Pencil Grips and a Give Away!

What is squishy, * "feels like a booger without being slimy" * and comes in some pretty cool colors?  If you guessed a pencil grip you may win a set of your own! When asked by The Pencil Grip Inc. to review their pencil grips, I had just been given two of these same grips by our occupational therapist. She has been at her job for a long time and I feel she is one of the best in the business. She gave them to me saying she had tried many over the years but these are by far the best...So would I be willing to review them? Yes, please!    *Directly quoted from a first grader!*

Look at that concentration! 

I had an eager batch of students ready to try them. Their excitement did wear off when they realized that they would not be able to hold their pencils the wrong way. Over the years I've noticed more and more students struggling with correct pencil grip. I can only guess that it could be that children are asked to do more and more writing at an earlier age than they once were. Perhaps their fingers are not developmentally ready for such small motor skill tasks causing them to form pencil holding habits that are quite difficult to break. I can see that these pencil grips may be a great tool to helping break some of these bad habits.

I would recommend several practices when implementing them into your handwriting instruction. Make sure they are placed low on the pencil. Keep your initial times using the grips short and keep it fun. Sit with your students and show them the right way to grip the grip! I used pens to introduce them making it even more fun! Monitor their grip as they begin using them. The grips won't do what we want them to do if they are not used properly. Our goal of course is to get students to be able to grip the pencil correctly and not fatigue too quickly. I would highly recommend these grips and found them to be an effective tool in handwriting instruction.

 Which grip is right for you?  From the left is the  Crossover Grip  provides support while keeping fingers from crossing over each other. The middle Pinch Grip is possibly my favorite for my students. It guides fingers to the right position without being too rigid.  The far right is The Pencil Grip that worked great for my over grippers! I liked using this one the best myself. I was able to hold the pencil comfortably and had good control all while feeling that my pencil was riding on a pillow!!
And look at all the cool colors...
 The most amazing part is you could win a set of  the three grip training kit for yourself. I'm able to give away three kits. I hope you are one of the lucky winners! To enter, just comment below. Please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you are a winner.
Can't wait to get some of your own? You can buy your own right HERE!  Winners have been notified!

Finally Fall Blog Hop and Giveaway!

So it is finally fall around here. I find myself looking for every crunchy leaf available and going way out of my way to step on it. Is there anything more satisfying than the sound of a crunchy leaf? It is such a great time of year to get my Owlets outside collecting leaves and acorns to use in math or to use to help them achieve mastery over vocabulary and sight words. I hope you have acorns in your neck of the woods!

Picking pumpkins is so much fun!

My students enjoyed reading a little book to find out if they were an apple or not a couple weeks ago. This week we will read THIS book to see if perhaps we are pumpkins instead.

Click on the picture to get this freebie!

I'm very excited to be in a tribe with some amazing teachers from across the country. You can find out more about the tribe by visiting The Primary Punchbowl and following along on some great EDventures. Be sure to head over to win some great prizes. Meet the tribe by hopping along below! Be sure to enter for your chance to win a gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click Here to get this for only $1.00!

An InLinkz Linkup

Five for Friday: Freebie and GiveAway!

Honestly it has been so long since I've visited with you that I couldn't remember my password to get into this place. I'm so happy you stopped by, I promise a little treat if you can stick through to the very bottom! With out any more babbling I'll get on to...

I love you Doodle Bugs! You have so many awesome things to share and my favorite Linky ever. Keep up the good work. I've met so many wonderful teacher friends through you and have been able to find and implement great ideas to help kids learn because of you.

I'm on spring break this week. Why does this week zip by so quickly? One more day to hang out with my gorgeous 16 year old. In Michigan kids have to drive 50 hours with their parents before they are able to take their driving test. This is a true test of a parent/child relationship. If you come home talking it is a bonus. We've tried to drive like crazy this week and neither of us is crazy. She has surprised me with her awesome driving skills and she looks good too! Cheers to you my lovely lovable Ella!

Look at the air rushing by. This girl has a lead foot.

Are you touchy? Math was always a struggle for me as a kid. Where was the Common Core when I needed it?!  I spent hours with my dad at the dining room table crying in high school cause I just didn't get it. If only I had known about Touchmath then. It is a great multi-sensory approach to math. I have a child that wants me to dot all of her numbers for her every day. She'll be so happy to have this little cheat sheet at her desk on Monday. You can have it too and you can get free training, materials and information about Touchmath HERE!

Click on the picture for your own set!

Do you Instagram? I find it to be like micro-blogging. I've made some great new contacts and friends. You can win a $150.00 gift card by coming over and following a loop of teachers. Make sure you read the directions...It involves answering a different question at each stop. You have a couple of days to enter, but don't wait too long!

I was so excited to finally have a tournament of books this year. I used ideas that I found HERE. I ran into our school library one day and just grabbed random books until I had 16. I spread them out on the floor and they magically found another book to go head on head with. My large wall bracket got a little beat up, but it lasted the whole month of March! 

I had no clue what I was getting into when I started. I didn't know how to "score" the entries in the brackets. I could find plenty of people to help me and the winner was determined by how many of the books they chose won. For the first round students were awarded 1 point for each of the books they chose that won. Round 2 was worth 2 points. Round 3 was five points and the few that predicted Green Eggs and Ham won 10 points! 

