I love it, I love it, I love it!

These are the words I heard during a mathematics lesson today.


This week our focus has been on money. In Australia we have two gold coloured coins. The smaller one is the $2 and the larger one is the $1. Most of our activities have used these two coins. This has opened up a lot of opportunities to talk about counting in ones and twos, addition and subtraction. It has given us the opportunity to review and build on concepts already covered in previous lessons. We have reviewed a number of power pix from previous lessons.


The children were excited to learn about our new topic and told their knee buddies they were excited. I created our own power pix question and answer with gestures. We started with mirror and asked our question. "What is money?" The answer I chose was, "Money is for spending, money is for saving and money is for giving." You can use your imagination for the gestures. We progressed onto teach /o.k. and the children were totally engaged in teaching each other.


We used looking and feeling to investigate our gold coins and now the children are getting good at describing them. The children are using their whole brains. They are using their prefrontal cortex to decide to participate, their visual cortex to look, their motor cortex to feel and move, their wernickes area to listen, their brocas area to speak, and their limbic system is being used, as they enjoy the novel activities we are doing.

We have used some cute A4 laminated pink pigs, value cards and coins for a bank for saving and doing addition. Then we used the same piggy, coins, value and spending cards to help us with subtraction. We have used a variety of songs, acting and recording to explore money. Tomorrow we have Crazy Hair day and will bring in a gold coin for our compassion sponsor child. Our activities have been real, relevant, relational and rousing.

Towards the end of today's lesson I said we were going to play yes/no way and that was when one dear child called out, I love it, I love it, I love it! I do not ever recall being that happy when a teacher asked me to do a revision activity. We followed this up with a QT game and the children were thrilled to learn another new game. I was thrilled to find another assessment tool that was easy to use and so accurate.

I would like to join the young girl from my class in saying, "I love it, I love it, I love it!"  Whole Brain Teaching is like a breath of fresh air that has blown out the old way of doing things and is bringing in the new.

Wise One and MInd Soccer

Last week Mind Soccer was mentioned as a soccer game to play inside but the smiley faces had to win to learn more about it. amazingly th very next day th e smiley faces did win and the fun began. The students are divided into two teams sitting on opposite sides of our big red mat. A yelow beanbag is placed in the middle of the mat. Students get in the ready position with hands on their knees and then the questions begin. "What is a sentence?" The hands fly up in the air and the correct answer is given. The children are recalling questions and answers from our power pix wall. Mind Soccer is a great tool to rehearse things covered in class time, when we use other wbt strategies to help us learn. Mind Soccer is also a time of laughter as the children add drama to their little kicks of the ball. The slow motion kick seems to be the most popular at this stage. We have had some free kicks given to the other team due to put downs and teasing. We have also had some ball changes to the other team for incorrect responses. The children are lvoing mind soccer and so am I. It is another fun way to see who understands a concept and who needs more help with it.  The only concern I have at the moment is how to encourage the slower children to keep trying.  I do not want them to stop playing because others are faster. Perhaps I can change the game to my choice not hands up. I am interested in any thought on this topic.

Wise One and WBT

Week two already. We have started so many different aspects of wbt and now we are learning to use these on a regular basis. This week the children met Biffy Blue Bird who helped us with our rhyming words. They were amazed when we had our first try at 100 words with the electronic version of Superspeed 100.We have now learnt all our rules and are practicing them daily. We have also started using our Super Improvers Wall. On Friday we had our first game of Mind Soccer when the smiley faces won. They are certainly keen to play that game again.

Next week I will begin having students as rule leaders and I know they will love that. The funbursts to practice rule one are enjoyed by all and the children are getting the idea of following directions quickly. Demonstrating breaking the rules or what something is not, seems to work with this group of children. Getting 100 percent participation is something to continue to work on. At this stage they are not use to using their whole brains and the expectation to be involved in what we are doing.

I have made many changes to my room and the way the class runs. Part of this is because I have a child repeating and I do not want year one to be the same as last year for him. Secondly, it is because of the reading I am doing in relation to the brain and learning. David Sousa's book How the Brain Learns gives lots of great foundation information that is really helping me. It is putting Whole Brain Teaching into perspective and encouraging me to go deeper with what I am doing. I certainly feel inspired.

I have adjusted my jobs for students to be week long jobs rather than daily job, changed to make better use of time. I am giving students more time to enjoy reading rather than always read and do a follow up activity. This is after reading The Book Whisperer. I am changing how I run my blocks of time in class to make better use of the prime time to teach and learn in a lesson. I am learning so much and looking forward to taking my class forward with whole brain teaching.

Week three I will be using red green writing, the genius ladder and superspeed grammar. I will keep you informed of progress and am going to add some photos of my room as well. I am also going to look into the Crazy Professor reading game. Maybe this could help with read to self time.

To the stars, hoot, hoot!

2013 with wbt in Wise One

A new year and a new class name. After so much preparation and day one finally arrived. We had severe winds and heavy rain in the lead up days, some places have been flooded and some have experiences tornadoes.  This morning I woke to sunshine and blue sky.  What a relief and an answer to prayer!  A great start to the new school year.

