Five for Friday (April 19th)

Hi Friends.
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday again this week.  So without further ado, here are my Five for Friday.

Number 1 this week is this great cd for class, Jazz for Kids.  It includes various classic jazz artists, like Ella Fitzgerald.  The songs are all very fun and sometimes a little bit silly.  The kids seem to enjoy it.  I love playing it first thing in the morning as my sweeties trickle into the classroom.  I think is sets a happy tone for the day.  I ordered my copy from Amazon.

Number 2 is the Time Timer.  If you do not have one of these for your classroom, you have my condolences.  Seriously, this timer is fabulous.  You pull the red circle around the clock face to set the timer and it counts down.  The kids can see how much time they have left on a given activity.  It also really helps me keep track of my time when we are doing our Daily Five rotations.

Number 3 is Babbling Abby's end of the year checkups.  Our first graders are taking the SAT-10 in a week.  Of course this up coming week we are reviewing in preparation for this test.  I plan on using Abby's The 25 Day Check-Up for math and The 20 Day Check-Up for reading/language arts.  I think these packets will be the perfect jumping off point my class's prepartation. 

Number 4 is totally not school related (neither is number 5).  I have needed a couple of shelves or cabinets for our keeping room.  We have a fire place with small spaces on both sides.  For past five years  A's  stuff has occupied these spaces.  Totes of music instruments, riding toys, doll strollers . . . you get the picture.  However, I think I have finally found the solution, Pottery Barn's Logan Modular Wall System.  I think a couple of the glass front cabinets will work perfect for these odd spaces and should be great for housing  A's  gear.

Number 5 are the trees in our yard.  Last weekend  D  put up a tire swing for  A  and she  l o v e s  it.  This morning a strong wind storm took one down across our drive way.  I had to do a little off-roading to get to school.  This evening when we got home (without being asked) our neighbor and across the street neighbor came right over and helped with clean up.  What nice guys!  We are so blessed to have wonderful neighbors.

Don't worry, horse tree is still standing.

Thanks for reading.  Be sure to check out some of the other links this week.

Have a nice weekend.