Yes that's right...1st day of school is tomorrow Monday, August 17th, 2009! I am excited, terrified, and um well a whole bunch of other feelings too! I don't know why! LOL! This is my 6th year teaching! It is my first year in Kindergarten (5 previous were pre-k) and as my dear hubby put it I should be ecstatic that I am getting kiddos that at least know something! LOL! It is true. I should be excited. Only 4 of my 20 students are new to our school! The other 16 attended our Pre-K program last year (including 5 that I had last year).

So...I think the biggest culprit of the butterflies is WBT! LOL! Don't know why for that either since I used it the last 6 weeks of school last year and all summer with a group of kinders going to first. I guess I am just over thinking it! LOL!

So....prayers...light a candle....hold a vigil...whatever....lets see if I survive! LOL! I know I will....

Farrah Shipley
Kindergarten

I SURVIVED! Not only did I survive but it ROCKED! THANK YOU SO MUCH to all the WBT trainers here and supporters! I am so stoked!

OK...So here is what it looked like:

Since the first week is jam packed with assessments (basic kinder readiness, reading group placement, phonics group placement...etc) we are so busy that if it were not for the WBT techniques I think it would have been chaos.

I started off the morning greeting my students and helping them through morning routines while my TA served breakfast. We eat in our classrooms and she serves the two adjoining classrooms breakfast. I am not normally there during this time but the first week I will be to get them settled into the morning routine of putting their lunch up, putting their HORSE books up, turning in homework, and then getting their breakfast.

Next came CLASS/YES. As they finished up eating I introduced the class/yes. They caught on immediately. Then when breakfast ended, I introduced LINES. Since my kiddos sit in desks in rows I have them color coded (blue row, green row, yellow row and red row). I introduced bodies up and then lines to let each row carry their trash to the trash can and make a circle back around to their desks. They stood behind their chairs while the other rows repeated the same procedure. Next was SEATS! This was awesome. They sat down quickly and were ready for me to pick row leaders to wipe desks down. We then proceeded to the carpet for Morning Meeting using class/yes, bodies up, lines, and then each row walked quietly to the carpet. Once on the carpet I introduced crisscross/applesauce (sitting on applesauce) and Morning Meeting began.

I love Andrea's "WHO HAS TO PARTICIPATE" that is shown in the video. The kids loved it. I introduced hands/eyes and then RULE #1. They got that immediately too. All throughout we were telling our neighbor as we learned the procedures. The kids loved telling each other and getting to "talk" and I love that they were tricked into talking about IMPORTANT stuff. LOL!

So....after morning meeting we used our bodies/up, lines, and went back to our seats by rows, then after all were behind their chairs I said SEATS...just to see if they remembered since we had only done this once. AND WOW! I heard....SEATS SEATS SEATS and they all sat down. I was blown away! So this gave me the opportunity to introduce the scoreboard! They love it! We need to work on our might OH YEAHS and our Mighty Groans (not in unison) but they get the idea. I have a few "talkers" and that gave me the opportunity to introduce my BUCAKROO BEHAVIOR board. It is just a color card system pocket chart that is more individual. I even introduced the practice cards and wisdom cards and had a child get a practice card for breaking RULE #1 Had to stay in and practice at RECESS for 2 min and the afternoon HE WAS AMAZING! He was actually the first kid to follow my instructions most of the afternoon.

So as you can see it was a SUCCESSFUL DAY! I have to say the best FIRST day of school in my 6 years of teaching! I am so excited to continue! I know that we will have off days but I tell you what....this was just the FIRST DAY! I can only imagine how much smoother my year will go and how much they will learn with WBT!

Thanks to everyone who has made it possible for teachers like me to get our hands and eyes (like that?) on this amazing program!

Farrah Shipley

PS...
My vice-principal caught me after school and said that all day she was walking around campus and could hear "CLASS/YES" and I asked her ME? You could hear me? She said NO! All the other teachers on campus were using it too! It's rubbing off guys! Can I get a MIGHT OH YEAH!!!!!!

I'm delighted that your first day went so wonderfully! What a testament to your enthusiasm and effectiveness as a teacher!

But please think about one of our favorite sayings is "It's a long year!" And so, we have set up our system so that it lasts a long time and can be continuously refreshed. I think it would be best if you stayed with the Scoreboard as long as possible (a month or two, even) ... then, when necessary, start the White Practice Cards ... then later, waiting as long as you can, add the Purple Practice Cards and then, still later, the Green Practice Cards ... the Scoreboard is Level One, the Practice Cards are Level Two ... but if you don't slow down you'll be done with Level Six by Christmas!

Keep us all posted on your progress ... what a fascinating story!!!

Chris,

Thank you for the input. I actually thought about that yesterday evening and was like....whoa there teach! LOL!

So today I focused primarily on the scoreboard. I am not really at liberty to use recess as a motivatior since at our school it is tied into other performance areas at school. So I have had the hardest time coming up with rewards!

The kids are really into the scoreboard but not yet as a HEY WE WON type thing...that could be because the first two days they didn't win! LOL!

So I am DEFINATELY slowing down!

Introduced Rule #2 today and got MANY chances to practice it in class! Talk Talk Talk....they all want to TALK when they should be working quietly! LOL! All the other things were reinforced and didn't have to do much of that. They fell into our routines for everything! I had a few teachers stop by to observe today and they were impressed with the fact that we had a routine for everything. There wasn't really anytime for the kids to misbehave. The only behavior issue we had today was TALKING! LOL!

So onto Day 3!

Still Pumped,
Farrah Shipley

Simplest reward I've heard of for lower grade levels comes from Roxie Barrett, our 2-3rd grade specialist ... if the kids win the Scoreboard, let them take a ball out to recess ... win by one point, one ball, two points, two balls ... etc! Also, for kinders, you may not need any reward for awhile ... they just love getting the Smilies and doing the one second party ... glad to hear that you slowed down!

risekinder wrote:

That is so funny! I actually had a teacher today use that very thing! I saw her do it and thought...COOL I'll try that!

One thing I have done is start the scoreboard over after recess...afternoons seem to be their hardest time right now (I know I know it's only day three) but I am seeing a pattern.

Some of it is the fact that all these kids were use to taking a 1.5 to 2 hour nap right after lunch...so they are groggy and a little more restless.

So I just got creative today! I know that is what we teachers do best LOL! We started the scoreboard over after lunch...(they didn't win this morning) and they played for stamps on their hands leaving school! They still didn't win but the were really excited to get close and almost win. I even had a few who were already asking...if some of us are good why can't we have one.

Not going to introduce the independents yet b/c I want them to get their classmates on board. So we all sat down the last 10 min of class on the carpet and talked about that very topic. I explained that we were a team and when one of us fails to follow the rules it disrupts us all. So without introducing the guff counter (too soon I know) I did teach them the please stop. Not as a class but that if they saw someone breaking a rule...they could politely say please stop breaking RULE #????? That could possibly keep me from winning a point.

Then we lined up (using lines lines lines of course...love this one) and while standing in line waiting for dismissal there were two children talking (breaking rule #2 since they are supposed to be standing with a bubble and their hands behind their backs) and a little girl turned around and said "????? and ???? PLEASE STOP BREAKING RULE #2!!!" They just looked at her in pure shock...but they stopped talking! LoL! I just gave her a high five as she left and reminded her to be polite when she says it!

It was cute. The kids really do like having some control over their environment...I like the fact that they think they really do! LOL!

Farrah