Monday, October 13, 2014

Some Updates and Self Goals

Has it really already been 40 days of school????

It has been quite an eventful 40 days of school. We have been going, going, going and not too long ago we found out that our family will be welcoming a sweet baby boy in the spring!! We are beyond excited about this amazing turn of events! We just celebrated our little girl's first birthday so this will definitely be a fun experience. 

So, what WBT have we been using in the classroom? We have been doing all sorts of fun things! We love using class-yes to get our attention, the kids even use it when we are doing activities like calendar. I have attempted to record a Calendar time for the blog. Keep in mind that we have been at school for 40 days and they are first graders but they are doing an outstanding job. During calendar, our meteorologist is in charge. I am there as a guide which you can hear me a little during the video. I tried to edit my voice out for the majority of the video but I hope this will give you an idea of how I incorporate Class-Yes and the brainies into our daily routine.  



Calendar Time Video



My first graders are loving the brainies! We use those all day long. I love seeing them silently reading and doing the brainie motions. It shows me that they are looking at punctuation and other things in the stories they are reading. They also use them when they are talking to each other. It makes my heart smile seeing them use them and love them as much as I do.

Some other things we are starting this week is our Super Improvers Wall!! I have had the wall displayed since school has begun but in first grade, it takes time introducing all the things in our classroom. I have since added name cards on the wall next to the "ladder" and on their cards they each have a ten frame. As they work on their goals, they will earn stickers and once they have filled up their ten frame, they will get to move up on the wall! I know they are going to do a super job with this and they will be very excited to start using it. I will start off with some universal goals for all students to work towards and we will post those, but they will also start receiving individual goals as we see fit when the time comes. We will also incorporate the Super Improvers League with our goals as well.

I cannot wait to get to school tomorrow to share the news that we have joined the Super Improvers League!!!! They will be given specific things to do and try to beat their time... then we will get to see how our time looks next to other classrooms in the nation... and even the world!!! If you would like more information on the Super Improvers League you can visit the Facebook page. Our team name is Mercer's Magnificent Minds! They will be super thrilled to do this!

So, I have a confession to make, I have not been using my scoreboard. I started to use it and found myself not doing a good job and reverted back to my old ways... I know, shame, shame. I love giving out fuzzies and I won't go into much detail about my fuzzies but I am going to try my hardest to use the scoreboard for the rest of the month and see how it goes. My biggest problem is using it regularly and all day long. How do you use your scoreboard and keep yourself on task to use it? I feel like I need a scoreboard for my scoreboard:)

My goals for the week/rest of the month:
- use a scoreboard daily and better
- begin our Super Improver Wall (would it be weird to have my own ten frame card for myself and my goals)
- start competing in the Super Improver League
- enjoy this lovely weather with my lovely firsties


How do you use your Super Improvers Wall??

Wish us luck!!!!