Thanks to all for sharing your thoughtful wishes for The Mailbox genie! I do have some great news for those of you who are currently or will be teaching with Common Core State Standards. (Read more at the blog!)

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Ahoy, mateys! Word on the high seas is there’s gold to be found at TheMailbox.com. (Read more at the blog!)

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Have you checked out our updated Web site? Yesterday, TheMailbox.com went from being a great Web site to being a super-duper, gold star, totally awesome, terrifically fantastic Web site! Can you tell I’m just a little excited?

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Hollywood is at it again! This time they have chosen to make a screen adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I'll admit it: I cannot wait to see what the moviemakers do with this rollicking story. I have wonderful memories of Max and his wild pals. My mom read this story to me again and again. I read it to my younger brother and then, years later, shared it with my students. This is one you just can't keep to yourself!

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I love it when Hollywood takes a great kids' book and makes it into a movie. Now don't get me wrong; they don't always make the movie the way I would like. But they usually get kids interested in the book. Anything that gets a child interested in reading is all right with me.

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During my second year of teaching, I was across the hall from an incredible teacher named Ms. Dunn. Ms. Dunn shared so many wonderful teacher secrets with me! I couldn't wait to see what she had planned each day. Her students were always engaged in the best learning games, and everything in her room was so organized. People stopped by to see her colorful wall displays, and she knew all kinds of tips and shortcuts. After several months of copying what she was doing, I was convinced that she was the smartest teacher ever!

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Change is good, right? I know it is, but here’s my confession—sometimes change scares the heck out of me. And yet I know I embrace change on a daily basis. I guess it’s the big changes that can throw me for a loop. To this day I vividly remember the afternoon my principal informed me that the following fall I would be changing grade levels. My knees went weak and my head began to spin—and not in a good way!

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If you could walk through the halls of The Education Center®, you would see a lot of exciting things happening. In one hallway, you might find editors squealing over the fresh and fun projects they have found in their daily mail (projects submitted by teachers like you!). In the kitchen, you may find an editorial assistant testing a recipe for an upcoming issue of The Mailbox® magazine. (You may also see a line of eager taste-testers!)

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After I had been at The Education Center® for a few months, the first magazine that I worked on was published. I proudly displayed it on a shelf in my office. Now that shelf is populated with all of the books and magazines that I have had the privilege of editing or writing. Each one of those publications holds specific memories for me--memories of testing projects with my coworkers, researching interesting topics for learning center cards, or watching, wide-eyed, as an artist turned my simple directions into colorful, kid-pleasing characters.

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Well, I pulled out my favorite holiday read-aloud last night, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. It was the first of many readings to come over the next few weeks. My sons love it just as much as my students always did. When I was teaching fifth grade,

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