Earth Day Fun The Whole Brain Way

On Monday April 22^nd we celebrated Earth Day.  We read Earth Day Birthday by Maureen Wright.  After reading, we discussed ways to take care of and help the Earth.  The students participated in “Teach-Okay” and “Switch” in order to share 3 different ways they could help the Earth and its environment.  We then reviewed parts of a friendly letter “ The whole-brain way”.  Each student wrote a letter to Mother Earth declaring their promise to take care of her and how they would do it.  They then made their interpretation of the Earth using a coffee filter and a blue and green marker.  After they made the land and water masses we sprayed it with water and allowed it to dry overnight.  They also traced their hands, and then glued them to construction paper.  They glued the Earth onto their hands and made it look as thought they were cradling the Earth. 

 

The writing page is a free download on teacherspayteachers.

 

 

More Attention Getters!

As I have said in a previous blog post: “Class-Yes” is a wonderful attention getter.  However, it it okay to change it up once in a while.  This keep things new and exciting for your students.  The teacher still gives a command and the students have a punch line they say back.  For example, Teacher: Ready to Rock! Class: Ready to Roll! 

Here are some I use with my class: T= Teacher C=Class

T:Peanut Butter  C: Jelly

T: Ketchup  C: Mustard

Here is a poster from dragonfliesinfirst.com that I love!  It has wonderful attention getters on it.  It is a freebie on TPT.

 

AttentionGrabbersFREEBIE

Switch it Up With the Power of “Switch”

Calvin Coolidge once said, “It takes a great man to be a good listener.”  Whole Brain teaching has taught my students not only the importance of teaching one another but being active whole body listeners as well. In fact, I am guessing that if you are a teacher you have probably noticed that you have both chronic talkers and chronic listeners.  You have those who just want to talk, and then those who are more reserved.  Whole brain teaching “Switch” encourages the listeners to talk and the talkers to sit back and listen. 

After mirroring what you want the students to teach one another, you will partner your kids up in ones and twos.  The ones will teach the twos, and then when you say “Switch” the twos will teach the ones.  According to whole brain teaching first steps, you are guaranteed that every student will both be equally speaking as well as listening.

            When group members teach one another they both should be using gestures.  Even the listeners use gestures as they are taught the concepts.  This helps the listeners to stay on task and focused.  During this process, the teacher should act as a facilitator and walk around the room and praise and prompt students for their efforts.  When I circle the room with my class, I am able to quickly see if students understand concepts and if they are retaining the information given to them.

            Teach-okay and switch have been extremely effective in my classroom.  I deliver information to my students in small chunks at a time.  I have students mirror both my words and gestures.  When I say, “teach”, they are able to turn to their partner and teach them using big gestures.  I love using “switch” because it assures that every student in the room is playing an active role in their learning.    

Motivating Your Students the Whole Brain Way

A WBT classroom is a constantly rewarding, no failure environment. (www.wholebrainteaching.com) Using “Woo!” and “It’s Cool” in your classroom motivates your students to stay involved in your lessons and makes them feel safe to take risks.  When you tell students to give someone a “10 Finger Woo”, they will point their fingers at that student and say “Woo!”  My students love giving a ‘Rolling Woo”, which is wiggling your 10 fingers and saying “woo” at the same time!   When I say a cheer command to my students I will say: “Give (student name) a 10 Finger Woo!”

From my experience, I have learned students often will not want to participate for fear of giving the wrong answer.  “It’s Cool” helps eliminate that.  If someone gives an incorrect answer I say, “It’s Cool!” My class repeats “It’s Cool!”  Students quickly learn that its okay to make mistakes and everyone makes them!  Students love to be praised for their efforts and quickly realize they are in a safe environment where they can be risk takers. 

I feel so strongly about motivating my students’ to learn and to praise each other.  I have incorporated other cheers with gestures into my classroom as well.   Many of these cheers are just quick little positive chants with hand and body gestures.  These cheers help to keep my students motivated, encouraged, and on task.  My students get so excited to praise their classmates, and provide them with encouraging words.  The cheers help to maintain a culture of respect in my classroom.  And to that I say, “WOO!!”  

