Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Kwik Stix Give Away #2

I have another wonderful giveaway for you this week.  You can win  a 6 pack of Neon Kwik Stix AND a 6 pack of their Primary colors. Before you enter to win, check out my review of this fabulous product!
I love Kwik Stix and have reviewed them on my blog in a previous post. You can read it here.
My review is much the same as in my original post with a few new findings.

These are true tempera paints but in glue stick form. No water, no paint brushes, just the stick! This wonderful product comes to us by The Pencil Grip, Inc. I had the honor of testing these out  in my classroom with my kiddos. They are AWESOME and will definitely be on my supply “wish list” from now on.

  1. There is NO more paint tray mess. Students just remove the lid, use it like a glue stick, then put the lid back on.
  2. The colors are soooo much brighter as you can see in the pictures.
  3. There are NO more water spills because you don’t need water to activate the paint.
  4. The Stix come in a plastic tray that can help keep them from rolling around the table.
  5. The paint dries in 90 seconds.
  6. The kids LOVE them.
  7. They are super easy for Pre-K and K students to use.
The actual size of the Kwik Stix is like a glue stick.

**The only negatives I could find:
  1. The Kwik Stix are fat making it hard to get into small corners or circles in the drawings. This could easily be fixed by just rubbing the top of the Kwik Stix with a paint brush and then onto the paper. I have been told that since my last review the company has put skinny/thin tip Kwik Stix into production but there is no word when they will be available yet.
  2. You can get a 6 pack for 5.99. So to have enough for lets say 20 kiddos you would have to spend about $119.00 OR you could purchase their 96 pack for $96.00 (That seems quiet pricey to me.) - Maybe you could just purchase 4 of the 5.99 pack and switch out which teams get to use them.............
  3. They don't come in multiple skin colors. (Maybe that is something the company will add...)
I firmly believe that students should be learning how to use all different types of mediums when creating art so this will by all means not replace the watercolors and other paints in my classroom but it is definitely a fun new addition to our art tools.

You could have these in your classroom too! I have been given permission by this company to have a giveaway featuring their awesome product. The giveaway prize will include a 6 pack of their Neon Kwik Stix AND a 6 pack of their Primary colors. 
All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter below! I just know you will love these as much as I do. Good Luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
If by chance you do not win this AWESOME prize, the company has given me a coupon to share with you. Just go to their site at The Pencil Grip Inc., load up your cart, and enter the coupon code below:

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Water/Field Day Ideas AND TpT 2016 Conference INFO

I wanted to share how we end the year in Kindergarten and First Grade in my school. We have always done a special Water Day or Field Day that lasts all day. For several years we have always done Field day in the morning before it gets too hot then took a break for lunch (picnic outside or in classrooms depending on the weather), changed into swimsuits, and then completed our day with water activities. Some activities for FIELD DAY that we have done in the past include: tug of war, musical chairs, the parachute games, crab soccer, three legged race, balance the egg on the spoon, bean bag toss, hula hoops and jump ropes, scooter relay, and ice pops. 

Then we would switch to Water Day and play games such as: side walk chalk paint, tons of little pools, bubbles with bubble wands, water squirters, Duck Duck Splash (stick a baby pool in the center of a circle of kiddos and play duck duck goose - they have to sit in the pool if they are caught), Polar Plunge Relay (fill a little pool with ice and water - they run to the end jump in to get their entire body wet climb out and run back to their team---this was hard in FL...the ice kept melting so the water wasn't very cold), water ball toss, and a sponge bucket Car Wash relay. All of these games were super FUN, however, it took a TON of planning and effort to get it put together. We have 10 teachers on our team so this task was huge.  We often had to double up in the stations and then it became hectic and not so fun.
The above pic was last years CRAZY schedule.


This year we decided to simplify it. We are combing the Water and Field day into one and completing the rotations in about 2 hours. We are also using this time to focus on some developmental gross motor skills while having fun. That is always the best, when the kids are having sooooooo much FUN that they don't even realize that they are learning. The rotations we are doing involve hula hoops, sponges, small kiddie pools, bubbles, ice pops, and water balloons. (side note, if you haven't tried them yet, Bunch-o-balloons are FABULOUS!!!!!)

If you would like to see our rotation, game descriptions, or to try some of these ideas for your own class, click End Of Year Water and Field Day Fun...........

NOW for the BIG news........Are you going to the 2016 Orlando TPT Conference??? I am AND I am hosting a fabulous Meet and Greet with several of my Florida blogger friends.  It is free of cost, has tons of giveaways, and over 500 Swag Bags (for the first 500 people to sign up) filled with goodies that you don't want to miss! The best part is that as of now, the entire TpT headquarters has RSVP'ed!  This is your chance to meet them if you haven't been able to in the past.  


It is called the Florida Welcome Social it is on July 12th at 6:30pm in the Dolphin Conference Room it is FREE to attend. If you would like to join us to click here and "join" the group on Facebook! 



That's it, easy peasy!! I hope to see you there!

One more thing before I go to help you celebrate the end of your school year, enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win 1 of 3 TpT gift cards. Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
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