Happy Saturday to me! And I say that because I am celebrating the first weekend of summer vacation!! I am soooo needing a mental break from school, but I still can't help thinking about a few things I want to work on over the summer. :) Teacher problems....
I love my ELA block because we always start with some phonics fun, Whole Brain Teaching style! I fell in love with WBT last year and now I include many strategies in all subject areas! I started using the Scoreboard, Mighty Oh Yeahs, and the Super Improver Wall and never looked back. :)
I had a sweet para record me while we had our phonics voices and gestures of the day. (Please excuse the lounge wear, it was garden planting day!) I use Kristen Smith's Phonics Mastery and absolutely love her phonics gestures. This works perfectly with WBT methods! Now my class and I have tweaked a few to our own tastes, but most are from her pack.
I always begin with "hands and eyes" to make sure all eyes are on me and hands are quiet. Then I give a "mirror check" as a warm up. Kids love this! And after we learn a new phonics sound/gesture, I always ask a student to come up and model for the class. They love to give the mirror check to the others. Who doesn't like being bossy once in awhile? :)
Here's a quick clip of how we start our daily phonics, WBT style!
Here's another clip of more phonics sounds.
My Mother's Day weekend was spent running these two darlings around :) Love my girls!!
I don't know about you, but the last two weeks of school are tough. I mean TOUGH! Sometimes the classroom rules go right out the door and you have to have a plan, a yummy plan. :) Our bribe, I mean, incentive to finish the year off right, was an ice cream party where you earn your toppings. It was totally worth it.
I used my Superstar Student Awards and Medals last week and it was a total success! Parents came to see their kids on the first grade 'red carpet' and don their medals for all to see! You can take a peek at the pack here.
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