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I can’t think of a teacher who doesn’t wish for more minutes (hours?) per day, can you? Well, trust me, your peeps here at The Mailbox understand your needs! That’s why we continue to add new timesaving tools to our online toolkit for MyMailbox Idea Center Gold. Now I suspect this news is a total bummer for anyone who is not a current member of MyMailbox Idea Center Gold. (If you fall into this category, please see my subscription tips below.)

Here’s the scoop on three new timesaving tools available at
MyMailbox Idea Center Gold under the “Toolkit” tab!

Card Maker Tool: Quick as a wink, create cards and tags for a variety of purposes. Word cards, desk labels, flash cards, cubby tags, center labels—you choose the card size, the border art (from seasonal and nonseasonal choices), the font and font size, and the number of cards you need. Enter your text, and presto—your cards are ready to print!

Lotto Board Maker: Prepare lotto boards in a flash! Choose a grid, border art, and the number of gameboards you need. The Lotto Board Maker signals how many unique words you must enter to make a different card for every player. Enter your text, and your cards are ready in seconds!

Spelling Tool: Wow, this tool is awesome! Enter the spelling words for the week and get a ready-to-print spelling list. Need some spelling activities to go with the words? No problem! There are 38 different activities from which to choose. Each activity you select appears on the page you’re designing. You can even add a personal note, such as “Spelling test on Friday!” You choose the font, font size, and border art.

Enjoy!
Diane

Subscription Tips: Not a member of MyMailbox Idea Center Gold? Try these ideas! Talk up the benefits of MyMailbox Idea Center Gold around family members and special friends who know how hard you work on a daily basis. Make sure they understand that this membership is guaranteed to reduce teacher stress. (You might also hint at the prospect of more home-cooked meals, a cleaner house, and so on.) If this approach fails, seek sanity-saving donations from family members and friends. (Go ahead, make ’em feel guilty!) If this also fails, start saving your change. I’m always surprised by how quickly my change adds up!

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Knock, knock. Who’s there?
Diane. Diane who?
“Di-ane” to hear from you!

I’m always dyin’ to hear from you! That’s no joke. But here’s the real reason for my silliness. I’ve made a fun discovery! Monday, October 31, is National Knock-Knock Day. Yes, this is the same day as Halloween. However, that could be a good thing, depending on your teaching situation. If Halloween is strictly hands-off in your school or school district, perhaps now is the time to plan an afternoon share-athon of knock-knock jokes for laughs and giggles.

Get a load of this! If you think about it, this idea aligns with a listening and speaking goal from the Common Core State Standards! (Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks…”) If your students are capable of writing their own jokes, they’ll be practicing writing for a specific purpose (entertainment) and for a designated audience (their peers).

Teaching and learning are so much fun!

Diane

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This past Saturday, I did something I promised myself I would not do again—I held a yard sale. Yes, it’s a bit late in the season. However, here in sunny North Carolina, the weather cooperated. I didn’t tackle this event alone. Lynn Drolet, the managing editor of the kindergarten edition of The Mailbox magazine, joined in the fun.

We started setting up at 5 AM; by 7 AM, we were ready for our first customers (who came with their own flashlights, I might add). Here’s the funny: throughout the morning, customers repeatedly asked us, “Which one of you is a teacher?” It just made us smile. Yes, we were selling a few teacher-related items. We had a pile of tote bags from teacher conferences we’d attended and had some apple-themed decor. However, what seemed to most impress our customers were our thematic tables! We had a Halloween-themed table, a Christmas-themed table, a kitchen-themed table, and so on. One customer even suggested that we should go into marketing. This made us both laugh! That notion would surely make some eyes roll in our marketing department.

Just had to share!
Diane

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Here’s my dilemma: I can’t decide whether I still want to receive paper catalogs in the mail. If you’re a catalog shopper, you know it’s the start of the catalog season. Every day or two, I find a colorful catalog waiting for me in my household mailbox. It’s fun to sneak a peek inside the catalog as I enter the house. After that, anything goes. My intentions are to stack the stapled packs of pages for later looks.

Several years ago, I stopped ordering through the mail and by phone. Instead I began flagging my favorites in my catalog and ordering online. So why can’t I simply view my choices online? Maybe I can. Or maybe I still need my paper product. Have you given up catalog shopping?

