WBT Intro for Preschool-2nd Grade

I realized I have not shared the 2 Intro to WBT lessons I was able to create with the fabulous WBT Construction Kit found in the Free Downloads section of wholebrainteaching.com.
There is an Early Education version for PreK-Kinder and a Primary version for 1st-2nd. If you teach 3rd grade or higher I recommend using the original WBT Intro found at wholebrainteaching.com under Free Ebooks in the Common Core section.

The Early Education Edition is a zipped file with PowerPoint and PDF versions of an 84 page presentation based on work from WholeBrainTeaching.com. The presentation will introduce your students to the Five classroom rules and five of Whole Brain Teaching's basic learning techniques:
Class-Yes, Hands and Eyes, Mirror Words, Teach-Okay, and the Scoreboard.

One PowerPoint and PDF contains teacher note on slides to help newbies and experienced Whole Brain Teachers alike teach these lessons. There is also a PowerPoint and PDF that contains no notes on student slides and limited teacher slides for those that prefer.

The Primary Version is a zipped file with PowerPoint and PDF versions of an 103 page presentation. The presentation will introduce your students to the Five classroom rules and five of Whole Brain Teaching's basic learning techniques: Class-Yes, Hands and Eyes, Mirror Words, Teach-Okay, and the Scoreboard AND a lesson on What is a Sentence?

Please let me know if you like these lessons. Would use other similar lessons with the PowerPix incorporated?

Common Core Power Pix Update

I finally finished updating the ELA PowerPix with Common Core Standards and have the kindergarten and first grade ELA ready to share today :) I'm sure there are errors but I think these are much clearer and better organized than what I shared in 2011 when I first started learning about the Common Core Standards. Just click the picture below to download the PowerPix and then grab the Teacher Notes from the Goggle Doc below.
Please let me know what you think and come back throughout the week for the rest of ELA and then Math :)

Must Watch and Must Reads for WBT - Core Four and the Rules

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start! This is the first in a series I'm calling Must Watch and Must Reads for Whole Brain Teaching.  Whole Brain Teaching  has so many amazing, exciting,  life changing tools that will improve your teaching sometimes it is all a little overwhelming. Newbies and experienced WBT'ers will want to start with the Five Rules and the Core Four each year. If this is your first year using WBT and the only WBT tools you use are the Core Four you will still be AMAZED at how awesome your class is. The Core Four are Class/Yes, Scoreboard, Mirror and Teach/OK. These are each very simple and VERY powerful. You can start using all of the Core Four in the first hour of the first day of school or the first hour of your new day of school if school has already started. 

The best way to teach the Core Four is to teach the Five Classroom Rules. I LOVE the Five Rules because they cover every possible issue that may come up in class with Rule 4 and Rule 5. The Rules are: 

 

You can get the posters with the red check border for free from http://wholebrainteaching.com/ but I LOVE the posters from the WBT store shown in the last picture. These are one of the few things WBT charges for and you can buy them HERE and support WBT. There are also many posters on TeachersPayTeachers in different themes. These posters should all be free. I like having my posters printed and laminated before the first day. To build community and buy in I have my students share out different ways we can follow the rules and ways we would be breaking the rules to create an anchor chart. You could also create posters with your students and guide them to creating these rules. 

Chris Biffle AKA Coach B is the co-creator of Whole Brain Teaching  and he has been doing wonderful webinars most Tuesdays. Here is your Five Rules and Core Four Must Watch playlist. Think of it as free professional development that you can do in your pajamas :) First we have the webcasts for each of the Core Four then we have how to bring it all together with the First Hour and Day One webcasts.

Now I also have for you some Must Watch and Must Reads from a few of the many awesome WBT Bloggers.

First the Delightful Deb Weigel has a quick post on teaching the Core Four at the National WBT Conference and a post with a Sub Cheat sheet that is also just a great cheat sheet for everyone especially in the first days. Deb is a WBT master so be sure to follow her and read her other post.

