dingo would make a great pet.

Buddy Oral Writing

After making any final edits they will rewrite it on this paper with a little drawing space to showcase their animal.

Pick up your own writing paper for free.  There are two different sized lines.  I made one bigger for a few of my kiddos who have fine motor difficulties.

Here are some finished persuasive letters.  They did a great job!!

Check out my other Australian blogpost!

Promethean Flipchart



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Super Improvers Wall and Genius Writers with Whole Brain Teaching

I'm so excited to start My Super Improvers tomorrow!  The kids will be in shock when they come in and the clip chart is gone!  They love moving up the chart but I hope that they will love this more.  

Each child have a color coordinated card to the chart.  You can't see the bottom one but it says Beginner (white).  Each time I notice a child improving they earn a star!  This can be in behavior, academics or even handwriting!  When they earn 10 stars they move up to the next level!  The final level is Living Legend!  A teacher I watched on video keeps her Living Legends up from year to year so they can come back and see their names!!  How cool is that!?

I am absolutely loving Whole Brain Teaching for Writing!  My students are writing these fantastic sentences.  We started with the Blah sentence and each day added more to end up with the genius sentence.  They were so proud of their work.

This made me giggle!  Check out his super arms!

We are working on the Triple Whammy Sentence now.  We spent two days doing Oral Writing.  This is where they orally say the sentence to the class using whole brain teaching gestures.  You can watch videos and get print outs from The Whole Brain Teaching website.  Everything is free!!!

They wrote a sentence about winter.  The next step is for us to write a detail to support the sentence.  We will then continue until we are done writing a five paragraph essay!  I'm motivated and so are the students.  I'll keep you posted.

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