Happy Holidays!

Sale at A Plus Educational!

I love a bargain, and I know you do too!

Come on down to A plus Educational in Harrison next week for the big holiday sale! 25% off most in-stock items, including toys and games for your favorite kids and all the best goodies for your favorite teacher.

Tell 'em Allie sent you!

What's Fresh for Thanksgiving?

If you haven't done a Thanksgiving bulletin board yet, then you need something quick and cute! Better yet, something quick, cute, and compatible with other stuff in your classroom.
I like this set from Creative Teaching Press. It's part of the wildly popular Stick Kids collection. You can use Stick Kids for all kinds of things in your classroom now, add a couple of important pieces for Thanksgiving, and then move right into winter with only a couple of minutes for a quick change.

Can I get Allie's outfits for my dog?

You sure can. Allie is a real dog, belonging to Cindy Magness, owner of A Plus Educational Supply in Harrison, Arkansas. She loves to dress up in her fancy outfits and visit with the shoppers at the store.
Email Cindy -- just click on "A Plus Educational Supply" and you'll find a "contact us" form at the bottom of the page, as well as phone numbers. Cindy will be happy to get your dog duded up just like Allie!

Vote!

Allie's rockin' the vote today! See you at the polls!

Free Shipping on Online Orders!

Right now, A Plus Educational is offering free shipping on all online orders of $30 or more!

What's Good for Halloween in the Classroom?

We have so much great stuff for making your classroom a little spooky and a lot of fun! Here are just a few of my favorties. Visit our online teacher store catalog and browse!

What's Coming Up for Halloween?

True, it's still September. But I say that any holiday that involves treats is worth looking forward to!

Order your Halloween bulletin board now and you'll have it up in plenty of time to get in the mood.

How 'Bout Them Hogs?

Even if they didn't win their last game, we still love 'em.

A Plus has Arkansas history materials from Gallopade, and this is a great time to learn about our state history. Gallopade makes these materials for all 50 states, and you can find them all in our online catalog.

One of my favorite items is the State Poster Map.

State timelines come in handy packs of ten for posting, distributing to students, and using to make games and centers.

State activity books are a lifesaver -- keep them on the shelf and you can pull them down whenever you have time for a quick reproducible activity.

Remember, all the states are available in these and the other Gallopade state study items. All you have to do is put your state's postal code in the comments section when you order.

What's popular right now?

When things start flying off the shelves, we know that it's because they're working in your classrooms and you're telling your friends. So just in case your friends haven't told you yet, here's what's flying off the shelves right now:

The Prompt, Plan, and Write series from The Mailbox.

These books are available for first through fifth grade. Check out a sample page and you'll see why everyone loves it.

You can order these books through our catalog or come in and browse through them yourself. And you might not know that you can order online and pick them up at the store to save shipping, if you live in our neck of the woods. We love to see you!

What are some good themes for this time of year?

This can be a hard time of year to choose a theme for. We're not really into fall here, but we're finished with "Welcome Back."

I like the County Fair at this time of year, and North Star has a new Ferris Wheel bulletin board set. This isn't in our catalog yet, but you can always call or email us and we'll pop it in the mail to you.

I also like farm themes for this time of year.

There are lots of farm theme materials, like this book from Evan-Moor. Another great farm theme choice is the Carson Delossa farm bulletin board. This is a classic, and it's not only good on the bulletin board. It also makes terrific big books, stick puppets, and literacy manipulatives.

These ideas ought to tide you over till fall!

Who are the people at A Plus?

Here they are, the lovely ladies of A Plus in their jammies for the Midnight Madness sale!

Why should I shop at A Plus?

Now this is another question nobody has asked me. Who would be that impolite? But the truth is, we know that you have lots of places you can shop. So I want to tell you why A Plus is my favorite store:

• A Plus Educational Supply has the best selection, online and in the store.
• The girls are the craziest AND the most helpful. Both at once.
• Owner Cindy is a teacher herself, so she knows what you need. When you ask about Four Blocks, they're not going to show you wooden blocks.
• When you send your purchase order to A Plus, A Plus will deliver it for free in Northern or Northwest Arkansas, and have it all divided and wrapped up, too. Leverett School loved that -- they had ordered from someone else before, and had to call in extra help to get their stuff sorted out.
• If you're not in our neck of the woods, you can order at our online catalog and get the same great service and selection.

Try it -- you'll like it!

Are you guys going dotty from Back to School?

Maybe we are going just a little bit dottie here at A Plus Educational, but that's a GOOD thing!