 

One of the things you might have heard mentioned on the First Hour video is the Three-Peat. The fabulous Farrah Shipley did a great post with a quick video that I wanted to share because it makes those day to day tasks sooooooo much easier. Check it out and be sure to follow while you are there and check out her other videos.

Next you must hop over to the delightful Deanna's blog, check out her classroom and download her free WBT Cue cards for the first day. She has made many sets and they are AWESOME!

Finally hop over the spectacular Nancy Stoltenberg's blog for a look at how she posted her rules and scoreboard and watch a video of her class doing the 5 Rules last year. On Nancy's blog you will also see a little about the Super Improver Wall, the Power Pix Grid and the Genius Ladder which will all be covered soon in our Must Watch and Must Reads of WBT. 

Hope you have fun watching and reading and don't forget to stop by my main blog for a giveaway.

WBTKindergarten Facebook Conversations- Class/Yes and the 5 Rules

So I have been busy on the WBT Kindergarten Facebook page with some awesome conversations! Our first conversation has been about Class/Yes. Here are the questions to ponder:

Why do you like Class/Yes?
Why do you use Class/Yes?
When do you introduce it?
How do you introduce it?
How do you change up your Class/Yes?

Our second conversation just started about the 5 Rules and 3-peats. Here are the questions for that:

When and how do you introduce the 5 Rules?
Do you use the WBT 5 Rules or did you have to make some changes?
What gestures do you use and how often do you practice them?
What 3-peats do you use and when do you teach them?
Why do you use the 5 Rules and 3-peats? How have they helped in starting the year?

Come join in the conversations at 

WBT Wednesday

WBT Power Pics are an amazing addition to my classroom because they provide so much bang for your teaching buck. Power Pics help students to use their whole brains to remember important state standards and core concepts. For each Power Pic there is a picture in the center to give you a quick visual of the concept, a Question and Answer prompt to help teach the concept auditorally and a gesture to teach kinistetically and really cement the concept. Even very difficult concept are made fun and quick to learn when you use Power Pics.

Each pic only takes a few minutes to go over and they are fun and engaging so you can get through many in a short time. The biggest strength of the Power Pics is that you can use them in many ways to fit your needs. Most of this year I have shown the pics from my computer on to the projector screen, done the Q and A and taught/reviewed the gesture. I saved ink and the students were all able to see the Power Pics. Key pics I printed and posted on our Focus Wall. Each day we practiced at least our Focus Wall Power Pics and students loved it. I love that I can post them on the wall, put them in a binder, print them smaller for students to review at their desk or even just project them on the wall. There are really no significant problems with Power Pics because once you understand them you can make your own

To help you make your own Power Pics I have made a PowerPoint template.

EDIT Aug 9, 2012
Here is the template with blue, red, green, purple and orange :)
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Electronic-PowerPix-Templates

First Days in ..... Kinder!

So all summer I thought this would happen, went to set up my room and was told it probably would NOT happen and what happened Tuesday afternoon with school starting Wednesday? I was switched from first grade to morning kindergarten! I ended up starting the first day with the first graders I was going to have this year and the wonderful sub the school got for them in Room 501, then did some re organizing in my classroom, 104, and met with the afternoon kinders since all my students were placed in afternoon. Parents were happy to hear from the principals (we have co-principals) that we would now have a third morning kindergarten with me as the teacher.
With all the chaos of switching grades and not knowing what to expect from kinder I didn't know what WBT I would get done the first day. I was able to go over class yes and the 5 rules with the first grade class to get them started. With the kinders I did class yes and rule number 1 on Wednesday, lines and seats on Tuesday and all 5 rules and score board on Friday. Not what I had planned but it is a start especially when I had a few different kids each day. Monday I should have mostly the students I will have for the rest of the year so I hope to start the week like Day 1 of  Andrea Schindler's WBT document for starting Kinder
I hope to have pictures to share next week after Back to School Night when I have permission slips.