Best Year Ever! GivEAway Time!!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. It's a time I can share five random things about my week...Okay this may be five random things about the year!
In so many ways this has been the best year ever. I think I probably feel that way at the end of MOST years. (Come on we've all had THAT class!) This years group was eager, curious and excited about learning. They responded well to instruction and handled their mistakes as opportunities to learn...most of them most of the time! I have know several of this years students since they were babies or toddlers and looked forward to having them as students. The relationships that developed with parents helped to support the learning in and out of the classroom. You have to love a class that gives a disappointed sigh when you announce the day is over!

Reflecting on different "Bests" of the year I think about the "best" read aloud, "best" field trip, "best" TPT find, "best" after school activity and the "best" new school tool! Ready? Here we go!

 Best Read Aloud goes to ... Peter Brown's The Wild Robot! It was a tie between this and The Giggler Treatement with my class, but there were was so much depth and meaning to be found in The Wild Robot that I have to pick it as my favorite. You've probably read Peter's picture books. This novel has short chapters making it easy to read just one more a couple of times. When taking a walk in our school woods and hearing students discuss what we'll do if we run into Roz the Wild Robot meant they were as invested in the book as I was. You must read this book! Peter has already told me that there will be a sequel. Yep! He commented on my picture of The Wild Robot on Instagram...twice!




Best Field Trip goes to... Country Dairy! This family run farms employs over 100 people and has around 1400 cows. They take time to run Moo School and give tours to city kids so that they understand where there milk and cheese come from. You can eat in their restaurant and buy cheese and milk as well as other wonderful products and books to take home. My family and I love stopping on bike rides for their homemade ice cream.

A three month old calf checks us out!

Best Teacher Pay Teacher find award goes to...Cathe McCoy's My Amazing Brain packet. My students and I were fascinated by the facts and information Cathe shares in this engaging interactive  resource. This really helped me to guide my students deeper into a growth mind-set. You've got to check it out!



The Best after hours activity for me has been...Mahjongg. Playing this complicated game has been a great way to meet new people and it's a great stress reducer! It isn't the online solitaire game I'm talking about. This is game requires lots of concentration and practice!

The Best new school tool for me has been....Kwik Stix!

The Pencil Grip, Inc. has come up with a fun way to paint that isn't messy and makes a stunning picture. My students LOVE to use them and I don't mind letting them use them because they are so easy to clean up after! My favorite way to use them is to just set them out with white paper and let my Owlet's creativity go wild. Here is a sample of two pictures made with these fun paint sticks.

This beauty was painted on Earth Day. I love the way you can paint over the paints and maintain the right color!

This picture of all four seasons was created by one of my reviewers. They commented that they felt like they were using oil pastels, but without the smearing or mess.

You probably can't wait to get your own to play with this summer or put away to make Back 2 School something to look forward to! You can try your luck at winning your own set of 12 below or follow the link HERE to order some right now! I love love love the metallic Kwik Stix! Thank you for letting me try this amazing product. I wish they lasted forever, but with the affordable price I'm able to keep my classroom stocked for all kinds of fun creative projects!
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