Look how cute the new Polka Dots from Teacher Created are! If you're still getting your classroom set up, you should think about going a little dottie yourself.

These goodies are so fresh that they're not in our online catalog yet. You can still get them from us -- call, email, fax, add it into the comments section of your online order, or just waltz on in (and maybe that should be polka on in) and pick 'em up.

From the catalog, we also have Lasting Lessons totally cute polka dots

(those go so well with my dress!) and lots of dots from CTP's Poppin Patterns collection, too:

These are perfect for that one last bulletin board that still has to go up!

Not that you asked...

I admit that you didn't exactly ask for more more more on the elections, but this is a such a great opportunity to use a patriotic theme for Back to School that I have to share some more of the coolest stuff in the store.

Harcourt's Cast Your Vote! series is a bestseller at A Plus Educational, and no wonder! It's very complete -- open it up and you've got your lesson planned.

Check out a list of technology links on the subject, too.

Then pick out a patriotic border:

cut-outs:

and name plates:

to really set the mood.

What's new for teaching about the elections?

It's less than 100 days till the elections! We'll all have the opportunity to vote, to be part of the democratic process, to express our opinions and help to lead our nation on to further greatness!
Okay; those of you with thumbs will have that opportunity.
It's also a great opportunity to teach geography, math, and citizenship. And it's an opportunity we have only once every four years, so we should take advantage of it.
Just look at all the keen stuff A Plus Educational has for teaching about elections!
The Classroom Elections Kit lets you simulate the whole election process in your classroom.

Teacher's Friend also has an Elections Activity Kit with a ballot box and an activity book.

The Election Time chart has lots of instructional potential. Fill in the dates and details for primaries, debates, conventions, and the election itself.
CTP's Election Bulletin Board Set explains the whole process. This mini set will work on a project board, too, to set up with the ballot box if you're going with a simulation.
There are books from a numbrer of different publishers with reproducibles. One of my favorites is Teacher Created's Elections.

As always with TCR, the book has lots of information and loads of hands-on ideas. It makes a great combo with the election simulation kits above. Bring on the bunting!

What can we do about testing?

We had a little visitor last week: a child going into kindergarten this month. He was excited about it, of course. There's no feeling like that again till they start driving. We told him we hoped he'd have a good year and that we knew he'd be a great student.
"I will be," he said confidently. "I'll bring you my scores."
Does your heart sink just a little at that?
Doing well on the test has become so much the focus of our classrooms that it overshadows learning how to read, making friends, riding the school bus, and all the other new experiences kids used to look forward to.
As teachers, what can we do?

• Keep it in perspective. Doing well on the test is important for the school, but it shouldn't be our students' measure of themselves. It shouldn't be our measure of our value as teachers, either. We may have to remind ourselves of that more often.
• Maintain that sense of pride. Our little visitor wasn't scared of the test. He was confident and proud to be taking it. Instead of saying, "If you don't pay attention, you're not going to do well on the test!" we can say, "This is hard, but we can get it. Then we'll ace that test!"
• Prepare. A Plus Educational has materials for the SAT 10 and the Iowa, as well as general testing skills books. Come visit us and let us help you find just the right book for your classroom, or for your own kids!

Are you ready for school to start?

I'm sorry to see the fun of summer ending, but also looking forward to the beginnning of a new school year.

Do you have all your ducks in a row? Here's what A Plus can do for you:

• Take care of all your back to school needs! We've got the best selection and our girls are the most helpful.
• Make it fun! Visiting all your friends at A Plus makes it a party, not a chore. You can also go to our online catalog and do your shopping in your swimsuit if you feel like it. Or your jammies! We'll bring all the goodies to your school for free.
• Answer your back-to-school questions. I'm here for you!

By the way, a special shout-out to our friends in Northwest Arkansas -- you know we deliver to you for free, too!

What do you use to keep bulletin board pieces up?

I've been showing you all these great new bulletin board pieces -- and more to come! -- and now you need to put them up int he classroom. More and more schools are forbidding the use of hot glue and staples (those burns and stabs will be a thing of the past), so what's a teacher to do?

Switch to Mavalus Tape. Click on the name to see what this wonderful stuff is. You have probably heard about it, but you might have heard it called "miracle tape," "magic tape," or even just "that tape."

Here's what's great about Mavalus Tape: it holds things up, and then it comes off. Your stuff doesn't fall down or get damaged, and the paint stays on the walls. The manufacturers say that they can keep a fish attached to a tree in a rainstorm, and I believe it, though I confess I've never tried that. We've used it to keep things up for years on end, I use it all the time to put up things I want to move around (like calendar days or timeline pieces), and our customers use it on surfaces like theater curtains and burlap.