Here is an example of my class practicing their cheers.  Click on the movie to see the cheers in action!

Class cheers

To download a list of cheers I do with my class click here.

Motivational Cheers

Whole brain Lesson At Work: Letter Writing

Today I taught my first graders how to write a letter, and I whole brained that baby!  I modeled the parts of the letter, taught them a song with actions, and then used a graphic organizer of a body to help them remember the components of a letter.  I had my students “Mirror” both my words and gestures when learning the parts.  I was able to chunk my lesson into small portions, so my students would be able to retain the information.  After mirroring, we did “Teach-Okay”.  Students were able to teach their partner the parts of a friendly letter with gestures, then we “Switched”.  I have set up a post-office in my room, where my students can write and mail letters to friends in our school during literacy center time.  At the end of the day the student mail carriers sort the letters and deliver them to the desired location.  Please see the pictures of myself modeling the parts of the letter with gestures. The pictures are pretty cheesy, but get the point across.  I also have included printable letter forms, and the Friendly Letter writing Song.  For more information on Teach-Okay and Mirror sign up and log into wholebrainteaching.com.

           

 

 

    Download the Letter Body template here.FriendlyLetterTemplate

Download other letter writing printables here.

LetterFormbyjudybonzer

PS. I want to give a shout out to our wonderful custodian Mr. Brian( who is also a wonderful artist)…Thank you so much for making the mailbox for our class!

Making A Difference with-“Teach-Okay”

An old Japanese proverb states “Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” Whole brain teaching has taught me how to be a great teacher, and the teach-Okay method is turning my students into great teachers who are accountable for their own learning as well.

When you are instructing your students you should break your information down into chunks at a time.  A student’s brain can only process so much information at a time.  With the “teach-Okay” method the teacher chunks his or her lesson and allows time for students to respond and teach one another. 

According to WBT, this technique allows you to engage your students in all four learning modes: seeing, saying, hearing, and doing.  When a student participates in teach-okay they have engaged all of the brain’s primary cortices.  According to the www.wholebrainteaching.com, “The longer a teacher talks the more the students will loose.” 

With my class, I do Power Instruction; I break up my lesson into short chunks so they students will be able to process the new information.  During he teach-okay method, students will partner up and do the teaching.  I present the information to my students, and then I clap 2 times and say ‘”Teach”!  My students respond by clapping twice, saying “Okay, and turning to their shoulder partner.  According to the WBT QuickStart E-Book, the students should mimic your tone of voice.   I have watched Power Teacher videos and webcasts as well in order to try to perfect this component of whole brain teaching.  When I perform Teach-Okay, students copy my gestures when teaching their partner and mimic my tone of voice.  As they are teaching one another I circle around the room and check for understanding and comprehension of concepts.  It is a great way to assess students!  The videos suggest getting your class back by saying, “Class-Yes”.  This works like a charm!  Teach-Okay has changed they way my students learn for the better.  For my information go to www.wholebrainteaching, sign-up and start downloading free E-books today!

Here is another set of sings from Stephanie at 3rd Grade thoughts.  (www.3rdgradethoughts.com) I love the chevron print.  I have these signs displayed on a thick zebra ribbon.  I hang them on my wipe-off board in the front of my classroom. 

Download these signs from TPT. 

 

Attention Whole Brainers- You have to try the WBT Intro With YOUR Students!

Whole Brain Teaching Introduction PDF Review

 

“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.”-Henry Ford

 

Whole Brain Teaching has allowed my students to truly work together in the learning process.  Whole Brain teaching allows them to experience success as a learner.  Coach Biffle’s new whole brain teaching pdf was a huge success in my classroom!

 

Chris Biffle , one of the co-founders of Whole brain teaching developed a PDF for teachers to use in their classroom as a Whole Brain Teaching Introduction or refresher.  It guides the students through the basics of whole brain teaching: class-yes, hands and eyes, teach-okay, mirror, and the scoreboard. In the lesson, the students get to take a trip to Whole Brain College, where they get to participate throughout the program. 

