Teacher Talk Tuesday- INSTAGRAM CRAZE!!!

I did it! I finally did it! I broke down and joined in all the craze....I created an Instagram account for my sweet little blog! Now I can join in all the fun! Next step, figuring out how it all works. There is a learning curve with all this new technology, you know!!!

I am sure you have all heard about:
                                        

I've created my account, posted a few pictures and found some followers...yay!
Click on the picture to head on over to become a follower - user name brightconcepts4teachers.


Here are a few photos I have posted since I opened my account last night :)
I have these up in my room right now and they make me smile!

Bubble gum and prefixes and suffixes

Piggy banks to review money standards.


Head on over and link up in all the fun!

                                

Also, my sweet friend Gabrielle from Teaching Special Thinkers is hosting a summer giveaway.
                 
There are over 100 items to win. I have donated my Summer Writing Prompts and Craftivity packet to her K-2 giveaway.


Head on over and check it out!

Flipping Out for Summer!

The countdown has begun....there are less than 30 days left in our school year, testing is done and the summer vacation countdown is in full effect!

Here is a little summer glyph and writing activity I created to bring the summer spirit to our classroom. I will be doing it in the next week or so with my kiddos. They will be answering questions about summer and making flip flops to reflect their answers. Then we will graph the data and write about why we are flipping out for summer!



You can grab this summer activity at my TpT store for only $3.00! The packet includes: templates to make your flip flops, directions, writing prompts, graphs AND bulletin board letters.



Leave a sweet comment below with your EMAIL and I will choose one person to receive this activity for FREE!  Congrats to Stephanie Ann! Check your email for your copy! 


Five For Friday FINALLY!

Whew! What-A-Week!!! I am so happy that it is Friday and I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.
                               fiveforfriday

1. State Testing is OVER! I have to say, I am super proud of my little darlings. We tested for 6...yes, 6 days! And not one of my little kiddos was ever absent!! That means no make-ups! Yay!!! They were focused and worked so hard. They checked their work and took the whole experience very seriously -LOVE it! So today the "testing fairy" visited them with a box of these:
                                                 
2. We worked on reviewing some important skills this week too. I wanted to reinforce synonyms and antonyms and how to use a thesaurus. The kids worked in pairs and helped each other make some Sweet S'mores Sensations.



3. We only have 28 more school day left (who's counting, though). We did a fun activity for the kids to reflect on all that they have accomplished this year. (I also needed one more bulletin board to get me to the end of the year) My kids wrote about their bright futures.

They finished these with seconds to spare at the end of the day, so I don't have a pic of their final product, but I hope this gives you the idea. I am giving away a copy of this activity to one of my sweet blog followers. Click HERE to leave a comment so you can have a chance to get it! I am picking the winner tomorrow morning.

4. My husband is chairing on of the largest fundraisers at my sons' school tomorrow- 4th Annual Movie Night! We have been working so hard to put this event together. Now it is crunch time! We get a huge drive in movie screen and everyone brings their beach chairs, blankets and friends and family. All the dads BBQ dinner, sell popcorn, candy and raffle off prizes. The kids sit down under the stars and they are going to see this classic (the first time for many of them). I can't wait!


5. Finally, I am headed to the kitchen to make dinner. The hubs is cooking these bad boys:
                                              
Now I have to go figure out all the side dishes to go with it. I better get moving! 
Have a great weekend!


Our Future Is So Bright- Writing Craftivity

Tomorrow is my last day of State testing and I had a revelation....There are only 31 more days left in this school year! Wowzers!!!! Time flies when you are having fun. And that is exactly what we have been doing all year-having fun while learning and working hard!

My kiddos have accomplished so much this school year. I wanted to give them the opportunity to reflect on their successes and share them with the world! They have so much to be proud of! So, I created a fun, little writing craftivity that they will complete to show everyone how bright their futures are and help us culminate our school year together.




I LOVE this activity because it can be used at the end of the year AND in the beginning of the year. It's a double whammy!  My Future Is So Bright writing craftivity can be found at my TpT store.

Here is what is included:
-all necessary templates and patterms to make boys and girls with shades
- Five different writing prompt pages
-Bulletin board letters to display finished products: Our Future Is So Bright!

To celebrate the last month of school, I am going to give away a copy of this craftivity to one of my lucky blog followers. All you have to do is leave a comment below and follow my blog and TpT store. I will use the Random Number Generator to choose a lucky winner, Saturday morning Cindy! Good luck and have a great rest of the week! 



Five For Friday Fun!

It's that wonderful time of the week...FRIDAY! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week. Hope you will stop on by and link up too!
                                fiveforfriday
First, I want to send love and support to all those who are in Boston and Texas! I can't even begin to imagine all they are going through. Our hearts go out to all of you!

                                     
1. My week has been filled with State Testing. We completed Language Arts this week! Next week, we will conquer math! All my kids have shown up every day so far!!! That means...NO MAKE UP testing and an ice cream party is in their future if they keep it up! Yipee!!



2. We started getting ready for Earth Day with a little poetry about recycling. We also make these adorable frogs from my Recycling Frog Glyph packet. It was a great way to have some fun after all our testing.

3. We finally got around to making our prefix and suffix bubblicious boys and girls from my Bubblicious Fun packet. (You can see my original post HERE.)We were going to make these last week, but my incredible student teacher was having an observation this week, so we waited so she could teach this lesson. Check out the little girl with the black braids. That student picked a word with a prefix AND suffix to make the word- uneatable! Someone got the concept!!!

