Teaching Kids to Accept Their Assigned Partner

Like many of you, I'm starting the new year by reviewing social skills and procedures. As we prepared to play double bump today (nice free lesson by KidsKnowMath, by the way), I did a quick review of how to accept your assigned partner. 

Well, I thought it was going to be a quick review. First I modeled:

When you find out who your partner is, some of you might feel excited. If you feel excited about your partner, I want you to look at your partner and make this face. *Head nod with a big smile.*

Some of you might not be very excited about your partner. If you're not feeling very excited about your partner, I want you to look at your partner and make this face. *Head nod with a big smile.*

What did you notice?

One or two kids noticed that the faces were exactly the same, so we moved on to students practicing. I randomly picked two kids and asked them to show what they were supposed to do when they learned they were partners. It went reasonably well, so we practiced as a class. 

Show me the face you'll make if you are really excited about your assigned partner: Everyone smiled. Now, show me the face you'll make if you aren't so excited about your partner. Everyone frowned. WHAT?  So I went back and modeled again, then we all practiced again. Still not good. After the third practice we finally got the idea.

After that little incident, I decided I'd better make a little reminder, so here it is:

Hop over to my TPT store and grab it for free. While you're there, I'd love for you to follow me and leave a little feedback! Hope you're 2016 is off to a great start!

Incase you're wondering, the partner work went fairly well. I snapped this picture of a couple kids working together. Trust me, this is quite a victory!

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

Top 10 Benefits of GoNoodle

When I began using GoNoodle in my classroom, I was thrilled to be able to give my students an opportunity to get their wiggles out. Giving students short activity breaks is still my primary reason for using GoNoodle, but the benefits have gone so much further than I ever expected! I have assembled a top ten list of reasons I love GoNoodle.

10. GoNoodle can be used as a motivator for desired behavior.

I often tell my students that if we can get our work done or the room cleaned up in a certain amount of time, we'll have time to do a GoNoodle activity. This can really help with transitions. I've also used GoNoodle as a way for kids to earn rewards for the class. If a student meets an individual behavior goal, I let them choose a GoNoodle activity for the class.

9. GoNoodle teaches kids techniques for calming down.

In addition to the physical activities, there are also calming videos. The videos teach strategies for calming down, adapting to changes, forgiving yourself, and other social skills.

8. GoNoodle helps support Responsive Classroom.

We started doing morning meetings last year. I was really amazed by the amount of overlap between RC and GoNoodle. For example, in RC students greet each other each morning. To keep the greeting fresh, there are lots of different methods to use to greet each other. Koo Koo Brothers have some secret handshake videos where they teach many of the same handshakes I learned in Responsive Classroom Training. Most of the videos on GoNoodle would work very well for the activity portion of morning meeting as well. I prefer to do the activities with our focus on each other rather than on a screen, but the GoNoodle videos are really helpful for teaching the activities.

7. I can use things we've done in GoNoodle videos throughout the day to help me manage my class.

Many teachers like to use callbacks to get kids attention. (I say "One fish, two fish." They say, "Red fish, blue fish.) Last year my class LOVED the Koo Koo Pop See Ko video. I started using it as a fun way to get them quiet before going to lunch. I would say, "Hey Class!" They responded, "Hey what?" We would go through the intro and then they had to find a silent way to pop see ko. We ended by standing like a soldier and were ready for the hall.  

We've been doing the Llama Song lately (one of the new Moose Tube videos.) Yesterday we were in the hall waiting for one last student to finish washing their hands. I started doing the hand motions for the Llama song. They picked up on it immediately and we went through the whole song without making a sound. (By the way, this is also awesome for early literacy skills.)

6. GoNoodle gives different kids the opportunity to shine.

One year I had a student who seemed to struggle with everything related to academics and behavior, but when we put on a Zumba Kids video, holy cow! What an incredible dancer! It was a real source of pride for him, and it gave the other kids a positive way to view him. (Also, just watching him made the rest of my class better dancers. He was seriously gifted.) I would have had no idea about this incredible talent without GoNoodle.

