Week in review

So Clarkdale was a big hit. Everyone loved the Dr. Seuss project, and everyone wanted to buy my wife's collection of books! I had to tell um-teen people 'they're not for sale.' We've still got plenty of Dr. Seuss stuff, but it's going fast. We've been shipping it to Florida, Arkansas and all over the place. (Why can't anyone in Arizona find our web site as easily as people 2,000 miles away?)

I've spent the better part of the week entering descriptions of products into our web site. We're getting there!

The landlord has decided to replace the shingles across the front of our store. Yeah!! goodbye disintegrating orange ceramic tiles! It should look nice when it's all done, but they've been blocking off the entire parking lot to do it. I promise we ARE open!

Next week is the big annual trade show for the school supply industry, so I'm off to Dallas (yee haw!) I'll be checking out all the new products for this year and scoutin' deals for all our teachers. It's a real picker-upper to get away for a week and have a change of pace, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Our son discovered that the bulbs in our front yard are popping up! yippee!!!!! I really like spring - almost as much as summer. If the bulbs are coming up, that must mean it's time to get out the shorts!! Maybe I need to go bump the thermostat up a few degrees first.

Suess Art Project

Last night we created the sample of our Dr. Seuss art project that you create using the lesson plans I wrote up last week. I think it came out really well. Our son — who has very ticklish feet — was a good sport, and I'm amazed that we got such good foot prints with all the giggling going on.

The project might look complicated, but it's really not that bad since you only do a little piece each day over the course of two weeks. For example, one day you glue on a picture of somewhere fun (for Oh, The Places You'll Go). That's it!

If you haven't already, be sure you download our lesson plans and patterns for the entire unit.

Boxes - again

This time it's 40 boxes full of paper. Construction paper, butcher paper, tissue paper, lined paper, sentence strips, tablets. If you've ever been to the grocery store late at night, you know goblin creatures crawl down from the ceiling and, with their beasts of burden, pile boxes in the aisles and restock the shelves. Okay, maybe they're people not goblins and maybe they're forklifts, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, that's what our store looks like right now. Chart tablets in the chart section waiting to go out. Tissue paper in the art department, butcher paper ready to go on the rack. All these boxes are scattered here and there. I guess I should get to it.

Dr. Seuss lesson plans

My son and I have been sharing a cold experience all week. We must have picked it up together some time. But in the midst of the sniffles and coughing, I've been able to put together lesson plans for two weeks worth of activities correlated to Dr. Seuss books.

I love Dr. Seuss's books!

One of the lessons requires the teacher to cut out little fish (One fish two fish, red fish blue fish). You can't just use Dr. Seuss's fish artwork because it's copyrighted. So I set out to draw a fish that looks like Dr. Seuss but isn't Dr. Seuss. I had a blast (even if it was not on the to-do list for the day). It's fun to be an artist every once in a while.

We've got copies of the entire lesson schedule at the store, and I'll be making samples of the projects this week (yeah! more art!) or you can download them from our web site at www.azlearningbug.com/seuss.

Code Breakers from Mindware

I realy like the products from Mindware. We just got a new order in today and one of the books is called Code Breakers. Looks like loads of fun (even though my dad will keel over dead at me calling anything remotely mathematical "fun").

Here's one of the puzzles. It's from the level A book, and it's number 25 out of 150, so it's a pretty easy one.



Click here for the solution and explanation (but promise me you tried it on your own first).

State lawmakers coming to Flagstaff

The time is lousy - who isn't working at 10am?? But if you can go, we'd strongly encourage you to attend and support education.

If you go...

WHEN: Monday, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: High Country Conference Center (NAU north campus)

WHO: State Rep. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, and other members of the House Education Committee

WHAT: Education Committee informational hearing

Locals can speak with state lawmakers and hear from northern Arizona education leaders Monday when a special meeting of the state House Education Committee convenes in Flagstaff.

Flagstaff Unified School District Kevin Brown, Northern Arizona University President John Haeger, Coconino Community College President Leah Bornstein, Coconino County Superintendent Cecilia Owen, and others will speak at the informational session, which will take place at the High Country Conference Center. Citizens can also ask general questions about education in Arizona.

Sing your way through math

Carol Kohne was in yesterday laminating some music staffs. I know she's not a music teacher, so I asked what the staffs were for. She shared with me a fun way for students to learn about fractions. I thought I'd pass it along.

First she has students design quilt squares using fractions. So some students might make a "whole" square with just one color. Some might make a "1/2" square with two colors, or 1/6 with six colors, and so on.

Once the squares are completed, they connect the quilt squares together into one big quilt.

Next comes the fun part. They sing the quilt. So they might sing

laaaaaa for a "whole" square,
or
la-la-la for a "thirds" square.

How fun is that!

Most excitedly pleasantly surprised

Sometimes as a retailer, ordering products is a bit of a gamble. We'll see something in a catalog and think "that looks cool" but then when it comes, it's not as cool as we thought it would be. These Dr. Seuss™ book erasers are way cooler than they looked in the catalog.

To bo honest, I wasn't sure what they were really. I didn't know that they come gift wrapped in the cutest little box, or that you get Four erasers for just one dollar. (I was expecting each eraser to cost a dollar.) And I wasn't even sure how big they were going to be.

So imagine how excited I was to open the box and find 4 erasers each 1½x1x¼ inches, for less than a buck. I was so excited that I had to take one home last night to show Michelle.

If I was teaching, I'd buy 6 or 7 packs of the erasers, open them up, and give each student one eraser. And I'd buy the pencils to match. But I'm not, so I'll have to settle for oogling over them while they sit on the counter here at the store.

Valentines Goodies

This morning I had a real power morning doing all my deliveries. I'm sure some of the people I saw wondered "what was that streak?" as I dashed madly through the school halls carrying giant boxes of cardboard.

Anyway, we have the front of our store back and you don't feel like you're walking into a warehouse anymore, so I was able to take a picture of the Valentine's Day display Michelle put together. She's collected some cute things for boys or girls, and for young or old kids. My favorite is the smart snacks from Learning Resources (on the top) and the pink wedgits.

Cardboard Boxes filled with Cardboard

I was supposed to write a blog all about Michelle's lovely Valentines display, but I can't get a good picture of it. The front of our store is filled with boxes (28 of them) filled with hundreds upon hundreds of science fair project boards.

Every year about this time we order project boards for the local schools and also some to sell to customers. We give the schools a really good deal, and many of them sell the boards to the students as a fundraiser.

Now the trick is that I'm supposed to deliver them all tomorrow morning but the roads are a nightmare. I passed at least 20 accidents on the way home tonight and barely made it home myself. Hello? cinders anyone? I'm such a chicken snow-driver.

One crazy thing: I realized that two years ago before we expanded this would have filled the Spanish and science departments completely. I'm reminded once again how nice it is to have a bigger space.

POP-IT!

Even though the borders came in yesterday, I wasn't able to finish the display until this afternoon. I've been paying taxes (trust me, POP-Its are way more fun). I'm really happy with how it turned out. The pictures don't really do the product justice, so you'll have to come in and check out these totally unique products.

When you do, be sure to ask for a sample of the border that you can take with you.

These decoratives are like nothing you've seen before. The borders are die-cut and scored so that you fold them such that they stick up above the surface by about ½ an inch. (see the close up picture below). The cut-outs have a a paper "fan" that opens up to a "ball". Super cute!

Here are some detail pictures of the borders and accents:

New things

Okay, so I know this is totally retailer-geeky, but we inherited a few display racks from About Memories and More when she moved to her new location. We finally had a chance to put one of them together, and it looks so great! I've wanted a shelving unit like this for a couple years, but they're ridiculously expensive. Kirsten gave us an awesome deal on it, and now I'm like a retailer in a display store!

See that Butterfly Bungalow on the second shelf? We have one set up at the store and kids LOVE it. We've seen play tents going for twice as much, and this one comes with 10 caterpillars/butterflies! What a deal.

Tomorrow I'll be putting the finishing touches on a new display with some really cool new products from Carson-Dellosa.

Happy 100th Day!

Most schools are celebrating their 100th day this week, so Happy 100th Day to all of you!

PS, the star is a new product from Creative Teaching Press.

New Reading Flash Cards

If you haven't seen them already, you need to come in and check out this year's hottest item by far: reading flash cards from Edupress.

