What Are We Playing For?

"What are we playing for?"  any given student in Bell's class first thing in the morning.

This has become the standard question on Monday mornings in my classroom.  It is what excites kids and motivates them.  They have become accustomed to us having a weekly challenge of what we play for with the scoreboard game.  I chose to keep the prize the same for a week so that I wouldn't have to think up something new daily.  The idea of that overwhelmed me.  I can usually plan something on the weekend for the following week whether it's a utube search or a pinterest find.

This past week, we played for five minutes of free time.  Prior to WBT entering my life, I would have given my students five minutes for free but no longer.  We maximixe our learning time and usually have a one minute reward that students try to earn everyday.  For them to have five whole minutes was truly a treat and one they used well.

This next week, we will be playing the hand-clap game of sevens.  I'm excited about it!  Not only will it energize them, it will work on midline skills which always enhances learning and focus not to mention increasing eye strength, team building and will be just plaing fun.

Here are two girls who have excellent instructional videos on a variety of hand-clapping games as well as some other links that I have used so far this year.

Sevens:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3knQAUN1kcY

Dance like you have ants in your pants:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYWycl8vR5c

Thriller animation:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

Coach B's CCSS Series!!

 The Common Core - WBT Style

"What do we teach?" ask many.

"What don't we teach?" state a few..

 

"How do we teach it?" the curious inquire.

"How do we escape it?" cries the shrew

 

"When do we begin?" the teacher querries.

"You haven't yet?" the principal replies..

 

Well... uh ...the teacher stammers..

as she falters, stumbles  and lies.

 

A superhero is then born

by the name of Coach B

 

who offers some advice

and all of it free

 

on to the slideshow where students will focus

on one word Coach will teach them to apply

 

the magic of BECAUSE will become standard

and used often becomes alive

 

a single, a double a triple:  it's strong evidence you see

and yet made easy to teach as 1, 2 and 3

 

The more they use it the more they will know

how to think

all we had to do was pop in the show

and take a sip of our hot frothy drink

 

Thank you Coach for your special series

on how to teach the common core -

 

You've inspired me yet again

with tools to teach and wings to soar.

Here's a link to Coach B's special series on how to teach to the six shifts the common core brings. His first piece of the series is how to use the because clapper to incite critical thinking.  His slide show is ready to use and can be applied to almost any grade and subject.

Also, we found out tonight that there will be a national conference in June.  This is terribly exciting and will be held in Pineville, Louisiana.  I'm going to have to figure out a way to get down there.  I wonder if I can talk my family to travelling there for vacation :-)

Bells.

p.s.  I just checked and the link is not up yet but I will post it as soon as it is.