Whole Brain Teaching In Pre-k

I am so excited to go on a new adventure with my prekinders. We are going to be a Whole Brain Teaching classroom! This is huge! 

As so many know....I absolutely love my job! I feel like teaching was definitely a calling for me and I take pride in creating the best learning experiences for my kids. I am always looking to find new and exciting g ways to keep my little ones engaged and focused while still having fun in the classroom.  2 years ago I saw a Farrah Shipley video on YouTube and I was floored by the way her kindergarten class was so engaged in her lesson. Here is the video http://youtu.be/Df7wWA1qyh4 . 

I immediately began using 

"Hands and Eyes " with my class. This single prompt made me the envy of all the other teachers. Ummmm hummm....I said it...they were super impressed, as well as my administrators , by how quickly I could get a class of 30 four-year olds quiet and focused on what I was going to say next. Ahhhhhhhhh.....it was a dream come true. The next year I introduced Mirrors, Class- Yes. This got all my students engaged and ready to learn. Wow!!  For my formal observation last year I wanted to really blow my Principals mind by implementing Teach-Ok and Switch. My prekinders were trained and ready for show time. Watching a class of 25 " babies" teach each other sentence structure blew my mind, as well as my assistant who was watching and my administrator who was doing my evaluation!! I could hear the angels singing....it was a thing of beauty! 

Many people say that Pre-k is full of cute babies! Well, these babies were the most focused and engaged and the results were huge. They not only learned, but my class met their yearly goals by January. This is not just any class, this is a 100% at risk class with the majority being ELLs . I teach in what the US Census has named " the poorest city in America" l so the odds were not in our favor.....but after implementing WBT in. Y class......I AM A BELIEVER! If you are thinking about getting started, just do it. My babies are proof that it can be done and it does work! 

This year I am excited to have been chosen to be a model class in WBT, so I am going to start from day one, in one of the most challenging areas and help each one of you to see step by step how you can turn your class into a more productive, engaging, and focused class with little to no challenging behavior. 

Here is a link to purchase the book if you haven't done so. It is worth it!! 

Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids: (and the rest of your class, too!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984816712/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_sUJ-tb1E0Z44Y

Yours in Teaching, 

Mrs. TL Garcia

Prekindergarten or Kindergarten morning work!

This is my best seller on Teacher Pay Teacher. I wanted my prekinder's to be more independent with their work ,so is came up with a pack of morning work that was predictable. The basic skills that are taught in prekinder or kindergarten are letters,numbers,shapes, and colors. These are the foundation that all other learning is based. I use this packet daily with my students and minimal help is needed at this point. Initially , I did the work with them for about a month. Then I slowly started allowing room for more independence. This has worked like a charm. Now, I am able to step back and have them work on their own. 

Visit my TPT store for your copy! Tlgarcia's Learning Treasures! 

This page is for January. By this time patterns and counting are I incooperated. The first semester is basic number, letter, shape, and color matching. 

Mad Scientists day

TBoringboring BORING continuTRYTheyTHEN e our celebration of the Young Child we had a Mad Scientist  and a Teacher Swap Day! Kinder and Prekinder classes rotated all the students and hosted an activity in each class.  This was fun because I got to see some of my pre k babies and my prekinders got to experience a little bit of kindergarten. 7 classes in all made for a worn out teacher by 3o clock.
After we returned to our class we became Mad Scientists. My students said that Mad Scientist make things explode. Sooooooooooo. ......their wish is my command! First, we made a volcano with the usual baking soda and vinegar.  They were so scared! They said that we needed to go outside because the school migh8t explode! They really believed it! Oh the things I put my babies through. Of course it was all hands on!
                   First Explosion

BORING!

THEN THE REAL MAGIC HAPPENED!

We wanted it bigger....Again.....

Your wish is my command

Writing with my Pre kinder's

After hearing about how so many people are having great experiences with Writing through the Years , I decided to take the leap.

 I know it is designed for kinder ,but I am proud of how far my pre k babies have come! So here is a shout out to Deedee Wills and Deanna Jump! I spent so much time going over this step by step method and then decided it was time. It went great ! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Through-the-Year-Unit-1-Aligned-with-Common-Core-296695 

Today I had 24 four year old focused on writing with classical music playing in the background for 10 whole minutes! We are going to try to build our stamina and go longer with more detailed writing.

I am known for my crazy ideas and my overly energetic ways...I am a four year old at heart! Though the fun will always be in every lesson I do, having the children learning is the key! This is the greatest payoff! 

Your's in teaching,

Mrs. Tl Garcia 

Phonological confusion!

I had an awesome July this year. I taught summer school for Pre K Language Enrichment and barely finished on July 3rd......the day before my birthday!!



That's right! I worked up until my birthday on the 4th of July!! That is crazy!

Just when I thought I was really going to be able to hit the beach and relax......time flew....and it was the end of July.....conference time!

Don't get me wrong, I love learning new techniques and research , but MAN....it came quick.

The first day was good, got to San Antonio, Texas.....from Brownville, Texas...a good hour plane ride away and was ready to go. I had 2 awesome teachers from my campus and our facilitator (coolest chick ever) with me. We walked the Riverwalk.....ate at Ritas....yum yum if you like texmex food and margaritas which are both my weaknesses.

 
 

The Next morning,......CONFERENCE TIME!!!

 

Got my handy dandy notebook and a cool pen of course!

 http://www.disneystore.com/stationery-home-decor-sulley-journal-monsters-inc/mp/1321288/1000252/

 

 

My first session was titled:

 

Developing Phonological Awareness Skills

 

 

 This was a base line of what we should be doing in our classrooms to help that 35% who struggle become successful by Kinder.

We were taught some interesting tricks such as word play and helping and overstimulated child focus on certain sounds instead of overloading them with too many at once.

I loved the fact that they focused so much on Nursery Rhymes. I am definitely going to be doing a letter of the week alliteration rhyme with my students from now on.

 

Letter B

 

Bary had a bittle bamb

bittle bamb

bittle bamb

bary had a bittle bamb

his beece was bhite as bow

 

Yup! Super cute!!

 

Another very interesting thing that I learned was that you should introduce one concept at a time. Whether it be rhyming, alliteration, syllabication, words in a sentence or onset and rime. For years I have been mixing them up weekly..............PEOPLE GIVE ME SOME FEEDBACK.......am I all wrong? It seems to have worked. I would do :

 

Monday: Letter intro

Tuesday: Rhyming 1

Weds: Rhyming 2

Thursday: Syllables

 

and so on.....

 

but they are saying NO!

 

they say :

 

3 weeks listening skills

then however many weeks rhyming only

then more weeks doing syllables

 

IM SO CONFUSED!

 

But i'm gonna try it this year I guess.....I mean it makes sense , but will it hold back the ones that are ready to move onto that skill. Tell me what you think! please............



 

 



 

 

Is this thing on?

Well , I have asked around .....seen all the cool kids doing it.....and have now given in to peer pressure! I'm a Blogger!!!!! 

I truly love what I do , teaching, and wouldn't change it for the world.