Best Practices in Your Classroom Starting your Morning with
More bang for your buck! Presented by: Ms. Axinia Zepeda & Ms.
Stephanie Torres
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Unite My School Family- Dr. Becky Bailey
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Unite Video from Farias ECC
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Disengage
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Connect Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Twinkle, twinkle little
star, What a wonderful child you are! With bright eyes and nice
round cheeks, Talented person from head to feet. Twinkle, twinkle
little star, What a Wonderful child you are! I Love you Rituals
Becky A. Baily, PH.D
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Connect Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Twinkle, twinkle little
star, What a wonderful child you are! With bright eyes and nice
round cheeks, Talented person from head to feet. Twinkle, twinkle
little star, What a Wonderful child you are! I Love you Rituals
Becky A. Baily, PH.D
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Commit Are you willing to keeping an open mind and focus your
energy in paying attention to learn something new? If so place your
jewel inside the treasure box
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Wish Well My heart to your heart. I wish you well My elbow to
your elbow. I wish you well. My back to your back. I wish you well.
My eyes to your eyes. I wish you well. How can we help everyone we
know (open both arms in front of you, palms up to include everyone)
How can we help each other grow (Move both arms up over your head
like a seed growing) Sometimes its hard to know what to do (shrug
your shoulders, with hands up as if to say I dont know. Wishing
them well connects me and you (point to your partner and your
partner points to you)
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Wish Well Chorus: Repeat as before My heart to your heart. I
wish you well My elbow to your elbow. I wish you well My back to
your back. I wish you well My eyes to your eyes. I wish you well
Chorus How can we help everyone we know How can we help each other
grow Sometimes its hard, to know what to do Wishing them well
connects me and you Wishing them well connects me and you My heart
to your heart. I wish you well My elbow to your elbow. I wish you
well My back to your back. I wish you well My eyes to your eyes. I
wish you well
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Wish Well Repeat Chorus You make a difference Lets move and
wish your neighbor well My knee to your knee. I wish you well My
shoulder to your shoulder. I wish you well My hip to your hip. I
wish you well My hand to your hand. I wish you well I wish you
well. I wish you well
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Brain Smart Start! Unite Disengage Connect Commit Wish
Well
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What are the benefits of using brain smart start and best
practices? Help children reach their highest potential for learning
in a classroom Allows students to disengage stress Gives students
and teachers an opportunity to make connections for the start of
the day. Provides the teacher a balance of teaching strategies in
order to meet students needs Teach children to see themselves as
learners and become independent learners Allows children to gain
the tools to become problem solvers and express how they feel.
Allows for a positive school family in the classroom environment
that supports and engages students language
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What can I do and how do I use it during whole group? Every
student in your class is not at the same level nor do they learn in
the same manner. You can use a variety of techniques with Pre-K
students in order to meet a variety of needs. You can incorporate
any of the following strategies into your instructional day in
order to effectively meet the needs of your students. Conscious
Discipline Morning Greeting Treasure Chest Commitments Breathing
Strategy Wish Well Celebrations Calendar Time Morning Message/Daily
News Classroom Daily Story/Story of the Day (Rice Literacy Project)
Buzz Book (K-Crew)
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Calendar Time The calendar is not just used for math time;
there are many objectives in various contents you can cover with
the use of the daily calendar. Some of these include: letter names,
letter sounds, number recognition, patternsetc.
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Calendar Time
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Morning Message/Daily News There are a variety of ways you can
do and use Morning Message/Daily News. Knowing your students and
choosing specific tasks for the students to do during this time,
will make your instructional time more effective.
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Classroom Daily Story/ Story of the Day Students are very
capable of creating their own story. Using this best practice can
encourage oral language development as well as cover many writers
craft language arts objectives. This strategy has been adapted from
the Rice Literacy Project. The Classroom Storytelling Project
combines early literacy research with practice through classroom
mentoring and seminar discussions in a yearlong training program in
which Teachers implement strategies that help young children extend
their vocabularies, develop print awareness, cultivate oral
expression and develop an understanding of narrative form through
the dictation and dramatization of their own stories Teachers
address the role of language acquisition and the cultural dynamics
of teacher-student relationships as critical factors in childrens
learning to read and write; Teachers learn to create classrooms
where children are eager to read and write through the uses of
storytelling and other research-based early literacy activities.
http://centerforeducation.rice.edu/slc/csp.html
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Buzz Book The Buzz Book is an interactive or shared writing
strategy that was taken from the K-Crew. It can be used to
introduce or reinforce Language Arts strategies such as phonics,
language/sentence structure, punctuation, sight words, story
elements and cueing sources
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What else can I do??? Teacher made flip books (sight words,
names, months of the year, days of the week) Children name charts
and names EVERYWHERE!
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Alphabet Chart
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Word Walls
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Interactive Walls
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Helpful Hints!
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Websites you can use Here are some websites I use. They help
with whole group or transitions. I frequently use technology in my
class, so the students are very entertained for the 2-5 minutes
they may last. Starfall- www.starfall.com Snapdragon-
www.bbc.co.uk/wales/snapdragon/yesflash/menu.shtml
www.bbc.co.uk/wales/snapdragon/yesflash/menu.shtml Storyline Online
www.storylinonline.net Teacher Materials
www.kinderprintables.com
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Other Technology I like to use educational videos and toys
throughout the school day. Here are just a few of the ones I like
to use. Leap Frog- Scholastic-
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More Technology Sid the Science Kid Word World iPod Touch
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In Conclusion Starting your morning off with making connections
and brains smart starts, can help your students learning process.
You do not have to implement EVERYTHING all at once. Start off with
what you feel is manageable. Best Practices can help you
effectively use your instructional time in a classroom. Preparation
is key to making the best use of Best Practices. Children love the
variety of activities you can do with them so it does not become so
routine. Do not be afraid to try a new strategy or add to a
strategy you already use in your classroom.
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Contact Information Feel free to contact us if you have any
questions. Ms. Axinia E. Zepeda [email protected] or Ms.
Stephanie R. Torres [email protected] Thank You!!!