Puzzle in Some Summer Writing
Write a puzzle and do some math! To begin, hop on over to Red Hen Toys and pick up the Powers of Two puzzle. Of course, this Montessori / Froebel inspired material is designed to prepare students for more complex…
Print Shop for Summer
Back in January Blackbird & Company soft launched Print Shop! We are so happy about the shape our new offering is taking. In our collection of downloadable Discovery activities, designed to engage students, Kindergarten through 8th Grade, and beyond. Downloads…
What is a Habit of Being?
Students engaging in their important work is simply delightful. Back in 2011, I collected my observations into a little memoir. My goal was simple, demonstrate that at the heart of learning is caring—actually caring about the task at hand. When…
Counting Down to Summer
As the sun begins to set on the 2025/26 school year, I’m remembering May at my little hybrid school, Waterhouse Guild. For nearly 30 years, we would display culminating work beautifully and invite families and friends to attend our annual…
Write a Letter to Your Future Self
We’ve worked hard for a long time—a whole school year, in fact. Work and perseverance and learning changes a person, which is why I’m guessing that who you are now is a little different than you were last May. And…
Happy Mother’s Day
Growing up, we had a Monday tradition. Each Monday in elementary school, after my brother and I received our weekly homework packets, my mom would take us to Starbucks to knock out as much of the work as possible. But…
Just Right Readers Giveaway
Books for primary readers are categorized into levels of difficulty—Just Right Readers. Some of these books are categorized by grade level (GRL), some by a developmental readiness assessment (DRA), and others still are categorized by a Lexile measure. The purpose…
What is the Role of Reflective Learning?
“One of the key practical lessons of modern neuroscience is that the power to direct our attention has within it the power to shape our brain’s firing patterns, as well as the power to shape the architecture of the brain…
Goodbye April, Hello Poetry!
As April comes to a close, so does the National Month of Poetry. And I wish it weren’t so! Poetry is not extracurricular. Poetry is the key that unlocks the mystery of the English language. Deconstructing poems to shreds of…
Collective Nouns and Poetry
We are proud to announce our very first Collective Noun lesson on Print Shop. Click through to download and get the lexicon growing! Now, let’s craft a poem! First we need fodder: You might think a group of rhinos is…