#ColorizeYourClassroom with Astrobrights Giveaway, Inspiration and a Freebie

Today is the first day of VEGAS week for my teacher friends and I am so excited to bring you an AMAZING giveaway and answer a huge FAQ from Kinder-Craze fans about my classroom word wall. 

Summer is the time to gear up for the new school ahead and DREAM of how beautiful your classroom will be in the fall. So when Astrobrights contacted me to help launch their #ColorizeYourClassroom campaign by inspiring my readers to include more color in their classroom and host a giveaway, I couldn't say no. 

It's no secret that I have a bit of a love affair with bright colors. My entire classroom is designed around Melanie's Rainbow Chalkboard collection at Schoolgirl Style. Yes, it safe to say I love to surround myself in COLOR.  In addition to my personal preference, there are several convincing arguments for the value of including lots of bright colors into the learning environment. 

According to the Color Marketing Group, studies have shown that: 

 COLOR can make learning a more fun and impactful experience

COLOR accelerateslearning by 55 to 78 percent 

COLOR increases student comprehension by 73 percent

Now that you know a little about my color obsession, imagine my delight when I opened a giant box FILLED with all of these gorgeous paper and cardstock colors. 

The sweet people at Astrobrights were even generous enough to supply me with a $50 Gift Card to Office Depot. I ran right out and stocked up on another one of my classroom essentials: Avery 5163 labels.

Each of the words on the word wall is easy to create using two of my favorite classroom supplies: Astrobrights cardstock and Avery 5163 labels. I'll walk you through the process in the next few photos. 

These brightly colored cards grab a lot more attention that your standard white or pastel index cards. 

From there, its as simple as "peel and stick" to create the words to display on my classroom word wall. 

What I love most about the multicolored word backgrounds is that the colors are SOLID. Some critics of color argue that the use of bright colors in the classroom can lead to overstimulation and be distracting for children. I believe that colorizing with a PURPOSE has a tremendous value. 

These sight word cards are a bold addition to my word wall, but the fact that they do not have a busy pattern around them helps hold student attention. I love that when a student is staring at 6 different words by the letter W, struggling to find "was", I can instruct that student to look at the blue word. That instant recognition is the key to helping my students master their sight words without staring blankly at a wall of uniformly colored words. 

To this:

Which do you think my students will prefer? Also, if a student always confuses the words "look" and "like" but I keep reminding the student that "like is the purple word,"which set of flashcards will be help that struggling student to master the word "like" more quickly? 

Use the Rafflecopter below for your chance to WIN!

Today is the first day of Freebielicious VEGAS Week. Be sure to stop the blog throughout the week for lots of fun surprises. If you will be in Vegas this week for I Teach K, I Teach 1st, or the bit TpT conference, make sure you stop by the exhibition hall and visit booth 115. The Freebielicious girls will be handing out free candy, running giveaways, and having lots of fun. I will even have a an EXCLUSIVE freebie on-hand for people that find me. It is gong to be SO much fun! 

Not going to Vegas? Don't worry! We have plenty of giveaways and freebies ready to share with you too! Make sure you follow me on Instagram and Facebook so you don't miss out on any of the fun!