Five for Friday {April 25}

Here we go!  It's Five for Friday time!!

And...if I can just say...YAY for Friday.  That's all.

Okay!  Let's chat about my week!

1. Earth Day.  We didn't go overboard, but we did do a few fun activities together.  Talking about how to care for the earth tied in perfectly with the unit we just finished in science, so my kids were very engaged as we completed this graph and bubble map together.

 And we illustrated this cute student reader to put in our book bags.

 These activities all came from the "We Save the Earth" pack by Sweet Sounds of Kindergarten.

2. We completed an Earth Day craftivity to replace the bunny display we had up for Easter.  

The students colored the earth (these pages came from our science curriculum).

 

 Then, they wrote about what they could do to help the earth.  There were so many great (and adorable!) ideas.

 

 My teacher assistant (high school student that comes two afternoons per week) painted each child's hand to finish off their projects.

3. We began our Fictional writing unit this week.  Oh my, are my kids looooving this unit!  The stories they are writing are so great!

This little girl is writing about a princess.

I lovelovelove Spring Kindergarteners.  They are so confident and smart!  This guy's story is about a frog and a dog.  

And this one?  About the tooth fairy.  Melt me.  She has grown SO much this year!  

4.  My students wrote some really cute sentences about the sun on our Brain Boost this week. 

 The sun is really hot.  I love it.

 The sun is hot and it hides up in the sky. (Another little one who has come SO far!  Such a proud teacher!)

5. These invites went home today!  AND I spilled the beans that we're following up our lunch with a little nail-painting party!  I can't wait to pamper these special girls!!

CLICK HERE to check out my Girls Only lunch from last year!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!!

Brain Boost {Set #2}.....A GIVEAWAY!

I haven't seen my students since last Wednesday.  Over a week ago!  This winter weather has been sooooo crazy.  Snow day after snow day.  I am ready to get back to school and anxious to see my sweet kindies again!

I have been super UNmotivated during all of my days at home, but today I finally hunkered down and completed a task that I've had on my to-do list for a long time.  I updated my first Brain Boost set and completed my second Brain Boost set.

You know those things that you just love using in your classroom?  The things that you look forward to because they are enjoyable and and really feel like a beneficial part of your day?  That's how the Brain Boosts are to me.  I LOVE this time in my week.  My students love it too, which makes it even better.  I love these quick pages because they cover so many different skills and touch on things that are just a bit challenging, even for those kids who seem to be able to do anything and everything.  And, because they hop from skill to skill, they keep everyone engaged.  They become the perfect tool for 

re-teaching and also for adding extra little pieces of info for those kids who are ready and needing more.

I have Brain Boosts in my schedule twice each week.  We complete them at the carpet, on clipboards (another reason the students love them).  This way, I can easily see when everyone is ready to move on and can formatively assess the skills as we work.

You can check out a freebie page by clicking back to THIS POST.

I never really loved the cover or look of my first Brain Boost pack and, after using it this school year, found a few things that I wanted to change.  So, today, I tweaked that first set and re-uploaded it to TPT.  You can check it out by clicking the cover pic below.

And, the second set is finally complete too!  I've been working on it for weeks!  And, actually, have been using pages from it with my class already.  I'm so happy to have it done!!

Click the cover pic to check it out!

Because I love these so much, and think your students will benefit from them too, I'm going to give away one of each set!  Enter the giveaway below....and please cross your fingers that I'll be back at school tomorrow!! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanksgiving Brain Boost {FREEBIE}

I am working hard on my second set of Brain Boost pages, but they aren't quite finished yet.  As I've used the first set with my class, I've made note of things I want to tweak on those too.  We're almost done with the first set and I just love that time with my students every Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  I made special Brain Boosts for Thanksgiving and we completed both of them together last week.  Since we don't officially cover Thanksgiving, it gave me a good chance to talk with my students about some of the basics.

I plan to put together a holiday/special events Brain Boost set eventually, but for now they are free for the taking.  Snatch them up if you think they'd work for your class!  

CLICK HERE to snag them!

Brain Boost!

Last year, when I was putting together my weekly schedule for school, I found myself with two blocks of 15 minutes every week that I wasn't sure how to best fill.  They were smack dab in the middle of my morning, and I wanted to find a great, simple, academic way to fill that time.

I came up with "Brain Boost".

Actually, last year, I did not call this activity anything cute like "Brain Boost".  I just typed up pages of activities that I knew my students needed review on, or things that I wanted to quickly introduce whole-group, and I didn't make the pages cute or anything!  Gasp!  Not a clip art image to be found on ANY of them!  Double gasp!  

It was NOT acceptable for such an awesome teaching tool to look so UNawesome, so I spruced it up!  

The pages cover a wide variety of math and language arts skills...everything from patterns to skip counting to beginning sounds to punctuation.  And lots more!  Just imagine a sprinkling of Kindergarten concepts and you've got the idea.

I've bundled the first 20 pages into a pack on TPT.  In my classroom we complete these twice per week, whole-group with clipboards at our carpet area.  So, 20 pages will last us the first 10 weeks of school.  I'll keep creating as the year goes on, so that I'll end up with a full year's worth.

I created a sample page so that you can check it out for yourself and see if you think it could be useful for you in your classroom!  This time with my students each week seriously became one of my FAVORITE teaching times of the week.  I loved expanding concepts, teaching new things, or reviewing important skills in this short window of time.  The variety of topics kept everyone engaged.

Click the image to check out the Brain Boost sample.

The pack will be on sale in my TPT shop until Sunday if you'd like to grab it!  Click the image to check it out.

I'll also be giving a set away!  I'll select the winner on Saturday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway