Category: Announcing

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Print Shop for Primary

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. 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.

Coming in 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 always offer a little nugget of knowledge. I smile remembering the piggy banks of olden times, likening out 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. 

Included with our July Print Shop drop, will be 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.

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ABCeDarian Activity Box

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 completely utilized. Too often, especially 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. Scarcity has helped me solve this problem.

I have a dear friend (@sandra2paint), 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.

Coming in 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 always offer a little nugget of knowledge. I smile remembering the piggy banks of olden times. I’m likening our “Print Shop for Primary” projects to pennies and nickels and dimes and quarters that little minds are adding to their piggy bank 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, create the 44 sounds we humans use to communicate. This truly is an awesome example of maximizing scarcity. 

Included with our July Print Shop drop will be our ABCeDarian Activity Box. This kit will include books and projects across ABC domains of learning—anatomy, animal life cycles, color theory, fine art, butterfly 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 Activity 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 closely for the release next month when Print Shop for Primary goes live.

Don’t miss out!

~Kim

HAVE YOU STARTED PLAYING SUMMER 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!

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Submit to Reveal now—July 1st is right around the corner!

Everyone has a story to tell.

Everyone has an idea or an experience or a perspective so unique that it demands to be shared. 

That’s the magic of Reveal. Reveal is the finger on the pulse of our student community. When I read this journal, I catch a glimpse of the hearts of our students because with every piece of writing comes a sliver of the author’s soul. Writing carries power! It’s personal!

Reveal (our Blackbird & Company literary journal) is how we highlight students’ unique voices and big ideas. Check out the Reveal 2024 and Reveal 2025 editions to see for yourself.  

But don’t wait too long—submissions for Reveal 2026 close July 1st! 

Submit your student’s work here to give them a chance to be featured in this upcoming issue. 

May these printed words spur on your creativity!


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!

~ Claire S.

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Did someone say summer fun? Bingo!

If you enjoy reading, summer, and fun, then you’re in for a treat: summer bingo is here! But this isn’t any old bingo—this is Blackbird & Company Summer Bingo!

For the months of June, July, and August, we have a unique challenge for you to conquer. Take a look at these 24 squares, featuring activities that range from the arts (like “Write a summer haiku” or “Read a Blackbird book”) to just pure summer fun (like “Make a smoothie” or “Draw on the sidewalk with chalk”). Over the next few months, you’ll have time to chip away at these activities.

Now here’s where the prizes come in. 

With every bingo you get (which means you’ve completed five activities in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), you’re entered into a raffle to win the Corduroy book and stuffed animal set or the Matilda book and pencil pouch. The more bingos you submit, the more entries you have!


 

 

But that’s not all: If you get a blackout (which means you’ve completed every activity on the bingo square), you’ll be entered into a raffle to win a ANOTHER Solo Stove—this one being a Mesa Tabletop Fire Pit. With a blackout also comes a 20% off coupon code for one item!

Download your Summer Bingo for free on Print Shop HERE and submit a picture of your completed bingo sheet HERE 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!




Let’s live summer to the fullest.

~ Claire S.

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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 will be FREE through the end of May, so take a peak and download some activities for summer.

ABCedarian Crafts

From D is for Dandelion to P is for Pumpkin, these multi-sensory activities are sure to engage and enrich learning. Primary students from kindergartem through 2nd grade will benefit from these activities that will enrich the fund of knowledge, engage the senses, and grow skills that will transfer to all areas of learning.

Writing Mentor Activities

Designed to support students with pithy activities as they work to create exceptional sentences, to engage in supplemental practice to enhance Tools of Style, or to dive into a study of words and where they come from. Writing Mentor activities will also provide longer activities tied to our CORE Integrated Literature and Writing units. Stone Fox is the very first Writing Mentor 5-week downloadable packet where each week students will explore the use of similes in the novel and practice creating similes in their own unique sentences.

This summer is time to create happy habits through independent work pinpointed on specific academic skills with opportunities to build your student’s fund of knowledge.

Head over to Print Shop and download activities for FREE through the end of June. Simply click through, print, and let the Discovery begin!

 

~Kimberly

 

P.S. Dont miss out! During the month of May we are hosting another Giveaway! A wonderful set of Just Right Readers by Kate di Camillo. Enter below daily to increase your chances of winning!


Just Right Readers Giveaway

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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 Salon des Artistes. The idea was to elevate the “open house” concept to an event akin to the French Salons des Artistes that began in the 19th century.

Painting began to change in response to the invention of the camera. The likes of Claude Monet, August Renoir, and Edgar Degas were not considered great artists because they were not painting classically, but impressionistically. They were rejected from exhibiting.  So did they give up? NO! They created an alternative event—a Salon to exhibit their unique works.

Since Waterhouse Guild was named after the artist guilds of the Renaissance, it seemed fitting to name our end of year event after the event spearheaded by the Impressionists.

For our first Salon, when my eldest was in 2nd grade, we had a 10 students. We reserved an event room  at our local library and let each student lay out their culminating work on a table of their own. And the idea grew and morphed from there.

Here is some inspration from bygone Salons:

Butterfly Poetry inspired by The Blue Butterfly: A Story of Claud Money by Bijou Le Tourd.

We displayed scientific observations.