 

            My first graders from Warrensburg, Missouri were very engaged during the process.  The bright colorful graphics and having them perform as a play really sparked their interest.  This was a great review for my students on what whole brain teaching should look and sound like.   They were especially excited to be going to Whole Brain College!!

During the teach-okay portion of the pdf, my students were able to recall all 5 portions.  They were very enthusiastic in teaching the different components.  They were smiling and having fun and using big, gestures. There was a 100% engagement in my classroom!   Throughout the course of the day my students excelled with whole brain learning.  They were very attentive, engaged, focused and on task throughout the day.  

 

This document was an excellent review for my students, but would also be great to use the first week of school! My students said that their favorite part was reading the blue sections, so they knew exactly what to do and were able to remember all of the parts of WBT. Next school year, I plan to start with this PDF as an introduction to the basics of Whole Brain Teaching. 

To download the PDF go to wholebrainteaching.com

The link is…

www.yousendit.com/download/UVJqRE9nMm1VVGxBSXNUQw

Graphic: Copyright Chris Biffle 2013

 

Why Whole Brain Teaching??

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensely and to think critically.  Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”

In Whole brain teaching, students learn the skills and strategies to think critically and to teach others while being in a classroom community that is accepting of differences and praises everyone’s efforts. 

Whole brain teaching in one of he world’s fastest growing educational reform movements, and was co-founded in 1999.  Whole brain teaching adheres to all areas of the brain and is focused around the principle that students learn best when they are having fun.  Whole brain teaching classrooms are highly organized environments where students use hand and body gestures, recites rules, mirror their teacher, and teach one another by being active participants in the construction of their own knowledge.  Brain research suggest that students learn best when they are engaged in teaching others.  This is what happens when students participate in teach-okay!

According to the wholebrainteaching.com,  wbt’s  instructional activities have been rigorously tested in classrooms, many for over 10 years.  It has been found to be highly effective. 

In a whole brain teaching classroom students are able to comprehend much more then versus a standard, traditional lecture approach. 

Here is a Whole Brain Teaching Quick Reference Guide I created to help when I first started learning.  I now put it in my sub folder, so my substitute will be able to use some of the whole brain components when I am gone. 

Download it HERE

WBT handout

The Power of “Hands and Eyes”

Have you ever been in the middle of teaching a lesson, to stop and realize that not all your students are listening and not all are engaged??  I think most of us teachers could answer this at some point, yes!  This is why I love the whole brain teaching attention getter of “Hands and Eyes”!  Hands and eyes is the focuser.  Hands and eyes allow students to focus all mental activity on what the teacher is saying and doing. 

            Whenever I need my students to focus and pay close attention to what I am saying I say “hands and Eyes”.  My students respond “hands and eyes” and clasp their hands and put them in their lap.  Then they stare at me intensely.  This lets me see who is immediately on task and ready for instruction. 

According to the Whole Brain Teaching website, in a one hour lesson a teacher should say hands and eyes about 5 to 10 times.  No matter what they are doing, my students know that when I say “hands and eyes”, they will stop, repeat what I have said, sit up, come to attention, and show me “hands and eyes”.  It works like a charm!

After I say “hands and eyes”, I have my students’ attention and am able to start instruction.  I deliver my instruction in small chunks at a time and then allow students to have time to teach and respond.  This is called “Teach-Okay” and will be my next blog post.

Here is some practice Que Cards you can use with your class.  They are from Allie Byrne and are free to download on TPT.

WholeBrainTeachingPictureQueCards

More on Reciting the Rules!!

There are so many fun ways to recite the whole brain teaching rules! I let my students pick what type of voice they want to use. Sometimes it’s a pirate voice, a mouse voice, a pop star voice, etc.  You can also use fun voice cards in your room to help rule rehearsals stay entertaining.  One of my best friends and fellow teachers found these great cards online and uses them in her class. The student leader just picks a card and has the students say the rules in that voice. These cards are from…

http://mrsguenzler.weebly.com/

Download voice cards here.

Voice cards