Here is the winners bracket...

I have made this available on TPT. You may feel free to edit it and add your own clipart and changes to adapt it to your own situation. Whatever it takes to get kids reading we are willing to do! Click HERE to download your own copy.

 And now for the special treat..I would love to sit down and have a cup of coffee with you. I just finished making these coffee cup cozies... 

I'll give you one next time I see you! Until then, leave a comment below win a giftcard from Starbucks! Be sure to leave an e-mail so I know where to send it!

Five for Friday: GIVEAWAY!

I'm performing a little bit of an experiment. My experiment involves how the post title determines the number of people that visit. Now don't worry I really am having a GIVEAWAY. It started two days ago. The title of that post was so long and boring I refuse to repeat it. Last time I checked about four people had entered the giveaway that involves $20.00 to spend at Amazon. Now, if you are just here for the giveaway click HERE.
WARNING:  You'll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of that loooong post!
And now for the rest of you who want to see my five for Friday...

I'm sewing up a storm herd! These will be all ready for the first day of school. The
flannel ones are my favorite. The white eyed one is pretty wonky isn't it? Find out more about these
guys HERE! WARNING: They are so easy to make, you'll keep going and going until there is no room
for anything else in your house!

Let's see....I'm counting the giveaway as one and the elephants as two, even though there are five in the picture and I'm not admitting how many are on my couch! That brings us to THREE...

While cleaning my room this week I found Scrabble tiles and little bitty
adhesive magnets...Thank you to the teacher who was last in my room. I have
put these guys together and voila!

This is my favorite picture of my favorite kitty in the whole wide world.
Isn't she sweet? My daughter put an American Girl Doll hat on her and
fixed up a little pillow on her bed. You wouldn't believe what this cat
puts up with! AND she hunts and eats spiders...my hero!

Whoopsie I forgot to announce four. That's it right above these words. And finally number five needs no introduction. Dubbed Jenny Chicken by my friends and family, this dish is my family's absolute favorite. It takes a lot of prep, so I don't do it too often. Since I was really struggling to come up with number five I just decided to show you this delicious meal!

Now quit drooling and go enter my giveaway. If you had entered before, you may want to check back because I added a way to win. My elephants are being featured today on Camelot Fabric's Fan Friday blog feature. I want you to be sure to check that out!

Five for Friday

What a fun week it has been. I can say that even though I spent an "extra" day at school this week. The Snow Days finally caught up with me and I had to put in some time. I should have been able to sleep in and spend the day with my Cranky Bear and chickens. I was happy to spend Good Friday making it meaningful and full of meaning! 

My students loved making "Resurrection Gardens" I hope the grass grows for them before Sunday. One of my Lego maniacs snuck some pieces in to decorate their garden. It cracked me up when I checked and watered the gardens after school and found the Lego angel, soldier and bones scattered around the garden. 

I went to THIS web-site for help on making this project!

Number 2 is my new found love for chickens! I had to bring two chicks home until they are big enough to live without a light. They are just about ready to go  to their permanent home. Until they do I will enjoy every possible moment with them. My cat is totally fascinated with them. Can you think of a caption for this picture?

Click HERE to see them as babies!

Number 3...Did I mention I love chick(en)s? Here are the ones I made to use in the classroom. We toss them back and forth to each other and skip count. They are great tools to use for brain breaks and I'm sure glad I saw Red Ted's tutorial to make these cute chicks!

Number 4! Did you know it was Palindrome week? Each day this week the date was the same forward as backwards. Yikes...How fun is that? Not quite as much fun as this book! It is full of palindromes and just a  lot of fun!
Number 5....This is my favorite! We made these beautiful stain glass windows to celebrate Good Friday. I had a hard time sending these home. They are beautiful. 

Contact paper and a silhouette make for a beautiful project!

Happy or hoppy Easter! This year I have only one third of my children to celebrate with. For the first time ever we are going out for brunch instead of cooking our own fancy dinner. I can't wait to link up with Doodle Bugs for the first time in a  loooong time to share my five for Friday!

Facebook Frenzy Freebies and More!

You can start at my facebook page...You do like me, right?

You know what tomorrow is, right? Facebook Frenzy! I've never participated in a frenzy before and I'm so excited to see how (if!) it works. It was not an easy task for me to install my tab, but I love learning new things and I did it with a little (lots of) help from my friends. If you just can't wait for the frenzy here are a couple of things I have in my store for back to school right now that are totally free...
 First Grade ABCs! It prints out much larger!! Just click on the picture!

 A To Zchool! is an ABC printout for ALL grades! I'd be happy to customize it for you!
 I love my reading log...I hope you do too!
 A prayer for the teacher! I know I need a lot of this!!

Ever wonder why bloggers on Facebook say..."Link in first comment"? I think I figured it out... If I place a link directly in my post it doesn't get as many views. Facebook wants to keep people on Facebook. By placing your link in the comment box, your post gets more views.

I'd really love to see you be the winner of my Giveaway. As I'm writing, there are two more days. Have you entered? Just for funsies, I added another way to get an entry, so you might want to click HERE again!!

One more thing...I like Dodger's fans more than I like the Cardinal baseball team...Just sayin'!