as i get closer to starting monday i am reviewing all the info. i was thinking of doing class-yes, then teach okbefore the rules so i can use teach-ok whille they are learning the rules.. what do you all think? ill probably be ok either way but would just like some expert opinions. i will be teaching 4th by the way. 27 fourth grader for my first year teaching. oh me oh my. getting excited! thanks for the help

Oki girl...welcome to the wonderful world of 4th grade. It is really the best around; I've been here for 15 years and they'll have to drag me out. Anyway...your scenario is perfect. I often think the same thing about going Teach/Okay first, but then never do. So, try it out and I'm sure it will work.

One tip is that once you have those three things in place, rehearse the rules with in this practice time. Use the "Triple Repeat" for your procedures such as passing out/in papers, opening books, and lining up. If you need some help with those things, let us know. Just don't be too quick to leave this practice to get to the math book. Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse...that's what you want right now. You can wait a few days to get to that material, because it's a long year and you don't want to be reining them back in later. Establish the tone now!

Keep us posted!
Power to the Teacher!
Chris

Thanks so much for your reply. I think I am going to give it a shot. Tomorrow I am going to finalize my plans and script them out a bit just so I have the info in front of me. Yes my plan is to not really get into to much formal curriculum. We will be doing it ALL year long so this week will be procedures, rules, getting to know each other, team building and fun academic stuff. Triple repeat, I will remember that. Thanks again and i will keep you all updated.

I'll have 27 4th graders too this year! I am glad you asked this question.
Have a great year!

Jeff

Hi Oki girl!
I started school last Monday. With my 2nd graders, I started out with class-yes. We practiced that a couple of times then I explained the scoreboard so that I could give them feedback on how well they were doing with the new procedures. Then we started rule #1 with mirror. Then I briefly modeled the teach-ok so that they could teach each other the rules. They caught on very quickly! I had them teach their partner one rule at a time as we learned them, and then they taught their partners rule #1-3. We actually stopped there on the rules for day one and then added 4 on Tuesday, and 5 on Wednesday. You are right, teaching each other the rules is a great way to practice teach-ok!
It was amazing! Within 30-40 minutes my class was class-yessing, teach-oking, and responding with an oh-yeah or mighty groan for each scoreboard point! It made this teacher very happy! After the first day the new special ed teacher who is in my room frequently told me how much she enjoyed my class and had already looked it up online!

We continued with much more practice throughout the week, and honestly they were all so tired by Friday that their responses were not up to my standards. So we did a lot of practice on Friday and I made sure to stay focused on using the scoreboard. I'm excited to continue next week!

Good luck!