July 5, 2012

WBT

Do  you use pieces of Whole Brain Teaching? I used class/yes and the 5 rules last year. I also tried to talk less, use hand motions more and partner the kids up to teach each other the material. I want to go "all in" this coming year with my kindergartners. I know the importance of giving short chunks of information and having the students use that information in some way. I am so guilty of getting the kids on the carpet and talking WAY to long. Then they get frustrated and I get frustrated and no one is learning all that information at one time. This year I vow to talk less and really stick to doing mini lessons.... I know it will be hard for me, but it is my number 1 goal.

I read a blog post the other day by ?? (I am so sorry, I can't remember and couldn't find it. If it was you, please let me know!) she mentioned her principal told the staff to" do 5 things well" I needed to see/hear/read/digest that! I am the queen of having too many irons in the fire. I get really excited about what I am learning and I want to do everything right now! Is that a teacher thing? Anyway, for accoutnability sake, here are my 5 things I am going to do really well (at least I am going to try to do them really well!)
1. Implement Whole Brain Teaching
2. Daily 5 - scared to death about this one but I am committing myself to the process.
3. Daily 5 for math - I did lots of this in third grade but I want to get even better at pulling small groups in kinder.
4. Use pieces of Singapore math during my guided math lessons. I think it is SO important to really focus on number sense and S-L-O-W down where needed.
5. Blogging - I am going to try hard to really document my first year as a kindergarten teacher and write about what is working/not working for me. I am also going to try to create things for my classroom and share them through this blog.

I created a whole brain poster to match my classroom colors. I decided to make 2 different versions. One with the kindergarten rules as heard in this famous video below, and one with the "regular" rules. I made them in rectangles and circles for your displaying pleasure :) If you find any mistakes, please let me know!



Click here to get your copy


So, what are your 5 things? I would love to hear about them!















19 comments:

  1. Great post! I love the idea of doing 5 things well. That is great advice. I am glad you are going to take on Daily 5 - it's wonderful! I also LOVE whole brain teaching. I used Class/Yes, Teach/OK, and Smiley/Frownies. They truly worked well.

    Erica
    Sprinkles to Kindergarten
    erica_crowder0612@yahoo.com

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    1. I am so excited to do daily 5. My school does guided reading and lots of Deb Diller stuff but no one actually does Daily 5 per say.... I hope it goes well and others will follow :)

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  2. I really like the idea of doing 5 things well too. I'm going to try to implement the basics of WBT this year too. I look forward to hearing more about how Daily 5 implementation goes, because I think that will be my next goal. :)
    Lisa
    Learning Is Something to Treasure

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  3. I too like the idea of doing 5 things well. I see a picture frame in my future to put in my room, to keep me on track. I love your WBT posters. I did a little last year, but also want to dive more deeply into it. Yes, it's definitly a teacher thing!

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  4. Hi Heather, I was just getting ready to download the posters, when I noticed that there may be a mistake on the 11th slide, Rule #1. Should it say "listen when 'your' teacher is talking" ? I am not sure?!?
    Thanks for sharing!
    Cathy
    beagle2love@hotmail.com

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    1. Thank you so much. I just fixed it there and on slide 16!!!

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  5. Thank you for these great tools-
    I have read a little about WBT on several blogs.
    After reading your post I have checked out the website and registered....
    Time for me to do some studying!!
    Peggy

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  6. I have given you an award! Stop by my blog to check it out!!

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  7. Thank you so much! I love them. I have some of the same goals for this year!

    ✰Becca
    Simply 2nd Resources

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  8. Thanks for sharing! I really want to try wbt next year, and I really like the rules you added in there!

    dede @ 1stgradeevents.blogspot.com

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  9. Hi Heather! I am also diving more deeply into WBT and D5 this year! I like your idea of picking 5 things to do well - now just to narrow it down to 5! I am going to a WBT conference in Union, MO next week. I hope to have lots of goodies to share. I will try to do a post on it next week. Thanks for sharing your rules posters!
    Tessa
    Spotlight on Kindergarten

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  10. I am loving this WBT. I have always used hand signals but I like how they do a lot of the teaching to each other. Thank you for posting this video!
    Modern Kindergarten

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  11. Thanks for the free posters! I hadn't even heard of WBT until last week! I've been looking into it a bit and want to try out a few things like you did last year. The posters will be helpful! :)

    Jessica
    Mrs. Heeren's Happenings

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  12. I was going to make some because I couldn't find any in neons but now I don't have to! Thank you!! These look awesome!

    Ginger Snaps

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  13. Thank you...so kind of you to share this wonderful resource! Love the colors!

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