The Pencil Grip Company so generously sent me some pencil grips and Kwick Stix (Tempera Paint Sticks) to try out in my Pre K classroom. At first, I was a little apprehensive towards the Kwick Stix because they sounded too good to be true. I love doing art activities with my kids, but I don't have any shelves in my classroom. Needless to say, drying space is limited. However, the Kwick Stix solved that problem. The kiddos tried them out in our art center this past week and we loved them! They are easy for the kiddos to use and paint very smoothly. Plus, they dry in a matter of seconds. Win! Win!

Here's how my kiddos used the Kwick Stix this week:




The Pencil Grips were a great tool as well. I used them with my kiddos during our writing time. Teaching correct pencil grip is so important at the primary level and the Pencil Grips are a great reinforcement. I let my kiddos that don't have very strong fine motor use them. It took a little while for them to adjust, but they became very comfortable with using them quickly. I loved the fact that I didn't constantly have to hover over them to help correct their pencil grip. Another win win!



Please go and check out this amazing company! They are kind, helpful and create products that work.
http://www.thepencilgrip.com









We are linking up with the fabulous collaborative authors of A Spark of Inspiration for a two day dollar sale! Our $1.00 product is Spring Spatial Concepts. Click on the picture below to go directly to our tpt store.

Spring Spatial Concepts

Check out these other Dollar Deals from Spark authors here! 

Today we are linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching.
Head on over to see what other educators are doing this week.
I read Salt in His Shoes to Kindergarten the sweeties this week.
It's about little Michael Jordan before he became #23 Hoops Superstar.
I told the sweeties that Michael's heart was full of basketball.
Then, I asked them what their heart was full of.
Some answers:
hope and love, 
soccer,
my family,
God and Jesus,
candy,
more hearts,
and
the library.
Awwwww.   
Love those sweeties!
We are getting ready for Earth Day.
It's coming up on April 22.
To celebrate, we are using our Earth Day Reader's Theater.
You can check it out here in our TpT store if you
want a fun, interactive way to celebrate Earth's happiest day
(one of my sweeties always refers to Earth Day this way).
So, I went to the acupuncturist for help with sciatica.
He discovered I had sludge in my gall bladder.
I don't understand how all of this works.
But he did some treatments and my sciatica is much better.
And he said the sludge is gone from my gall bladder.
His advice, "An apple a day keeps the gall bladder happy."
Apparently, the pectin in apples is very good for a healthy gall bladder.

Happy Birthday to Beverly Cleary!
100 years old on April 12.
And 50 years of publishing children's books!
Wow!
My little community is covered in red.
That is because we are in poppy season.
A local soldier sent his mother from Europe right after World War I.
Naturally, his mom planted the seeds he sent.
Poppies now reseed themselves in our area each year.
On my drive to and from work, this is my beautiful view during April.

Have a wonderful day!
We love Spring!
And free stuff for teachers is always a bonus.
Especially since is about that time that the tax man comes knocking on doors.
We are teaming up with our friends at The Elementary Entourage for an awesome April giveaway.
Check out all the goodies in the K-2 Bundle you could win.

Hope you are the lucky ducky who wins this giveaway!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Do you hear that - the plop-plop of rain? We've had a little bit in Central Texas, which is perfect for this topic:
 The Frenzied SLPs
I wrote about my favorite rainy go-to activity in Rainy Days and Wednesdays. Here's a recap. Gather wax paper, clear plastic cups, food dye, plastic spoons, and straws.
Give each student a piece of wax paper. Fill the cups about 1/4-1/2 way with water. Add food dye and stir with spoons. Then, put the straw into the cup of colorful water, put finger on top of straw to collect water, and then drop on wax paper.
Ta-dah! Instant colorful rain drops! This activity is so fun for mixing colors. It gets in lots of language - requesting, describing, sequencing... Plus, the water blobs up on the wax paper, so students can move it around to make little and big drops. 

Y'all know how much we love books. Use the rain activity in conjunction with some of our favorites.
 All Y'all Need
Weather in Texas means teaching safety. 3rd-5th graders this week will be learning about tornadoes and safety plans with Tornado: Fact & Opinion. Students draw a card, read it, decide if it's fact or opinion, and then write it down for homework. Artic students underline the words with their sounds. Students do their own homework, they are busy while waiting for their turns, and I get to address language, fluency and artic. 
 Tornado Fact & Opinion by All Y'all Need
I'll make the homework page 2-sided to save paper and write a quick instruction on the top, like "Practice saying the underlined sounds 3 times per day" or "Practice reading with easy onset." 

Both sets come in one bundle, also! 

How do you incorporate water lessons into therapy? We'd love to hear! Either comment or link up! Thanks to Speech2me and Looks Like Language for working behind the scenes to make this linky happen! Bloggers, use the first image in this post and link to The Frenzied SLPs.


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