5.  GoNoodle directly supports academic skills.

Of course physical activity and brain breaks are research-based strategies for improving academic achievement, but recently GoNoodle has added lots of ways for you to incorporate your own learning objectives into activities. Check out this shared writing lesson from last winter.

Also, I'm thinking I'll be able to put the words to some of the popular songs into their fluency folders!

I just wrote the words to the Llama Song if you're interested.7. Kids increase their physical activity at home because of GoNoodle.

4. It increases students' level of activity at home.

One year we didn't have recess after lunch, so I would use GoNoodle to help with the transition from lunch to classroom. I had a student who was so averse to physical activity she would hide to avoid coming to the classroom and doing activity. One day I mentioned it to the PE teacher. The PE teacher gave her a little pep talk, and she started participating. Later in the year that student told me she was doing GoNoodle at home! (We did Camp GoNoodle at my house this summer.) She came to my room last week to help me with assembling some packets, and she begged to be allowed to do a GoNoodle activity before she left. So proud of her!

3. There are benefits to kids with anger, anxiety, or sensory problems.

Deep breathing and yoga are proven ways to help kids with anger and sensory problems. Airtime and Airtime Space both teach students deep breathing. I was truly AMAZED the first time I put on the Airtime video. One of my students had some very serious behavior concerns. He refused to join the class for lessons about half the time. He opted instead to hide under desks. When the Airtime video came on, he was entranced. I could actually see him calming down as he breathed in and out in time to the bubble. 

My own son is being evaluated for sensory concerns, so I've been doing lots of reading on Sensory Processing Disorder. As I read, I'm thinking of so many former students. I'm realizing that SPD is probably the reason for many behavior problems we deal with. One of the most highly recommended strategies for kids with SPD is yoga, so I try to do a Maximo video everyday.

2. GoNoodle gives me an opportunity to discuss growth mindset.

Some kids who learn reading easily struggle with some of the balance and coordination tasks on GoNoodle. I've seen them give up and sit out during the harder activities. As an athletically challenged person myself, I can relate. When I was younger, I had a pretty awful PE teacher. I didn't know how to do things, and I assumed I'd never be able to learn. When I got older, I had some better PE teachers. I started to realize that I could actually improve my coordination when they provided me with some coaching and practice time. As an adult, I was amazed at the improvements I made while taking an aerobics class. I've even seen my own dancing improve with some of the guided dancing videos we do! I've been able to share this experience with my students. I think it's easier to see and feel your own improve

ments in physical activities and songs than in reading and math. I use the example of GoNoodle to explain to my students how they can improve in any area by learning strategies and practice. 

1. It adds joy to the classroom!

I really cannot describe the excitement of the Transformigator. It really has to be seen to be believed. ;)

If you love GoNoodle as much as I do, I have some very exciting news! From now until September 11, you can use the code  BTSwithGoNoodle to save 15% on everything in the GoNoodle Shop.

Additionally, I am thrilled to be able to offer my first ever sponsor giveaway. I have a GoNoodle Canvas Tote to give away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners will be contacted by email. I will need to provide your mailing address to GoNoodle so they can send you your prize.

Check out other posts with giveaways!

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

What to do During the First Days of First Grade

When you're beginning your career as a teacher, you have a vision of what you want your classroom to be like. You put lots of time and effort into the organization of your classroom. You hear advice like, "you can't be too harsh." (Yes, I saw that just the other day.) You hear that you need to be firm and teach routines. It can be really overwhelming.

For the first few days of first grade, I just like to have lots of things planned and prepared, but I base the sequence mostly on how much time I have before a required transition and how the kids are feeling. I repeat activities. I break activities down into smaller components.

It's important to realize that the kids can't sit and listen all day. You also have to realize they will get really tired! I always thought I should have lots of active things planned, but by the afternoon they were way to exhausted to do anything!

I've put together a document that I use as my plans for the first few days. I have the sequence vaguely planned before the kids show up, but it's very flexible. I've included lists of procedures to teach, books I like to read, the steps to establishing rules or a class contract (two possible procedures), activities for the first days, and a few free resources. (Including the poem below and a beginning of the year survey.)

I'm sharing this with you for free. It's Not very fancy, though! ;)

I hope it's helpful to someone!