They just announced their new products for the 2009-2010 school year (woah - 2010!) and they've added two new subjects to the line:  Following Directions, and Reading Between the Lines.  They look awesome.  We hear from teacher after teacher how much they love the cards.  In fact we have a hard time keeping them in stock.  Every time we get an order in, they're sold out within a couple days.

I just filled all the subjects and all the grades, so we'll see how long this batch lasts.  PS, make sure you learn the "secret" for sorting the cards by subject and grade level.  Edupress really thought out these incredible cards.

Handmade Cards

This week is all about gifts.  I've written about our Gift Saturday, Webkinz as gifts, and gift cards. Today it's about cards.  We just got some new handmade cards in the store.  They're cute and affordable. With our complimentary gift-bags and a card, your present is ready to go before you leave the store.

Teacher Gift Day

This Saturday, November 22nd, we'll be hosting a FREE craft day from 11am to 2pm.  You can come by the store and make a handmade ornament for your teacher (or anyone else for that matter).

The ornaments are fun and easy to make, and are a perfect holiday gift. Handmade gifts are totally in this year, and this is a perfect craft even young children can enjoy making.

If you can't make it this Saturday, we'll have another one on December 6th (two weeks from now).  Same time: 11am - 2pm.

See you this Saturday at The Learning Bug!

The smell of chocolate

We used up the last gift card boxes last week so I stopped by About Memories and More (where my wife's entire Christmas list can be purchased) to pick up some cardstock. She had two big baskets of cute paper and I picked out a stack of really cute papers.

Last night I finally got around to cutting the boxes and stuffing them with tissue paper. We were out of chocolates too so I had to get some of those this morning. Now it smells like chocolate here at The Learning Bug. Ahhh.

Did you know the average teacher spends about $500 on class materials out of her own pocket? A new teacher spends nearly twice that each year. It's fun to see teachers come in with gift cards because as they shop they aren't pinching pennies. They can get something "cool" without feeling guilty. Plus with their teacher discount, they actually get more than the value of the card.

This bag is not a toy...

We've all seen it:

This bag is not a toy; Not for children under 3; small parts.

These are the warnings that keep our little ones safe. Sometimes too safe. I once received a package that had a single sheet of cardboard as packaging and on it was printed "not approved for children's sleepwear." Now really -- who sends their child to bed in ONE sheet of cardboard??

Anyway, we're all about to see these warnings a lot more. In response to last year's rash of toy recalls, the government has passed more strict rules about product safety. One of the rules is that the WARNING block you see on all the boxes must appear in catalogs, on the web, and everywhere else any product is listed. So you'll be seeing it popping up all over our web site over the next few months.

Don't be alarmed. These are great products; they just aren't great for everyone. If you have any product safety questions about any of our products feel free to ask us. Since we're familiar with each product we carry, we know exactly what parts require the warning.

As a matter of trivia, did you know that out of the 20,000+ products we carry none have been recalled for safety?

Don't you wish YOU could have a kid's Birthday party again?

I have to be honest, I have been working on 'personal' projects pretty much all day.  But I guess that's one of the perks for working 14 hours a day 6 days a week for 5 years (and being your own boss).  Every once in a while, you get to take the day off even though you're still at the store helping customers.  Today I've been getting things ready for our son's birthday party, which is tomorrow.  It's an Indiana Jones theme.  The kids will be hunting for clues at several stations like a scavenger hunt.  Michelle put me in charge of two clues.  I must admit I've had a blast making them.  The gold coins have to get fished out of "crocodile creek" and then decoded, while the torn up note has to be squeezed out of "brain soup" (jell-o).  Here are some pictures:

More Christmas Webkinz

Okay, so they're just too cute not to post a couple more Christmas Webkinz.  This is the reindeer that I LOVE, and one of the ornaments (there are 24 different ones).  The ornaments are soooo adorable. Every year Michelle and I buy a new ornament for Christmas. We try to find something that seems appropriate for the year.  I can imagine there are a lot of kids out there that a Webkinz ornament would definitely sum up their 'theme' for the past year.

I promise tomorrow I'll talk about something besides Webkinz, but ya' gotta admit -- they just make you say "aaaawww!"