The children and parents arrived and it was all systems go. I had a teacher assistant up until lunch time today.  I now have all the books labelled and on the correct shelf, the children have set up their own tidy trays and the tissue boxes are ready for those coughs and sneezes that come during the year. The parents left after a few quick words about no homework or parent helpers this week and it was time to launch into wbt. I had watched the Day one webinar last night just to make sure I had things clear in my mind before the day started.

We started with class, yes and the electronic scoreboard. For the first time I had a child say class back to me but I was not really surprised, as Coach B did say that may happen. The children love the scoreboard and so do I. In the past I was always looking for a whiteboard marker or on the wrong side of the room. Now I just get a child to tap the Ipad and they love it. We then moved onto rule 1 and used mirror words and gestures. Fun burst worked really well. They also really liked it when I demonstrated what follow directions, was not going to look like. The children were rewarded with some free play time when the happy faces won.

I was able to incorporate two lots of small group talks about different topics and already the children have the idea, that I expect them to be doing what is asked. They were not so thrilled when the odd sad face scored a point. Some other techniques used today were ‘’hands and eyes’’ and  ’’ it’s o.k.” I only taught the class up until lunch time so tomorrow will see us add in rule two, teach/o.k and our first power pix. My Super Improvers wall is on display but no child has made a comment about it yet.

In conclusion, day one was amazing and I know the children were using their whole brains. I am also amazed by what you can learn about a group of individuals in one morning. I look forward to day two. To the stars, hoot, hoot!

Opti-MINDS

This is a creative thinking, problem solving, team challenge that runs across Queensland. I am The Regional Director for The Sunshine Coast. We have 322 students involved in preparing for the challenge. They are given six weeks to solve a challenge and 10 minutes to present their solution to a panel of judges. The Challenge can be Language Literature, Social Sciences or Science Engineering Challenge. Students also tackle a spontaneous challenge that is seen only at the event and they get ten minutes to solve it.

I am very busy working on this, WBT and the lovely children in my class and have not been paying much attention to my blog or certification.

The Challenge finishes on August 25th.

I will be back on board with all the  action from wonderful one after that.

Student Engagement and The Red, Green Writing System

The Red, Green Writing System is one aspect of the Whole Brain Teaching focus on students making progress in their writing skills.  The system uses timed writing sessions that have a clear writing skill focus. One red dot is placed above a poor example of the skill. A green dot is placed above a good example of that skill. Students know exactly what to stop doing, and what to keep doing.

This has been our fourth week of using the Red, Green Writing System. I am amazed by the difference that ten minutes of free writing with a clear focus on particular skills, can make. When I told the children it was red green writing time, they cheered. One boy proudly announced he knew what he was going to write about.  Weekly diary recount writing about our weekend adventures had never recieved that response. The fact that students are given a choice on the topic has increased motivation.  They know what the focus is and they get immediate feedback has led to writing progress with increased student engagement.

Rewarding students with stars for improvement on the Super Improvers Wall has added to the excitement now associated with Red, Green Writing. Students no longer write similar things each Monday. Critical thinking is used as students ask and answer their own questions each week. What topic shall I choose? How shall I write it? What text type shall I use? What punctuation do I need? Am I using my writing lines? Am I forming my letters neatly and correctly?  The children are really thinking about their writing now.

In conclusiong the Red, Green Writing System has greatly changed my approach to Monday writing time. It has also changed student attitudes to writing and progress in writing skills. I am looking forward to great things happening with the children as they grow a love of writing.

Whole Brain Teaching and Australia Zoo

On Wednesday the 25th of July our Prep, Year One and Year Two class went to Australia Zoo. Before we headed up to catch the bus, we made time to review the Power Pix for prediction.  We used mirror words and actions to recall the question and answer. Students then responded to Teach ok and told their knee buddies what they thought they would see. Critical thinking was happening right at the start of the day. Students were then given the opportunity to draw what they thought they would see. Making decisions to participate, enjoying what they were doing, looking, listening, talking and moving, all in the first 40 minutes of the day.

We had a spectacular day out. The students and I arrived at school the next day tired, but ready for more learning. Again, we reviewed the Power Pix for prediction. The use of mirror words, actions and teach okay all helped focus the students back to our lesson from the previous day. Students went back to their desks to check their predictions and mark yes next to something they did see and no next to something they did not see. A very practical example of the use of prediction.

Next on our daily plan was writing time. We used a poster on Recounts to help us focus for mirror words and actions, question and answer. What is a recount? The strategy of teach oaky was then used to teach their knee buddy what a recount was. We then used our airboard braintoy to help us review the three parts of a recount. After more use of teach okay to discuss the sequence of events, it was time to write. The children worked well getting their ideas on paper and then conference their writing.

At the end of the day we used cotton buds to help us paint something we saw at the Zoo. In conclusion the students used critical thinking throught the day as they made decisions about their work and how to communicate their understanding of our Australia Zoo excursion. Expressing their opinions about their experiences revealed some interesting facts. It is so simple and effective to use Whole Brain Teaching techniques to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.