One of the things I do is a craftivity to supplement Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I just have the kids make coconut trees with their names on the trees. We display it in the hall with a sign that says, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! Look at who's in our room! If you want to use the patterns for tree tops and trunks, the letters, and the sign, you can get it in my TPT store for a dollar.

I've also been creating some new decor. I use a transportation theme. I've made a 0-20 number line with 10 frames, an ordinal word train, a color words display with cars, and months of the year. With the months is a page of cupcakes. You can edit it to include student names and birth dates and display it as a graph if you'd like.

Finally, if you read my last post about my thoughts on starting the year, you know I'm trying a new approach to meet the teacher night. I made a power point presentation. I'm going to have it printed and posted around the room. I'm also going to play it on a loop on my interactive white board. For my own classroom, I added pictures of supplies from a Google image search.

The details will be different for everyone, and I can't share the supply images, but if you'd like to use the templates, I have an editable file for you.

If you like these freebies or the transportation decor, I hope you'll pin them so others can find them as well. Thanks!

You may also like these posts focusing on Back to School (they include more freebies):

Getting started with morning meeting

Organizing your classroom library

Building Community with Little Tommy Tucker's Dog Song and Dance

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

photo credit: New Colors. via photopin (license)

Building Community in Your Classroom with Singing and Dancing

Today I'd like to share a song and dance I use in the beginning of the school year to build community: Little Tommy Tucker's Dog.  This is a fun brain break, and if you use Responsive Classroom, this makes a great activity for Morning Meeting.

What are the benefits of singing and dancing in your classroom?

1. It gets the students out of their seats and moving.
2. It gets students interacting with each other in a non-threatening situation.
3. You can put the lyrics in poetry folders to practice fluency.

Click on the picture to download for free!

Learn the dance

Stand in a circle. Assign partners very quickly. Assure them that they will have lots of different partners during this activity so it does not matter who they are partnered with. Students stand sideways facing their partner.

1. Bow, wow, wow (Stomp your feet, one stomp per word.)
2. Whose dog art thou? (Lift your hands up in a questioning way.)
3. Little Tommy Tucker's dog, (Hold hands with your partner and turn so you change places.)
4. Bow, wow, wow, (Stomp your feet, one stomp per word.)
5. Turn around to face the person behind you. That person is their new partner.

When teaching this to my class, I first teach the song by having them echo sing. Then I ask for a volunteer to help me teach everyone the dance. We stand in the center of the circle and model the dance. After modeling, I quickly walk around the circle assigning partners.

When we start doing the dance together, I remind the students of the upcoming actions after each line. When the song is over, I tell them, "don't turn around, but just turn your head and peek behind you to see who's standing there." Once everyone has looked behind them, I say, "Turn around and look at the person behind you." That person is their new partner! We repeat the dance until students eventually end up returning to the partner they started with.

Community building tip

To get the students talking to each other in a non-threatening way, I give them quick things to say to their partner each round.

• Give your partner a high five and say, “I'm sure glad you're my partner!”
• Shake your partner's hand and say, “This is so much fun!”
• Wave at your partner and say, “Partner, those are some cool shoes!”
• Smile at your partner and say, “Howdy partner, you're lookin' good today!”

This tip is from a Kagan training I attended. It helps "break the ice" and get kids talking to each other. It's safe for shy students because it's highly structured. It can be used anytime you are assigning partners.

See and hear Little Tommy Tucker's Dog song and dance 

Below are some videos I found of people singing and dancing. The actions sometimes vary slightly from mine. You can alter them to suit you.

I've played this game successfully with end-of-year kindergarteners and beginning of the year first graders.

If you love integrating art and music into your classroom, follow my Arts Integration Board on Pinterest!

  Follow Not very fancy's board Arts Integration on Pinterest.

If you found this post to be helpful or interesting, I hope you'll follow me on social media and at my TPT store.

How to Keep Your Class Engaged When You Have to Wait

You get to music class two minutes too early. The guidance counselor was supposed to come at 2:25, but it's 2:26 and no one has arrived. Half the class is finished in the bathroom, and the other half is supposed to wait quietly. 

