1. Best Practices in Your Classroom Starting your Morning with More bang for your buck! Presented by: Ms. Axinia Zepeda & Ms. Stephanie Torres

2. Unite My School Family- Dr. Becky Bailey

3. Unite Video from Farias ECC

4. Disengage

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 it’s hard to know what to do (shrug your shoulders, with hands up as if to say “I don’t know.” Wishing them well connects me and you (point to your partner and your partner points to you)

9. 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 it’s 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

10. Wish Well Repeat Chorus You make a difference Let’s 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

11. Brain Smart Start! Unite Disengage Connect Commit Wish Well

15. 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

16. 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)

17. 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, patterns…etc.

18. Calendar Time

19. 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.

20. 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 children’s 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

21. 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”

22. 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!

23. Alphabet Chart

25. Word Walls

26. Interactive Walls

27. Helpful Hints!

28. 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

29. 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-

30. More Technology Sid the Science Kid Word World iPod Touch

31. 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.

32. Contact Information Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Ms. Axinia E. Zepeda azepeda1@houstonisd.org or Ms. Stephanie R. Torres storres5@houstonisd.org Thank You!!!