Boom Chika Boom

It's fun to have the crowd cheer for you, especially if you are doing something smart. So if someone in class does exceptional work, shares a correct answer with the class when called upon, or just needs some praise, we cheer for them. The "Boom
Chika Boom" cheer goes like this:
 
It's a call and response or echo cheer.
(repeat each line after song leader)

I said a Boom Chicka Boom
I said a Boom Chicka Boom
I said a Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom
Uh huh
Oh yeah
(insert name here) is cool! (or smart, or whatever)
 
Now that's FUN! Don't tell anyone.

Seal of Approval Cheer

It's fun to have the crowd cheer for you, especially if you are doing something smart. So if someone in class does exceptional work, shares a correct answer with the class when called upon, or just needs some praise, we cheer for them. The "Seal of Approval" cheer goes like this:
Stiffen arms, extend them in front of you, and cross them over each other. Clap them as you make a barking noise like a seal. To individualize it we say a person's name three times in a barking sound.
Now that's FUN! Don't tell anyone.

ABC Rhyme Time: Exit and Enter

When it's ABC Rhyme Time, I play the theme song and we all go to the carpet. In our big book we find poems for all the letter sounds we are learning in our phonics lesson. The poem is read the first time to listen for the sound. For example, in Robot Robot we would listen for the "R"/ "rocket" sound. We read through the poem the second time and students listen for the "rocket" sound. When they hear it they are instructed to say a specific word that starts with that sound, like "radical". The third time through we make up a song for the poem. "Enter and Exit" was our song for today.

ABC Rhyme Time

When it's ABC Rhyme Time, I play the theme song and we all go to the carpet. In our big book we find poems for all the letter sounds we are learning in our phonics lesson. The poem is read the first time to listen for the sound. For example, in Robot Robot we would listen for the "R"/ "rocket" sound. We read through the poem the second time and students listen for the "rocket" sound. When they hear it they are instructed to say a specific word that starts with that sound, like "radical". The third time through we make up a song for the poem. Robot, Robot was our song for this day:

Cowboy Cheer

It's fun to have the crowd cheer for you, especially if you are doing something smart. So if someone in class does exceptional work, shares a correct answer with the class when called upon, or just needs some praise, we cheer for them. The cowboy cheer goes like this:

Put one finger in the air
and circle it like a lasso as
you say, "Yee-haw!"

If we really want to show our enthusiasm for the work of our fellow students, we add "Ride-em' Cowboy!" Now that's FUN! Don't tell anyone.

Let's Get Started

Another school year started today. Another empty room comes alive one August day. What was once four walls, bulletin bare, the lights were on but nobody was home, now has a heart that beats rapidly from anxious eyes that trigger an affective filter to be lowered to learn by just one confident, warm, smile. Not just anxious eyes: curious eyes, smiling eyes, tearful eyes, fearful eyes, observant eyes, confused and dazed. Twenty-one strangers gather together to acquire knowledge, experience, friendship, respect, responsibility, compassion, literacy, laughter, companionship, story and song. One hundred eighty days. Another school year started today. The wheels are in motion, the ball is rolling, there's no looking back; eyes forward and I like it. Another school year started today. Let's get going. We're going somewhere, enjoying the journey, and curios about the destination. You never know, so here we go. We're going somewhere, another school year started today.

Rappin Ronnie

One activity we have for phonemic awareness is Rappin Ronnie.When we want to change the initial phoneme to form a different word, Rappin Ronnie comes to class. Rappin Ronnie wears his cap sideways, of course, and he has a big, gold, dollar-sign necklace.  The beats are laid down and the rap begins. 

"My name is Rappin Ronnie and I am here to Rhyme

You can rap with me every single time

Don't be a nerd. Say the word

Here we go. Let's start the show"

Rappin Ronnie then calls the initial sound the students will change by saying one of our sound/spelling cards. "I'm a pilot flying in the air, I'm a pilot and I don't care!" Then Ronnie calls and the students respond, "I say dark, and you say  . . . . . . . ." and students yell, "PARK!" --repeated a couple times. There is dancing and arm waving. I new this was catching on when I overheard a group of first grade buddies with this exchange: "I'm a pilot flying in the air! When I say loop, you say . . . . . . . ." Now that's FUN! Don't tell anyone.

School Stories: St. Patrick

On March 17th a couple students rushed in to see if I was wearing green. I wasn't wearing green and a boy said, "Mr. Urmston, you're not wearing green." He then showed me he was wearing green. He was wearing a white tee with green trim and green lettering. The lettering said some random team name like "green flyers, maricopa little league." The other student had on a green camouflage sweatshirt and plaid shorts which included a green stripe amidst the blue. I asked "Why are you wearing green?" He quickly replied, "So nobody will pinch me?" I proceeded with "Why would they pinch you?" "Because I'm not wearing green". I quickly got out of that circular thinking and said "Where I come from we don't pinch people if they don't wear green. We give them a dollar?" Now I had him thinking. He didn't have a response to that. I could see he was thinking-- "do I really have to give this guy a dollar? I don't have a dollar. Maybe if I don't answer he'll go away". I thought I'd let him off the hook and said " You're wearing green because it's St. Patrick's Day. You don't even know who St. Patrick is do you?" The student indignantly replied "Yes, I do!" I said "No you don't." He was so confident with his next reply that I started to doubt my challenge. Maybe he knew about all of the Saints and now I've insulted him. So I asked, "OK who is St. Patrick?" His answer? "He's Sponge Bob's friend in Bikini Bottom." Now that's FUN!!! Don't Tell anyone.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

We were given this book by a very fun teacher because she thought we would find it entertaining, educational, and fun. Well she was right. It is entertaining. Students couldn't keep themselves contained when Pete sang his song. It is educational. The moral of the story is, "No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song because it's all good." Is it fun? Combine entertainment and education and that's what you get. Now that's FUN! Don't tell anyone.

Nice Quiet Music

When students need to work independently, we put on some "nice, quiet, music". Nice, quiet music helps us keep classroom clatter to a minimum. We must be able to hear the music or the classroom is too noisy. Nice, quiet music helps us focus on our work, especially writing, and work at it for a longer period of time. A 2002, University of London, research discovered that, "Calming relaxing music had a positive effect on the number of mathematics problems completed, remembering words from sentences and on reported pro-social behaviour in children aged 10–12 years." Also, listening to nice, quiet music, is good for napping when you finish your work. Through trial and error, we have found that "Fifty Favorite Hymns" by Michael Dowdle, on solo guitar, has a very positive effect. Now that's FUN! Don't tell anyone.