If you think it's expensive, you may be using too much. We calculate that you can put up 61 average posters with one roll. Can't beat that.

What's Good for Calendar Work?

First let me give you a great web resource:

• Everything About Calendars

Anything you want to know about calendars, you can find there. And I hope you are enjoying this month of Thermidor.

Calendar work in the classroom is a great opportunity to fit a lot of things into a small space. Using a pocket chart like this Calendar and Weather chart lets you introduce and review concepts about weather, numbers, time, calendars, holidays, verb tenses, and more -- while also gathering data for later use in analysis and graphing.

Bulletin board set calendars, like this cool "Confetti Calendar" from CTP, are great when you like to change things around a lot, or want to be able to have more control over the space and arrangement of elements than a pocket chart gives you.

Sets like these give you the most for your money, since they usually include calendar grids, calendar days, month labels, and extra pieces.

If there are bits that you don't want to use for daily calendar work, you'll find that they come in handy for making centers and big books.

If you like a minimalist approach, though, or just want to change some of the things from last year, you'll find that you have plenty of choices in individual pieces as well.

What's New for Back to School?

There's so much new stuff on our shelves at A Plus, it's hard to know where to begin!

CTP's Stick Kids are still going strong, so you can add a new Welcome bulletin board set and continue using the pieces you already have. This way, you get a fresh look while recycling what you have on hand from previous years.

The Trend Mischievous Monkeys are still very popular, and there are some new safari letters and welcome banners to extend those pieces, too. Carson-Dellosa has a new monkey set, with their signature look, if you like monkeys but want something fresh.

With the Olympics coming up in September, a sports theme is a great choice for Back to School 2008.

"Welcome Back Team" from Teacher's Friend is a fun starting point for this theme.

The emphasis on teamwork gets the class off to the right start, and the pieces can be used later in the year to spotlight student work.

CTP's Back to School with denim, schoolhouses, or fall leaves are always quick and easy to put up. Each has a welcome piece and plenty of cutouts for student names, and they'll fit on your door. These are great when you want to get your classroom ready fast, and when you have limited bulletin board space.

A versatile option is the Big Treasure Chest from Carson.

Let your new students know how precious they are to you by adding their names to the jewels and doubloons, set up a bulletin board that shows how much you treasure learning, or go with a pirate theme.

There's lots more in the store! It's the time to come in and browse, see your friends, and get in the mood for school.

And don't forget that you can shop with APlus Educational online, too! We deliver to your school for free in North Arkansas, and now in Northwest Arkansas, too. Purchase orders are always welcome.

See you soon!

Does time fly when you're having fun?

Yes! I can't believe it's the big sale day already! Sail on in. Right now. You're missing all the fun.

When's the next sale at A+ Educational Supply?

We had such a good time at the Midnight Madness Sale, we're having another! July 22nd, sail right in for a summer sale -- we'll have drawings and door prizes and lots of fun, plus the chance to see all the newest goodies for Back to School!

Watch this space for details!

If I can only have one pocket chart, which one should I have?

Tough question. Let me give you three possible answers.

First answer: get the Original Pocket Chart, which gives you pockets all across the front, but get it in red so you can tell it apart from your neighbor's blue one. The original will hold sentence strips, word cards, index cards, and most everything else you'll want to put into the pockets. Since the pockets are not divided, you are not limited to items of a particular size. There are ten pockets, which gives you enough room for poetry, charts, and even quizzes.

It'll fit on your pocket chart stand, too.

The original also comes in yellow now. If you have your heart set on blue, think about going with the Original Plus -- it has storage pockets on the back.

Second answer: go with a graphic organizer.

Which graphic organizer you choose depends on what you use most often. Likely options include the graphing pocket chart, the web organizer, the hamburger sequencing chart, and official graphic organizer pocket chart, which has both a Venn Diagram and a T chart.

With any of these, it is possible to use the spaces as you would the original pocket chart, but you also have your graphic organizers ready to hand whenever you need them -- what a time saver!

The third answer may sound a little frivolous: get a cute one.

The star shape, the big apple, the crayons pocket chart, or the new farm chart can all be used in lots of different ways, but they also add fun to your classroom. If you can only have one pocket chart, you might want to go with something bright and playful.

The best possible answer? Go ahead and get your one pocket chart, but then start working on rearranging the budget or the classroom so you can have more. There are hardly any other classroom resources that are as versatile and useful as pocket charts.