Whenever you're trying to get your class to wait patiently for a couple minutes, the potential for chaos exists. We all have little tricks, but it never hurts to have one more. I like to play, "it could be, but it's not."

This game--if you want to call it that--is incredibly simple, but engaging. I ask the class to guess what I'm thinking based on one or two clues.

Teacher: I'm thinking of a day of the week.

(hands go up)

Student: Thursday

Teacher: It could be Thursday (because that is a day of the week) but it's not.

Student: Monday

Teacher: It could be Monday, but it's not.

*At this point, kids who might not have remembered what the days of the week are starting to raise their hands.*

Student: January

Teacher: Hm. It couldn't be January because that's a month. I'm thinking of a day of the week.

Student: Friday

Teacher: Yes! You got it! Now I'm thinking of a month.

This game is really engaging because of the element of luck and the lack of threat.

If kids don't know the answer right away, they might figure it out as they hear other students giving answers that "could have" been right. If a kid gives a wrong answer, they aren't really embarrassed because almost everyone is getting answers "wrong."

Usually if kid guesses my answer on the first try I tell them "could be, but it's not," and pick a new correct choice in my head. It makes the game a little more fun. Of course, if you end up playing for a long time, it can be really exciting to let someone get it on the first try. Similarly, if waiting time is over, the game can come to a very fast conclusion by making the next answer "the one." Just be careful with switching your answer around, if you make a mistake they will catch you!

Other prompts I use are:

I'm thinking a fruit.

I'm thinking of a shape.

I'm thinking of a color.

I'm thinking of a state.

and

ALL KINDS OF MATH

I'm thinking of a number that is less than/greater than.

I'm thinking of an odd number.

I'm thinking of two numbers with a sum of 7.

I'm thinking of two numbers with a difference of 2.

I'm thinking of a number you say when you count by 10s.

You can relate this activity to whatever content you're teaching!

I know that some of you like to have physical copies of ideas like this, so I made a set of 24 cards with questions as a special gift to my blog readers.

For more helpful classroom management tips check out these blog posts and follow my Pinterest Board:

Follow Not very fancy's board Classroom Management on Pinterest.

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

photo credit: Hallway via photopin (license)

Deeper Comprehension: Duck! Rabbit!

One of the benefits of reading picture books my kids love many times is I get all kinds of ideas about how a book can be used to develop reading and thinking skills in an elementary classroom. Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krause Rosenthal is a powerful book. It doesn't have many words, but it is full of meaning and the humor that made AKR my new favorite author. 

Duck! Rabbit! is an excellent book to use to teach kids how to identify the author's central message--a Common Core State Standard at just about every grade level.

Before we walk through the comprehension lesson, look at the cover.

Do you see the rabbit? 

Do you see the duck?

Duck! Rabbit! is engaging and thought-provoking for all ages!

Young children like its simple pictures, and if you read it with good expression, they are highly entertained by the debate. Is this picture a rabbit or a duck?

Beginning readers will enjoy reading and rereading this book themselves--making it a sneaky way to help them develop reading fluency.

The book gets interesting when you begin to look for the author's message. There is a basic framework you can teach kids to use to identify the author's central message. It's also a great framework for summarizing and retelling. You can get a printable sign with the four prompts for free in my TPT Store.

Let's walk through the lesson so you can see the magic of the framework.

What is the problem in the story?

Answer: The characters (who exist only as voices) disagree about which animal they see in a picture.

Taking comprehension deeper:  Students can usually figure out the problem, but they struggle to put their thoughts into words. Students will probably say, "'They' are fighting over whether 'it's' a duck or a rabbit." Try to push them to identify the pronouns more specifically. The voices don't have names or faces, which will be a point of interest. It might be challenging for students to identify "it" as a drawing or picture. They will tend to want to call it a duck or a rabbit, and trying to decide what to call it will make them think critically.

What do the characters do about the problem?

Answer: They each give supporting reasons for their opinion.

Taking comprehension deeper: Students should be able to tell that the characters are arguing, but I find they have a hard time using the higher-level vocabulary to more accurately describe what is happening. I usually have to suggest words like reasons and opinions. We work together as a class to get the statement as clear and concise as possible. It helps to write down the words (or type them onto a SmartBoard.

