Sunday, February 19, 2012

[Celebrating Awesomeness]

So. . .I was on Pinterest.
Surprise.  lol.
And saw this idea for Brainy Beads. . .
Love it.
Love it more than Diet Coke.  ;)

And then I realized that this group of littles is soooooo hard on materials that this would break me pretty darn fast having to replace the Brainy Beads on a regular basis.  :(
BOOOO!!!!

Not to be deterred, I bought some super cute clip art from JWIllustrations, a bag of snack size Laffy Taffy (which happens to be safe for ALL of my littles to enjoy!), and set about creating the cheesiest little brainiac notes ever.  :)
Each note has that "flavor" of Laffy Taffy stapled to it.
I found that my bag of candies had at least 8 of each color, so I printed 8 sets of cards (I actually just printed them in black and white this time).
I have these stored in a special tin by my projector.

When a student "earns" one, I stop class, and say outloud what I am writing on the card.
Then I hand the card to that little, and we're off with the rest of the lesson.
Oh, I love this, and it is so motivating!!
(BONUS! Doing this makes me FOCUS on the awesomeness!!)

I used only ONE on Friday.
These require some special brain power.
Some willingness to work extra hard.
And a little bit of stepping outside the box for my littles.
They have to think.  Think hard.  And express their thoughts about whatever academic subject we are working through at any given time.
These aren't given lightly.

THREE were given out on Thursday (the first day).
It's kind of funny to see how much more attentive all my littles are.
And how much more willing they are to engage in discussion.  :)
Hee, hee.  LOVE it!

Want a copy personlized with YOUR name?
The first 2 teachers to comment (PLEASE leave your e-mail address and desired name for personalization!!) that they would like a set, will have, free of charge, in their inbox, by tonight, the PDF to print their very own cheey brainy notes.

If you're not one of the first 2 to respond, and are interested, you can send me $1 via PayPal (paypal address is chubbydog @ comcast . net  [spaces removed]) with personalization instructions and e-mail address in the notes space, and I'll send you a PDF personalized with your name.

Have a great Sunday!

6 comments:

  1. How fun!
    Mrs. Crimmins
    Kcahcrim@comcast.net

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  2. Just want to say, this is a very cute idea and I love it! I was trying to type my 1st comment quickly because I wanted to win (lol!), but I wanted to give you kudos for trying so hard to motivate our little ones and reward creative thinking! I am pinning this now!

    Jennifer @ Herding Kats In Kindergarten

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  3. Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
    mskeenan123@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, this is cute! And I like how the cards correspond to the different candy flavors -- very creative!

    theteachergarden (at) yahoo (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Deb --- I love pinterest and am an addict - LOL great ideas and wonderful blog. Love your ideas. I teach first too and am your newest follower. :o)
    Vicky
    Traditions Laughter and Happily Ever After

    ReplyDelete