We displayed student art inspired by great artists form history.

Plus some original art from imagination.

And, last but not least, we always displayed work connected to great literature.

 

It’s May.

I do hope you will carry on the tradition of celebrating student accomplishment.

It’s Salon season!

 

~Kimberly


During the month of May we will hosting another Giveaway! A wonderful set of Just Right Readers by Kate di Camillo. Enter below daily to increase your chances of winning!


Just Right Readers Giveaway

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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 this wasn’t any old coffee shop visit; this was called “Homework Party,” and it invariably involved a petite vanilla bean scone for each of us (they came in packs of three) and conversations with the baristas who knew us by name. Sometimes our friends would even join the party to do their homework with us. 

My mom is a master in framing learning as fun—that’s what being a math teacher will get you. (Math teachers must master the art of teaching from an angle, springing learning on kids instead of coming at it head on, much like how you approach a wild animal from the side to avoid getting snapped at.) Hence, she encouraged us to see homework, the bane of childhood, as something communal, a tradition to look forward to. 

I look back fondly on these memories. Mothers possess a power often unsung. They hold their children’s hands as they first experience the unknown and slowly, slowly let them venture off into the wide world by themselves, serving as a refuge to retreat to when life goes sideways. 

If you’re fortunate enough to have a mom like this, take a moment to remind her of her influence on your life. Don’t underestimate the power of saying thank you. Write her a card and point out the specific ways she has shown up for you. 

So happy Mother’s Day to all the moms who do the steady work of showing up for their children week after week. Who relearn algebra to sit at the kitchen table with a child on the verge of a meltdown. Who comfort those little ones who scrape their knees and suffer unkind words and ask big questions. Your work matters. 

 

~Claire S.

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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 called a herd. Not so! A group of rhinos is a crash. Rhinos are really fast animals, can run up to 30 miles per hour. But rhinos have really poor eyesight and can only see about 30 feet ahead of their nose! A problem, right? Immediately we understand the humor in this collective nouns!

Now craft some sentences:

When I stroll along the shore of the Pacific Ocean, I see all kinds of footprints, of birds and dogs and humans. Not once have I come across a three-toed rhino footprint. But when I imagine the near-sighted CRASH of rhinos far from their swampy home, chasing the gulls just for fun as waves crash upon the California coast, I revel at the wonder of words!

Next, break the sentences into lines and stanzas:

When I stroll along the shore of / the Pacific Ocean, I see all kinds of footprints, /of birds and dogs and humans. // Not once have I come across / a three-toed rhino footprint. // But when I imagine the near-sighted / CRASH of rhinos far from their swampy home, / chasing the gulls just for fun / as waves crash upon the California coast, / I revel at the wonder of words!

Lay out the Collective Noun poem:

When I stroll along the shore of

the Pacific Ocean, I see all kinds of footprints,

of birds and dogs and humans.

 

Not once have I come across

a three-toed rhino footprint.

 

But when I imagine the near-sighted

CRASH of rhinos far from their swampy home,

chasing the gulls just for fun

as waves crash upon the California coast,

 I revel in the wisdom of words!

 

~Kimberly

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Month of Poetry Giveaway

A lexicon is a collection of words.

One of my favorite elementary memories is my Word Box, where I organized the many wonderful words I collected as I read. This month, as we celebrate  National Month of Poetry, we will be giving away two wooden card catalogue boxes, complete with ABC dividers and 3 x 5 cards.

Enter to win below:

National Poetry Month

And that’s not all! We are offering a discount on our Operation Lexicon units, plus all things poetry during the month of April. Using the code NatPoe10 you can pick up Introducing Poetry and Small Forms Poetry too! What better way for your students to start collecting and crafting words than to dive into one of these unique units?

Exploring Poetry will inspire your students to use words well:

Small Forms Poetry will inspire students to explore to poetic forms, the small ones, inspiring them to make ever single word count:

Operation Lexicon inspires students from 3rd Grade…

…through 12th grade to collect words:

Operation Lexicon 11 - Shakespeare

And if that’s not enough to inspire, consider the following CORE Integrated Literature and Writing units that are poetry adjacent:

  • Earlybird, Douglas Florian

  • Level 1, Love That Dog

  • Level 2, The Poet’s Dog

  • Level 2, Inside Out and Back Again

  • Level 3, Out of the Dust

  • Level 3, Locomotion

  • Level 3, Silver People

  • We have wonderful words for ALL!

It’s April! It’s time to dive into the wonderful world of poetry!

A great place to start is “How to Read a Poem” by Billy Collins—start HERE.

~Kimberly

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Let’s Celebrate Poetry

Poetry begins with the utterance of a single word, but not just any word, a singular word.

Think bevelled. Toothsome. Quintessential and Zenith.

This month, we will explore a vast array of wonderful words and ways you might inspire your students to become word collectors.

With words, we build phrases—another inky night sky, that supercilious salamander, you marvelous prickly cactus.

With phrases we form sentences. Take this one, crafted by Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas about poetry (an Ars Poetica sentence, if you will):

“Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toenails twinkle, makes you want to do this or that or nothing, makes you know that you are alone in the unknown world, that your bliss and suffering is forever shared and forever all your own.”

Stay tuned this month as we share all things poetic.

 

~Kimberly