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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Freebie, product and a giveaway!

I soooo know how that poor pooch is feeling! Was it a full moon last night?  The kiddos were CUH-RA-ZY!  Do you remember the story of me trying to line the kinders up the first few days of school.  I wanted my lasso to round them all up......well, now, I have lunchroom duty. EGADS!!  They get so wound up (the kinders, not the teachers)---well----okay, so sometimes we do too...but that's not the point.  The K's sit on one half of our cafeteria and the 1s/2s sit on the other half.  It's like it becomes a competition on which side can be the loudest.  Then, they run up to you.....ohh no...heaven forbid we raise our hands (or wipe them off for that matter) and tap at you.  Yes, they are cute....but goodness....pizza hands and I do not get along very well.  EWW....that's all I can say about that.

THEN, to top it all off today----they decided to have a food fight! (Again, they are the kinders, not the teachers!)  Seriously?  A food fight?  See how I relate to the picture above?

OHH, and it wasn't just the K's being all crazy---my kiddos in first were too.  I asked several times on SEVERAL occasions to quiet down today.  I finally said, alright, I'm moving clips.  BOOM!  Yeah, they heard me that time!  OHHH...it just makes me cuckoo.

Since my day was so crazy, I thought.....hmm....I bet other people have crazy days too.  I mean after all we are teachers......what better way to find a positive then a freebie and a giveaway?

Y'all know we are working on r blends this week with Treasures.  I made another phonics sheet with word box shapes.  Now, we also use Wilson's, so there are some chunks on the sheet that we have covered using that, but not Treasures.  You can click the picture below to grab you a copy. 

 Since I'm on the topic of Treasures, I know that many of you liked the Treasures Cut up Sentences and they seem to be helping my kids.  I went ahead and did the same format with the first Unit sight words of Treasures. Click below to head over to TpT to check it out.


Here is a sample from the packet above. Click it to grab it. :)



Now, on to the good stuff.  I was asked by the wonderful people of Educational Insights to do a review on a product of my choice.  I knew right away I wanted to give the Hot Dots a go!  I've been wanting to try them for a while now, because they just looked PERFECT.

As soon as I unwrapped them, my whole family started playing with them.  (We are in our 30's with  a 10 year old and a 6 year old).  As soon as one box and pen was unwrapped, my husband took it.  Then another unwrapped, and my daughter took it.  My poor 6 year old couldn't wait until he got one to try too.  My daughter told him, but you will get to play with them in your classroom, we won't.  SOOO---if we were all excited about them.  Just imagine the fun my firsties were going to have. 

 The colorful cards come in a sturdy box for storage.  It's not too bulky, so when you're cleaning up and storing materials you're not using, it doesn't take up a lot of space.  The cards are made of a pretty thick cardstock, and they are a glossy image.  Here you can see the Hot Dot card for ending sounds.  Students would name the picture shown.  In this case, the picture is a bus.  Then, they would look at the words along the side, and find the word marked bus.  When using the Hot Dot pen with it, the pen makes a variety of noises (both for correct and incorrect answers) and lights up to let students know they have the correct answer.  It's green when correct and red when wrong.  The noises can be controlled by a volume button on the side of the pen.  Even if turned up all the way, it wasn't too loud that it bothered the students working with me, and it was a just right volume for them with the other noises in the classroom. 
Here you can see the pen in relation to the students hand.  It's a very durable hard plastic. It is perfect size for my firsties to use.  They enjoyed working on this as a center alone, and working as partners.
One would take a card out for the other to use.  I think they were trying to be little teachers with each other.  How cute is that? :)

The great thing about Hot Dots, is they are self checking because of the lights and sounds.  Students are having fun, and learning.  This has been by far their favorite center the past two weeks.  What makes it better is they come in a variety of skill levels.  If you've not had a chance to check them out, you should.  Here's the website, or if you want to see what other Hot Dot products are available, click HERE.

 Now, some lucky person can win their own set of Hot Dots (your choice) and pen for their classroom.
Here are the rules to enter:
1) Must be 18 years old or older
2) Must be a US/Canada resident
3) Prize will be sent in mail by Educational Insights

To Enter, please follow the rules set forth by Rafflecopter.  



a Rafflecopter giveaway

13 comments:

  1. I would love these!! I hope I win!

    ashley

    ashleysanderson1@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I still can't believe you're doing r blends. We are months away from officially doing them. Oh my.

    I use Hot Dots in my classroom. The kiddos love them. It would be sweet to win some new cards and a new pen. My pens are the old school ones and aren't as accurate anymore.

    Brenda
    You Might Be a First Grader...

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  3. Thanks!
    cbartram@kitcarsonschool.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was looking just like that dog one day too, but it was my own class that caused the distess!

    Thanks for the freebies, I'll have to save them for next year, we are reading Little Red Hen next week.

    BTW, I still do not like Treasures! I told my principla that whoever put the first curriculum together must not have ever taught first grade and has no children. If they did they would not introduce r blends and final blends the 4th and 5th week.

    Kelly @ I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher

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  5. Awesome giveaway, DeAnne! That dog pic is hysterical!

    Treasures for Teaching

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  10. Could you tell me a little about how you use Fundations with Treasures? I'm interested in hearing more about what that looks like in first grade. Thanks!

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First Grade and Fabulous

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