Sweet sassy snow pants–it’s cold outside! A large chunk of our country is currently having quite the cold snap. Personally, I like it. I’m a Michigan girl living in North Carolina and temperatures that freeze my nose hairs remind me of my home state. Plus I now have an excuse to smother myself in HUGE…
Kids—and teachers too—soak up lots of information through video. What do you love about using video your classroom? Submit a comment to this blog and you could win an assortment of literature-based videos from Weston Woods. Our prize pack includes Stories from the Black Lagoon, The How Do Dinosaurs Collection, and the Peter H. Reynolds…
Need some leaf activities for fall? No problem! We have you covered. (Get it? Covered in leaves!) The best thing for you to do is to click this link right HERE. You’ll notice that there are 1135 leaf ideas. So look to left of your screen and narrow your search by grade level. If you’re…
I write and edit for The Mailbox®–thus it’s been awhile since I’ve been in the classroom teaching little ones. Despite this, I still have “teacher dreams.” You know what I’m talking about. They’re the dreams/nightmares in which: The students are arriving, and I have nothing planned. It’s the middle of the school day, and I’ve…
A standard question at our local grocery stores here in North Carolina used to be, “Paper or plastic?” Now I’m more likely to be asked, “Is plastic okay?” Of course if I were on the ball I’d have my own cloth totes with me. Right? Recently I was totally surprised to have my purchases from…
The definition of a packrat is someone who saves (or hoards!) unnecessary things. So what exactly is unnecessary? Is something unnecessary if you haven’t used it in the past year? Perhaps. But what if…? Yep, it’s those dang what-ifs that grind my purging to a halt….
We can’t all enjoy every single task involved in our jobs. I’m fortunate because I can say that I enjoy most of them. One of my job tasks I don’t enjoy? Reviewing something I’ve already written. I just want to move on. I recently wrote a feature for the magazine on The Very Hungry Caterpillar,…
This Friday, February 17, is Random Acts of Kindness Day. Normally, I kind of scoff at days like this because it makes it sound like the remaining 364 days of the year you can treat people any way you’d like. However, I like the idea of bringing this day to students’ attention with the goal…
There’s something magical about the number 100—especially when we’re talking about the 100th day of school. To celebrate, we’ve gathered prizes worth over $100, and one lucky teacher will win them! Here’s what’s in our wonderful winter-themed prize pack: Blue Penguin by Petr Horacek (Candlewick Press) A Dot in the Snow by Corrinne Averiss (Sterling)…
Happy New Year to you from The Mailbox®! May the new year bring you much happiness, and peace.