Whole Brain Teaching Rules, Phonics and Math Learning Centers, and GoNoodle!

Trying to take pictures is so much harder than I thought. I really wish I could have captured a lot of our fun events in and out of the classroom but I guess I was having just as much fun myself. Haha.

This week, we continued establishing rules and routines. Our classroom rules are based on Whole Brain Teaching and we constantly referred back to it throughout the day. It has helped so much with transition times.

#1 Follow directions quickly.
#2 Raise your hand for permission to speak.
#3 Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.
#4 Make smart choices. (Which is to follow the school-wide expectations - PBIS)
#5 Keep your dear teacher happy.

I love number 5! It seems so silly but I reiterate that Mrs. Martin is happy when her students are learning and trying their best. I use these really cool posters that I downloaded from here.

We also continued practicing how to properly use the centers. Here, I also observed how well the children communicate with their classmates.  I introduced Word Work Center and Math Center this week which will help my students practice Phonics and Math. For phonics, students practiced matching capital letters and then practiced color sorting for math. I love FREE. I was able to get free printable alphabet cards here. It includes upper case and lower case, but we will continue to use upper case for now.

Here are some pictures with Word Work and Math:

 
 
 
 

Another fun thing we did this week was we met our friend, Mustache. His name is really Bart Reynalds but I thought Mustache would be an awesome nickname. We helped our friend Mustache get points every time we dance and move together. When we complete a total of ten movement activities, we help Mustache get to the next level! Mustache can be found at GoNoodle.

As you can see in my snapshot below, we've helped Mustache gain 6 points so far! That also means we did six awesome movement activities that helped us, too. Our favorite was Milkshake by Koo Koo Kanga Roo.

Questions that you can ask your child about this week:

1. What sound does the letter Ss make?
2. What poem did you learn and read this week? (Humpty Dumpty)
3. What word is this? (Find something that has the word "the")
4. What did Mrs. Martin keep forgetting this week? (mostly my colors - but my students were a great at helping me remember my colors. ;)   )
5. What is one way to read a book? (read the pictures)
6. Who is Mustache?
7. Where do the covers go when you use the centers? (under the box or under the container)

Your partner in education,