Befuddled,
Diane

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Okay, before you throw your snow shovel at me, I’m referring to a dolphin, not a season! (I’m not ready for the winter season yet either!) The Winter I’m in love with is the adorable bottlenose dolphin from the blockbuster film Dolphin Tale. No doubt you’ve heard her story. As a young calf, she became entangled in a crab trap. She survived being rescued, but her tail could not be saved. Thanks to the ingenuity and compassion of others, she was fitted with the first-ever prosthetic dolphin tail. How cool is that? Her amazing true story inspired Dolphin Tale, and she also stars in the family-friendly flick that currently is showing in movie theaters.

Knowing that teachers need plenty of tricks up their sleeves, I got to thinking that perhaps you and your students would enjoy some timely dolphin-themed practice pages. Now this next part is our little secret. I tiptoed into MyMAILBOX Idea Center Gold (gosh, there’s a ton of stuff in there!) and discovered more than 30 dolphin-themed practice pages. Here are a few for you to enjoy: “Playful Dolphins,” “Aquarium Acrobats,” and “Diving Dolphins.” Then use this reading selection (”Winter the Dolphin“) and followup comprehension page (”Not Just a Season“) that actually feature Winter!

Smiles,
Diane

PS: Don’t forget that Winter’s story is also a great nonfiction read! Check out Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff.

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Sometimes Mondays can be a drag, can’t they? I admit that, this morning at 5:30, I wasn’t really ready for Monday. But once I got rolling (thanks to a hefty dose of caffeine), I perked right up. Monday? What’s so bad about Monday? I love Mondays!

Here’s what I’m wondering. Do you find your students to be well-rested or worn out from their weekends? Is it best to plan a group activity first thing on Monday morning? Or is a quiet activity the best choice for a Monday morning?

Have the best Monday ever!

Diane

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Did you know we have three wonderful ladies here at The Mailbox who arrive at work each morning ready to help you? That’s right! Brenda (center), Pam (left), and Ann are the queens of Customer Service at The Mailbox! Can’t find that spider life cycle activity you used two years ago? No problem! Give one of these ladies a few clues, and she’ll find it for you. (There’s a fee if copies are needed.) These gals also handle product orders and answer questions about our products. Let me tell you, they really know our stuff! They can tell you all about our products—including our new ones—and can make suggestions to help you get just what you need to help your students succeed. And get this—they do tech support too. (I love these ladies!) If you encounter a problem navigating The Mailbox Companion, MyMailbox, MyMailbox Idea Center Gold, or The Mailbox website, these are your go-to gals.

Brenda, Pam, and Ann work Monday through Friday 9 AM to 6 PM ET. You can reach them by phone at (800) 714-7991 and by email at general@themailbox.com. They are always glad to help you. Three cheers for Brenda, Pam, and Ann!

Have a great weekend!
Diane

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Happy Wednesday, y’all! Yesterday a few colleagues and I went on a field trip. No, we didn’t visit a pumpkin patch. We went someplace even more fun (for us!)—a local preschool. Due to rainy weather, outdoor play became indoor play. This meant the little ones headed to a carpeted church sanctuary to let loose and work out their wiggles. After about ten minutes of high-pitched fun, Joan, the preschool’s director, gathered the youngsters for a game of “Hide-and-Shoe.” I thought I’d misheard the name of the game, but I hadn’t.

To play, each child removes one shoe and hands it to Joan. Next, as the youngsters cover their eyes and sing the “Alphabet Song” (under the watchful eye of a coteacher), Joan hides the shoes in plain sight around the sanctuary. The object of the game is to simply find your missing shoe and return with your shoe on. The game is so simple, and the kids absolutely love to play it. Give it a try! And if you have an indoor game to tell us about, we’re all ears!

Now, where is my shoe?
Diane

A special thanks to Joan and her staff, who warmly welcomed us into their classrooms.

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Go ahead and eat all the pasta you like this month! October is National Pasta Month, and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that any pasta you eat during the month is calorie free. Or did I just wish for that? Hmmmm, I’ll let you decide!

I’m wondering who has a favorite pasta craft or center to share! Anyone?

Ciao!
Diane

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