What do the characters learn?

Answer: They learn that the picture could be a duck or a rabbit. They realize they are both right.

Taking comprehension deeper: Students should notice that the characters begin to see each other's perspective. It will be hard for them to recognize that both characters are correct. Some might be completely convinced the drawing is a rabbit, so they'll think that one character was right in the beginning and the other one was right at the end. In my experience, once someone points out that they can both be right most of the class will agree.

What does the author want you to learn?

Answer: There can be more than one correct answer to a question. What you see depends on your perspective.

Taking comprehension deeper: It's going to really difficult for young students to get to this point. This is why I think this text could be used with much older students than the ones I teach. To try to get primary kids to this point, I would emphasize that the drawing is what the characters learned about, but the author want's us to learn about LIFE. Using "in life" as a sentence starter will probably get most groups to something like: "In life, different people think different things about stuff." I dislike the word stuff, so I  push them to try to think of better words like situations or events.

 To help them understand, provide some relatable examples: 

Climbing trees: kids think it's fun, but parents are scared the kids will get hurt.

Rainy days: Some people are sad because they don't like going outside in the rain, but farmers are happy because they need rain for their crops.

Honestly, I think high school students could probably benefit from this discussion, but I doubt high school teachers I using Duck! Rabbit! (unfortunately). 

Lessons like this are my favorite part of teaching! It takes extreme patience to guide a conversation like this, but I think every kid in the classroom can get something out of it. It's totally worth it.

I'd love to learn about some other apparently simple picture books that can get pretty deep. Share your favorite in the comments.

Visit Reading Toward the Stars to learn about other fantastic books! 

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

How to Integrate Hand-Clapping Games into Literacy Instruction

Integrating music and art into instruction across the curriculum can improve student performance and create a stronger sense of community in the classroom. It might seem like arts are fun extra activities to insert into the day if there happens to be time, but this is not the case.

There is research to support the use of singing and dancing in the classroom. Quite a bit of it is listed at the Center for Lifelong Music Making (the organization that taught my classes). I see the benefits in my own classroom. I'm happier. The kids are happier. There's more enthusiasm for learning when I have been able to use the techniques I learned from at the arts integration classes I took, my students perform better.

Update: Do you want to read more about the benefits of hand clapping games? Check out this post at the Inspired Treehouse.

My students have recently developed an interest in hand-clapping games. Some of them have lyrics I don't particularly care for, so I've been teaching them ones I prefer. One of my favorites is Miss Mary Mack.

Unfortunately, I cannot find a video I really like to show you. This one is a good tutorial if you aren't sure how to do the hand-clapping pattern. Following the hand-clapping pattern is part of what makes this activity impactful, so I encourage you to teach it.

Notice that in the beginning she just does the movements and says the movement she's doing rather than singing the song. *shoulders, thighs, clap, right, clap, left, clap, both* This is a really good way to introduce the movements to your students.

Ideally, you should stand with your back to your students so they can copy the movements exactly. Of course, that would be a direct violation of Elementary Teaching 101, so the alternative is being a mirror for your students, that just means you have to say right while moving left--you may want to practice first!

I always teach the movements in isolation, and I have the students do them without a partner at first. Actually, when I first teach the hand-clapping, I just do clap, right, clap, left. There's really no wrong way to do it in my opinion, but the combination of the hand-clapping pattern and the singing is what really activates the brain. 

I teach the words and game first, then I give the students a copy of the words to build fluency. It also supports phonics skills: -ck, final -y, and -ed endings. I've made this lyric sheet available free of charge in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

There's also a book by Mary Ann Hoberman with some additional verses that I really like. You can hear some kids reading/singing it in this video. (I couldn't get the embed code to work.)

If you like this post and want to learn other ways you can integrate singing and dancing into your day, check out these posts about Little Tommy Tucker's Dog, and Goin' 'Round the Mountain.

Check out posts by other lovely education bloggers at Techie Turtle Teacher's  Movie Clip Monday Linkup!

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!