August Currently--ALREADY!?!

Is it really August already? Where has the summer gone?! I have done so much. I have moved to a new city, moved my classroom, and experienced a lot of family issues. I need a vacation from my vacation! But, I am ready to get set up in my new classroom. I haven't seen it yet, but I am very excited :)

I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently.

Now for my Back-to-School must haves:
1. My Macbook- I have worked hard this summer to get a lot of my files organized and ready for the new school year. Before, I had everything organized by unit that connected with my old curriculum. I also had files that were just not organized at all! It was a mess. Now, I have all of my files organized by skill and ready for my new grade level!

2. New Classroom Decor- Now that I am not only in a new classroom, but also in a new school, I wanted to change my classroom decor. So, I connected with Amanda from One Extra Degree and gave her an idea of what I liked. She went above and beyond with my new classroom decor!

3. WBT Videos- Over the last two years I have learned bits and pieces of Whole Brain Teaching. After the conference I went to in May, I connected with one of the WBT mentors and asked for help in launching WBT in my classroom. They directed me to their livestream. I started watching Coach B's videos on how to do WBT the first hour, first day, and first week of school. If you are interested in the WBT videos, go to this website:

http://www.livestream.com/wholebrainteaching1/folder

I am also using their book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Students to help with my classroom management next year. If you want a copy of the book, go here.

Okay everyone, good luck with setting up your classrooms and getting ready for the new school year! I will be posting pictures next week of my classroom set-up. I have a long process because I have to move everything out of storage, move it to my classroom, unpack, and set up! It's going to be a busy couple of weeks. I hope I can squeeze in a little mini vacation. 

Classroom Management Ideas

This summer, I have been doing some research on how to modify my classroom management for next year. Last year, I did bucket fillers, Whole Brain Teaching, and CHAMPS. CHAMPS is a positive reinforcement classroom management approach. It really helped when I was doing my Daily 5 workshops. After my experiences from last year, I've decided to tweak my classroom management plan a little. I have a couple ideas that I am really excited to start! I'm going to continue with Whole Brain Teaching with simlies/frowns (scoreboard), "Class! Yes!," hands and eyes, and the classroom rules posters. Third Grade Thoughts has some excellent resources and explains how to implement Whole Brain Teaching into your class. Here is a great clip of how a first grade teacher implement WBT: I talked earlier in my blog about also using 7 Habits. I've been doing some research and have found many supplemental resources to help with launching 7 habits. Here are some resources I have collected: 1. 7 Habits Rewards (free download on TpT)

2. 7 Habits Bookmarks (another FREE download on TpT)

3. 7 Habits PowerPoint Presentations (created by Barren County School District) 7 Habits PowerPoints 4. Supplemental Stories to help understanding of each habit.

You can download the PDF from this website. 5. This packet is meant for students to get notes HOME. However, I thought it would be a cute idea for kids to give these notes to EACH OTHER. Yeah? (Another free download from TpT).

6. Lastly, I found a packet (from TpT) a reflective journal that I thought would be great for my student to reflect and set goals. If you have seen 7 Habits, you know that they have the cutest little critters as characters in the story. I was so excited to find the CUTEST TREE-Mendous Behavior Chart created by First Grade O.W.L.s. I thought it was SO adorable and it goes PERFECT with the 7 habits characters and the tree theme I have in my classroom.

There is one last idea that I have. I really like the idea of brownie points and cookie points. I think it goes great with the WBT scoreboard. Mrs. Heeren's Happenings has created an awesome FREEBIE packet for cookie and brownie points. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to incorporate it into my classroom management. However, it is something that I really want to incorporate because of the positive rewards that she included.

Question: What classroom management techniques have worked in your class?