4. My own two boys got up close and personal with this beautiful guy last weekend. I told them not to make him mad, or he might spit on them !:)


5. I just finished and posted my latest packet to help teach different types of reference materials. My kids always have trouble knowing what an encyclopedia is (because they don't use them any more) and the differences between a dictionary and thesaurus. Our district and state tests always have questions about reference materials, so I needed a fun way to review and reinforce it before testing. They seemed to really be engaged and the activities helped them a TON!

 Make sure to stop by tomorrow to check out my Product Swap post with products from my sweet blogging friend, Aimee from Primarily Speaking! You don't want to miss it! Have a great weekend!



Testing Fairy and Gifts Galore!

Well my friends, we are in FULL state testing mode at my school. We test for 6 days over 2 weeks. I NEED to keep my kids motivated and engaged during this time. We have had some HUGE surprises come to our room these last few days. Thank you to the ever creative Jessica at the Polka-dotted Teacher for introducing the Testing Fairy and I to one another. Each morning when I walk into my classroom there is a Tinkerbell fairy bag filled with something inside and a note on the white board for my sweet testing champs.
Here is what Day 1 brought us:
Baggies full of Smarties ('cause they are all super smart- NO Dum Dums here) and a note with 7 ways to prepare for "the test."

Day 2 T.F.(Testing Fairy) brought us:
Baggies full of Lucky Charms

Day 3 we are "on a roll" thanks to the T.F.
The kids love coming into the room to find a special note from their new friend and a bag of surprises! I love how motivated and focused they have been. Thank you Testing Fairy!

I have been reviewing skills with my kiddos each day to make sure they remember all those common core standards I have taught them through the year. I felt my class needed more reinforcement of the different kinds of reference materials. This skill seems to constantly show up throughout our testing and I wanted to make sure they really understood it. I have always struggled making this a fun and interesting topic for my kids, until now. I just posted my Rockin' Reference Materials packet-reference materials with a rock and roll vibe.

It includes: flap book sorting activites, anchor charts, centers and assessments! My kids were finally engaged and understanding the uses of the different reference materials at their finger tips. Now they will be more confident during "the test". This packet will be discounted in my TpT store through Friday if you are interested in grabbing a copy!

And now on to more BIG and exciting news.... This actually makes me the most gitty. My  BIGGEST pet peeve is the pencil sharpening debacle that never seems to end in my classroom. I have purchased so many different electric pencil sharpeners for my classroom and they all STINK!!! They literally "eat" my pencils....until now. Cue the angels singing... Can you hear them??? AAAAAHHHHHHH....
Look what the angels from heaven have bestowed upon little ol' me!!! This is the most INCREDIBLE pencil sharpener- EVER! the Bostitch COMMERCIAL Super Pro 6 electric pencil sharpener rocks my world! It is quiet. It is fast, easy to clean and empty. It actually sharpens the pencils and my kids can use it too. Simple, easy...best investment by far! I am in LOVE, people!!! This will end all your pencil sharpening woes- TRUST ME!
I hope you are all have a great week!




Bubblicious Fun

Oh my goodness, my friends... I have been trying to get a blog post written all week and every time I have a moment to do it, something has come up! So, now it is Thursday... better late than never!!! Where has the week gone?

We have been reviewing like crazy for our upcoming state testing which starts next week. I wanted to make sure my kiddos had a full understanding of prefixes and suffixes. This is all over our state testing and it can help the kids understand words they may not know the meaning of. I was busy this week trying to figure out ways to make this review a bit more fun for them. What kid doesn't like to make bubbles with bubble gum, right? So I created a unit called Prefix and Suffix Bubblicious Fun!


We started our week with review of basic prefixes and their meanings. I used anchor charts with a bubble to remind the kids that a prefix comes at the beginning of a root word.

We worked with the prefixes un, re, pre and dis and created sorting flap books.

Then we moved on to reviewing suffixes. I created anchor charts with bubbles that popped to help the kids remember suffixes come at the end of a root word.

I had the kids underline the root word and highlight the suffix and then they sorted them into the correct categories. I also had the kids write the meaning of the suffixes on the flap.




We have also been working in centers to review prefixes and suffixes as well. Tomorrow my kiddos are going make these cute guys as a quick assessment.
They will choose a prefix or suffix, a root word and then write the new word. 

Here is a sneak peek of all the things included in the Bubblicious Fun unit.

I hope you have all been having a great week! Happy Friday!





Fabulous Five for Friday!

Yay for Friday! This is was 4 day work week for me-thank goodness because I don't know if I could have managed 5 days!  I am linking up with Doddle Bugs Teaching on this fabulous Friday.
         fiveforfriday
1. This little box and I have spent a tad too much time together this week. I go back to work after a lovely week off and WHAM I get a cold-YUCK!
                                                           
2. We worked on reviewing money for our state test and the kids sorted sets of coins into "correct" and "incorrect" pockets of their own wallets.

3. We also reviewed summarizing informational text. We read a story called Super Croc which is about a prehistoric crocodile. Then, we made these cute little guys. The kids found three main ideas from the story and then wrote a short summary in the last box. 

4. We started our plant unit this week too. We planted lima bean seeds two different ways-with soil and without. The kids are keeping an observation and prediction journal about how the plants will grow.


5. And finally, I am super excited to be a part of Teaching Blog Addict's birthday celebration! Tons of bloggers have linked up their freebies for all of us to grab. Click on the picture below to take you to the first and second grade page. It is like hitting the jackpot of teaching ideas-so much fun!


I hope everyone has a great weekend!