My Superhero Adventure Reveal

Boom!

                    Bam!

                                    Ka-Pow!

That just gets you in the mood for superheroes doesn't it? Well let me spring into action for ya. Last week I got the chance to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah for their Comic Con. It was a fast paced trip full of pictures, walking, celebrities, and lots of lines! When I came back I showed the kids some of the pictures and artwork I bought for our classroom. Them being their usual enthusiastic selves LOVED it! Below are some of their favorite pictures as well as a few of mine.

"Awwww" They loved the giant teddy bear!

"Ahhhhhh! It's Pikachu!"

"STORMTROOPER!"

"Captain America! oooo and the Winter Soldier! Who are the other people?" We had a little conversation to explain :)

They loved the R2D2 artwork and were disappointed I had given it to another teacher.

"You're with R2D2!!!!!!"

"Who are those guys?" Where's Waldo apparently isn't as popular as it used to be.

Even I wasn't 100% sure what was going on here but the kids had some good guesses!

"Watch out!"

While they didn't know the show they loved that I had a sword!

I bought the Captain America Print for our room. The kids just loved finding other characters they recognized!

Who doesn't love Baymax?

 Here are some of my favorite pictures I showed them. Their reactions were priceless!

"IRONMAN!!!!  and you got to hold the SHIELD?!?!?"

1

"Wow! That's Captain America? That's Captain America! Why is he laughing?"

"That's Captain America! But why does he have a beard? No, why does he have a goatee?" They were so confused!

Overall, the trip was amazing! I had a blast but I did miss my kiddos terribly. I'm glad that they seem to have enjoyed it as much as I have. One of my pitures went Tumblr famous and now I'll have prints and memories to last a life time.

Here's to smiles, laughs, and great memories to carry you through the rest of your week!

Kid Bloggin' Friday: Our complete Sentences

We've been working on sentences since school started. We have practiced our handwriting and we have worked on the important parts of a sentence. So far we have focused on a capital letter at the beginning, an appropriate end mark, and the correct word order. Check out our examples!

We do hot on ponix.

(We do hooked on phonics.)

I am Jon i lic dol en wrc lrml crassrmu. 

(I am Jon I do work in my classroom.)

We do number bonds. And sentrers. (centers)

I like the jim!

We wet at sid.(We went outside.)

In my class we read books and we have centers and we have reases and we have speshls.

I Love caotteg. (I love counting.)

We wint to The chrch. and we had a fierdril and We had a trhado dril.

(I learn with iPads.)

We do brt. (We do D.I.R.T)

I like to pael pE ot scoohl. (I like to play P.E. at school.)

We go To rat. (We go to art.)

We do pe in the jim. We asde have muooic. (We also have music.)

We all go to lunth and we eat thar with owr clas.  

(We all go to lunch and we eat there with our class.)

We do nubrbos. (We do number bonds.)

I e (We learn!)

Here's to more fantastic sentences. Ask your student to find their sentence and show you it using GESTURES! Here's to a great weekend with some fall weather, great company and lots of smiles!

Fast Four: WBT, Hide-N-Seek, and GoNoodle

Hey there all! Man has this been a great week and it's only Tuesday! How often can we say that? Hopefully, very often. At least that has been the case this year. My kiddos are rocking with their use of WBT, our activities, and their responsibilities. Because they have been absolute ROCKSTARS this week, I thought I'd quickly share four of the joys so far. Keep an eye out as this will hopefully be a new section of post this year (Fast Four)!

1. GoNoodle!
"Hey Class!" Hey What? "Are you ready?" For what?.....For some awesome brain breaks, that's what! If you haven't jumped over to GoNoodle you are missing out. We love doing their videos for quick little breaks. With each video our champ gets closer to moving up a level. We only need one more video and we get to head to the transmogrifer! It's always a hooting and hollering good time as our champ grows!

2. Hide-N-Seek
Everyone loves the game. How fun would it be to use this game while learning? That's exactly what we did. For our last math unit over number bonds I created a review activity before our test. I took pictures and material from our series, Math in Focus, and created 16 different question cards. I then hid these around the room while the class waited outside. Pairs were then tasked with 1) finding the cards 2) working together to create the number bond 3)switching roles. The kids had a blast and to make it better.......wait for it.....we did it in the dark and used flashlights!!!! Cue the teamwork and awesomeness!

3. WBT Connection
We have really been working on using our Whole Brain Teaching strategies, tools, and gestures. The students have been rockstars with using the correct responses, following the examples, and trying. That last part is the most important. This isn't just a passing trend. This really is something we are all working on and the students really are trying. For an added bonus I showed a video from the wonderful Mrs. Shipley who has offered me a ton of guidance and support through this journey. The video showed her teaching about sentences with her past kindergartners. Small world....that's exactly what we are learning about now! Students found similarities and differences and then we practiced our gestures!

4. WBT Gestures!
After we reviewed our writing gestures and watched other students using gestures we decided to practice. As an added challenge I gave the presenters the tasks of calling the attention of the class as well as leading them in their example. These are only a few of the amazing examples we had today! Notice they are not only presenting, but also leading their class (who are all mirroring them) and using gestures! Proud teacher moment right here! *insert teary eyes and goofy smile*

They amaze me every day. Here's hoping you are having an amazing week too! 

Weekend Update- Long Weekends are for More Work, Right?

Hey all! If you are anything like me you were not only longing for this 3-day weekend, you were ecstatic when it arrived! What did I have planned for this great weekend you ask? All of the usual of course: sleeping, watching Netflix, relaxing, reading books, and STAYING INSIDE! (It was a game weekend in my college town and I wanted nothing to do with the mix of crowds, chaos, and people.) Well now my weekend is coming to a close and what have I actually done?

Sleeping, Netflix, grocery shopping, newsletter, WBT newsletter, school week plan and prep, copies of homework, SIW update, book box organization, and center organization! And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

My main focus this weekend involved getting information to my families. Some of this was in the form of our monthly newsletter (our first to be exact). This gives a month snapshot of all we hope to cover this month while also giving important dates and reminders.

The rest came to be with a new newsletter I am starting. Since I am starting some new practices this year with Whole Brain Teaching I need my families to know what we are doing in the room and why we are doing it. Cue our new newsletters.

While we have gotten into the groove of using many of the Whole Brain Teaching practices such as Class-Yes, Mirror, and the Scoreboard....I hadn't taken the leap and started the Super Improver Wall. This week, we take on that challenge.  If you are anything like me a couple months ago, you are asking "What is the Super Improver Wall?"  It looks gorgeous but what is its purpose, how does it work and how will students benefit from it?

The Super Improver Wall, or SIW from here on out, is a great tool that is used to chart and encourage student improvement on both academic and behavior goals. Students are "rewarded" for improvement and not just for academic performance. For example, students don't just earn owls, or marks, for passing tests or scoring a certain score. They get to mark an owl off when they have shown improvement. So a student who normally only scores 5/10 on their spelling test might have a goal of getting 8/10 while a student who consistently gets 10/10 on tests might have a goal that includes the use of bonus words or enrichment. Once students show that improvement they get cross out an owl. Goals are geared specifically towards individual students and relate to their academics or behavior needs.

To start, our class will all start by using a class goal. For us, we will all start by focusing on WBT Rule #1- Follow directions quickly, as well as Showing "ready". (Ready is always 1. Eyes forward 2.Voices Off and 3. Body to yourself.) This will apply whether we are in line or at our desks.

Notice that our teacher names are on the wall as well. It's important that students see their teachers are working towards improvement also. This will also help my intern and I establish our own goals. After students pass the first level by getting 10 owls they will get to take that card home and it will be replaced with a card of the next level color. Starting at level 2 individual student goals will be assigned and monitored. I can't wait to get started with this tomorrow!

Here's to happy activities, big gestures, and lots of improvement this week!