Description
Bubble Gum Brain activities help students explore growth mindset, practice flexible thinking, and develop more helpful self-talk when learning feels difficult. This companion for Julia Cook’s Bubble Gum Brain includes 96 pages with more than 40 differentiated SEL and literacy activities, designed for students in 2nd–5th grade.
An interactive read-aloud lesson plan, growth mindset worksheets, and follow-up activities help students connect the story to their own experiences with mistakes, frustration, and challenging tasks. Students practice recognizing thoughts that keep them stuck and considering what they could try next.
Help Students Respond When Learning Feels Hard
Some students avoid challenging work because they are afraid of getting it wrong. Others become frustrated, give up quickly, or say, “I’m just not good at this.” These responses can make it difficult for students to participate, accept feedback, or recognize their own progress.
Telling students to try harder may leave them unsure of what to do differently. This companion helps you teach the thinking and strategies that support continued learning. Through the story and guided practice, students consider how changing an approach, accepting support, and learning from mistakes can help them move forward.
Students practice:
- Understanding the difference between fixed and growth mindsets
- Recognizing negative self-talk and inflexible thinking
- Considering another strategy when the first approach does not work
- Responding constructively to mistakes
- Accepting feedback and asking for support
- Building confidence by recognizing practice and progress
Growth Mindset Worksheets and Flexible Thinking Activities
The growth mindset worksheets help students examine how their thoughts can influence their choices during a difficult task. Students connect the experiences of Bubble Gum Brain and Brick Brain to situations in which they feel unsure, frustrated, or reluctant to try.
Flexible thinking activities give students opportunities to consider alternatives. They practice recognizing that an unsuccessful first attempt does not mean they cannot learn the skill. A useful next step might involve changing strategies, asking a question, breaking the task into smaller parts, or using feedback.
The goal is to help students become more willing and able to adjust their approach when learning becomes challenging.
Practice Helpful Self-Talk and the Power of Yet
Positive self-talk worksheets help students identify thoughts that shut down learning and replace them with realistic statements that point toward a next step. “I don’t understand this yet” leaves room for learning and support. “I’ll never be able to do this” treats the current difficulty as permanent.
Reframing negative thoughts activities encourage students to separate a mistake from a judgment about their ability. Students can acknowledge that something feels hard while considering a more balanced interpretation of the situation.
Power of yet activities also help students reflect on skills they have developed over time. They consider how practice, support, feedback, and mistakes contributed to that growth.
Connect Bubble Gum Brain Activities With Literacy Instruction
The interactive read-aloud lesson plan includes questions for before, during, and after reading. These prompts guide conversations about the characters’ thinking, responses to challenges, and opportunities for growth.
Follow-up ELA activities include predictions, summarizing, character analysis, comparing and contrasting, cause and effect, text-to-self connections, and writing. You can teach growth mindset alongside literacy objectives and return to the same concepts through different forms of practice.
What’s Included
- 96 pages with more than 40 differentiated activities
- Interactive read-aloud lesson plan with before-, during-, and after-reading questions
- Growth mindset worksheets and reflection activities
- Flexible thinking worksheets and activities
- Positive self-talk and reframing negative thoughts practice
- Power of yet worksheets
- SEL activities focused on confidence, perseverance, and thoughtful choices
- ELA activities for comprehension, character analysis, and writing
- ELA posters and visual supports
- Real photographs to support understanding and engagement
- Family connection notes for reinforcing growth mindset at home
Flexible Ways to Use This Companion
Use the materials during whole-class interactive read-alouds, small-group SEL lessons, counseling or academic-support groups, literacy centers, or individual instruction.
You do not need to complete every page. Select activities that match your students’ readiness, learning needs, and instructional goals. The variety allows you to revisit growth mindset, flexible thinking, and perseverance over several days or weeks without repeating the same assignment.
In self-contained settings, the companion can support repeated instruction and guided practice with familiar concepts. Students have opportunities to build the language and thinking they need to approach challenges with greater independence.
File Format and License
- Digital download with printable PDF materials
- Files available immediately after purchase
- Licensed for use by one educator
- Redistribution or sharing of the files is not permitted
- The picture book is not included. You will need access to Julia Cook’s Bubble Gum Brain to use the read-aloud lesson.
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