Five for Friday: Valentine Edition

4 Comments February 18, 2014 by Kristen

I promised myself that I would put my computer away for most of the weekend to relax and enjoy life.

Last week was so busy and fun. I decided to put our math book away for the week {due to Lincoln’s birthday and the day off, several assemblies, and specials). I seriously loved not working out of it and so did my kiddos. I think it’s important to use it as a guide, but students are so much more engaged when the activities are meaningful. Hence my love for math centers and Katie King’s Busy Teacher. I seriously have all of them.

They’re great for my early-finishers and a wonderful review of skills we’ve learned. I just pop these in a sheet protector and off my students go!

I store them in these cutie-patootie bags from Target’s Dollar bins.

I threw out the usual conversation hearts graphing for a fun freebie from The First Grade Parade. My kiddos loved this activity and really wanted to eat the hearts. Then I reminded them that some of our friends love keeping their fingers in their noses and they quickly stopped asking!

For this activity, they loved using my valentines stamps to stamp the greatest number. I’ve still got a few who don’t have great number sense and this was great practice for them.

Mrs. Olson from Lucky Little Learners donated these great money message games to last month’s giveaway and my students loved them. They practiced identifying coins and adding several numbers. I just printed one copy of each, laminated, and threw them in a cute valentine bag.

Another cute fraction freebie that was basically zero-prep from Nicole Swisher.

Jamie participated in my “Sweet Love” giveaway and donated this engaging packet. So many great centers that my students LOVED!!!

I love making ELA centers meaningful. Here are a few of my faves!

Used cute paper to write a sweet note to a friend. They placed the letter in the mailbox {Target find} and I delivered them.

Freebie from Seusstastic’s TpT store!

Found cute hearts that open up at Dollar Tree. Didn’t go fancy or cutsey. Who’s got time for that ALL the time??? I just wrote a few journal prompts on a piece of paper and popped them inside. They were so excited to write!

Love my ELA task cards for my second graders. They’re great to get the kiddos moving around and reviewing CCSS standards.

We did a lot of art this week! Details can be found here!

Love getting flowers for any occasion. If you follow me on Instagram, you know there was a mix-up with the order and I got these cute little puppies. I know they’re adorable, but not exactly my type.