Leading young minds through literature can be intimidating—teachers are forced to ask the big questions, like, “What are the themes of this story?” and “How can we learn from these characters?” And that’s not even mentioning the pivoting we have to be prepared for when our students pull questions seemingly out of nowhere!

This is why out of all our wonderful Print Shop materials, the More for Teachers: Reader’s Guides are my personal favorite. 

What is a Reader’s Guide, you may ask? Great question!

Our Reader’s Guides are a helping hand we extend to teachers and parents, supplementing the guidework students complete in our CORE Literature Discovery  guides. We do the research on the book so you don’t have to!

Each guide includes:

• Stats (like reading levels) and themes
• About the Author
• About the Book
• Section Synopses
• Seven Tips for teaching the story!

For example, in the Seven Tips for The Iron Giant, we highlight repetition, figurative language, symbolism, philosophy, and genre in a few pages so that teachers can point these elements out to their students. We aim to make complex literary ideas accessible, to give you some food for thought as you take on the challenge of educating.

So far, we’ve released Reader’s Guides for:

• All 6 titles from the 3rd Grade Level Collection (Woohoo!)
• 4th: Charlotte’s Web
• 5th: Grayson
• 6th: The Wanderer
• 7th: The Folk Keeper
• 8th: Bridge to Terabithia

Think of this as a sampler platter. More is on the way.

So the next time you crack open a literary book, don’t forget its Reader’s Guide. May you be empowered to teach with confidence!

DON’T FORGET TO PLAY BINGO!

Download your Summer Bingo for free on Printshop HERE and submit a picture of your completed bingo sheet below to enter the raffles. Bingo will run June 1st through August 31st—so print out your bingo sheet and get to crossing off squares!

Summer Bingo!

Poetic devices can turn prose into poetry.

Sprinkle in alliteration or oxymoron or polysyndeton and all of a sudden, a sentence is more than just a sentence. It’s art. 

But how does one teach the art of writing this sentence? Well, the One True Sentence: Tools of Style workbooks are a great place to start. Each workbook explores twenty devices that skillful writers have at their disposal. 

Sometimes, however, writers need more time to sit with these new techniques, time to contemplate and learn and practice. That’s why we created The Writing Mentor print-outs for our Tools of Style workbooks. Each downloadable 3-5 page worksheet (found on Print Shop) supplements a specific lesson from the workbook. With every lesson, students have a chance to learn, practice, and get creative. 

Zooming in, students will: 

• Learn from a great writer’s example of the poetic device. We’ll break it down for you.
• Practice with scaffolded activities where students identify the poetic device and write their own with guidance.
• Get creative by unleashing their inventiveness, be it through writing beautiful sentences, composing short poems, or drawing imaginative pictures.

What better way to learn about amplification than by writing your own amplified sentences—or to practice anaphora than by writing an anaphoric poem about yourself? 

Download a Writing Mentor: Tools of Style worksheet starting on July 20th to cultivate the writer within!

DON’T FORGET TO PLAY BINGO!

Download your Summer Bingo for free on Printshop HERE and submit a picture of your completed bingo sheet below to enter the raffles. Bingo will run June 1st through August 31st—so print out your bingo sheet and get to crossing off squares!

Summer Bingo!

Scarcity is not always a bad thing. Of course, when it comes to natural resources—water and food—scarcity creates a problem. 

But scarcity also might mean that something is unique, precious.

Sometimes scarcity might prevent waste. I work tirelessly to purchase fresh vegetables that will be used completely. Too often, when I was younger, lettuce and celery and carrots would wilt, berries would mold before I had a chance to prepare them for my family. Exercising scarcity has helped me solve this problem.

I have a dear friend, a bonafide artist, who has made a pact with herself to not only work through all the materials in her studio, but to also see what might become of trash combined with a bit of imagination. Trash to ephemera—recycle, reuse, repurpose. Sandra’s “Sunset Clouds Over SLO” (oil on repurposed cardboard, 4 x 4) fits the bill whimsically. 

Beautiful things can be created unexpectedly!

Coming this July, Blackbird & Company will be expanding its offering to support primary students (TK, K, 1st, and 2nd) in gaining the skills that are often overlooked in our electronic era.

Cutting, pasting, coloring, painting, folding, and making, actually set the stage for higher learning. More significantly, the activities we are providing will seem on the surface to be toss-able.  However, offering elevated art supplies plus a little nugget of knowledge, and, there is is!

Voilà, ephemera!

I smile remembering the piggy banks of olden times, likening our Print Shop for Primary being pennies and nickels and dimes and quarters that little minds are adding to their fund of knowledge.

Our concept of offering Print Shop for Primary ABCeDarian style, constrains and connects learning to the 26 letters of the alphabet where all of the English language originates. These 26 letters, organized individually or in combination creates the 44 sounds we humans use to communicate. This truly is an awesome example where scarcity is maximized. 

Following in August, right after our July Print Shop drop, we will be introducing our ABCeDarian Activity Box.

This kit will include books and projects across domains of learning—anatomy, animal life cycles, color theory, fine art, craft, the alphabet, and much more. Everything in the box will promote independent learning, fine motor skills, focus, patience, and offer information to build the fund of knowledge. Simply stated, the ABCedarian box is certain to delight!

But here’s the thing: We are only making 50! Yes, FIFTY! Because of the handmade nature of the ABCeDarian Activity Box, we decided to treat it very special. That’s scarcity for you! Watch for the release next month when Print Shop for Primary goes live.