Things I want to keep from Mrs. Boman's Class

I just a month in Mrs. Boman's fourth grade classroom at Geneva Elementary. It was a wonderful experience. She has become a good mentor and has shown me how a really great teacher works. There are a lot of things I want to keep with me from Mrs. Boman's class so I thought I would write them all down so I won't forget when I have my own classroom. :)

1. Reading and Writing WITH students: There are two things Mrs. Boman did that I loved! One, when the students came in in the morning, she wrote in her journal with them on the ELMO. I love this because first, she doesn't ask them to do anything she won't do herself. She writes with them and helps them feel more motivated to write. The second reason I love this is that she is modeling good writing! She models what she wants it to look like, and gives the kids an insight into her life at the same time. She also had a poster where she showed the kids what books she is reading. I love this because they can see that she is always reading too! She tells them all about what she's reading, and what she thinks about it, and if they should read it too.
2. To go along with this, I love her book circles. Everyday after the silent reading time, she brings the kids back to talk about their books. She emphasizes that reading is thinking and that while the students are silent reading, they should be thinking! Making predictions, thinking about character traits, making inferences, asking questions, etc. She calls these "buzzes" and the students share their buzzes when they come back and talk about their books. She also tells them what she is reading and a thought she had about her book.
3. Music! Mrs. Boman always plays music when the students are writing in their journals. It sets such a calm, peaceful feeling to the morning and the kids love it. She will also sometimes put music on while they are working or give them the choice if they want music or not.
4. Kareoke for fluency. Every other Friday Mrs. Boman lets the kids do kareoke to practice their fluency (accuracy, speed, rate). The day before she lets them submit songs they want, and she reviews the lyrics to see if they are appropriate. She bought a guitar hero microphone online and plugs it into her laptop, and runs it with a program called something-line (need to check with her on that). She has made a youtube playlist with all the songs they can sing and she pulls sticks to see who sings. They are allowed to bring two friends, and everyone has to be singing along even though they are not standing up.
5. Mini Lessons for Reading/Literacy: Everyday Mrs. Boman teachers a 20 minutes mini lesson on a literacy topic that the students need practice on. She uses Big books to have shared reading, and she uses graphic organizers to pull information out of the books and display it visually. Ex: compare & contrast, cause & effect, etc.
6. Brain Breaks. Before any major subject (math) she has her students stand up and spread out. Then she leads them in some kind of brain break to get them moving and stretching and ready to focus again. She also has the students give her jumping jacks if they yawn or are not participating during math.
7. Compliments/Questions after sharing in math. She says it's important to train them to ask good questions and give good compliments, not just I like your pen color. It may take a lot of modeling, praising, etc.
8. Tickets for good behavior. She gives tickets randomly throughout the day for good behavior, the kids write their names on them and put them in a jar. On Friday, she draws some names and those kids get prizes.
9. Learning Objectives. They read their learning objectives in different voices: tired, deep, excited, pirate, etc. Tickets for kids who memorize goals. She has them repeat them over and over so they can really get the concept.
10. Lets kids pick their guided reading books. Give them choices between several different books that are all still on their level.
11. Enthusiastic! Levels of volume when she talks, whispers when she really wants them to pay attention. Have fun with it!
12. Friday surprise. Each week she has a Friday surprise to motivate the students to have good behavior, those who don't sit out. It can be as big as extra recess, playing in the snows, etc, or treats, a hug, etc.
13. Read aloud! Always wonderful :)
14. Warning, star, loss of recess.

Well this is all I remember for now. It really was a wonderful experience to be in Mrs. Boman's classroom. She is an awesome teacher and I hope I can have a caring and safe classroom just like hers is.