Back to School with LEARN365

Have you heard the news?? Oriental Trading Company now has a education specific brand called Learn365 that has even more educational/classroom/fun products.

I have used Oriental Trading Company for all kinds of odds and ends in my classroom over the years, and now they have even more odds and ends and teacher goodies. Woohoo!!

I was excited when they asked me to choose a few products to try out for back to school. What could be better than that? Please note this post contains sponsored links.

This back to school season, I am all about organization and student engagement! So, as I perused the Oriental Trading and Learn 365 websites I was looking for items that would #setthestagetoengage and help make my teacher life easier. More organization in my classroom, means more time to focus on my kids, my teaching, and our classroom learning community. 

First, I wanted to get organized!

I ordered these great clear tall storage baskets. These baskets are great for community supplies in upper elementary because they are not too big and hold all the essentials for my 5th graders: post-its, highlighters, glue, and erasers.

I love that the baskets are clear, so they take up less visual space in my classroom. You can stock them with anything using cups and organizers to help, or you can just throw everything into the bin and let a rip. We don't always keep our community supplies out, so I like to just throw in what we need when we need it. Then I simply stack these beauties on a shelf and they are ready to go.

For more storage/organization, I ordered these large storage jars and y'all they are BIG.  Maybe even a little too big for my immediate need. But, aren't they pretty?? I wanted them to work in my room so badly, but.... I moved them around for days trying to find just the right spot and I agonized about what to put in them, but in my ELA 5th grade classroom, I simply couldn't find a clear efficient purpose. If only I still taught math, and could store math manipulatives in these.

Luckily, my school librarian had a great idea of how to use them with her Bluebonnet Books program and now I'm really excited because these three jars will be used by all of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade! Purpose found and it is going to be perfect!

Oh magnets, how I love you! Y'all this is one if my favorite things from Oriental Trading EVER!! 

These adhesive back magnets and adhesive magnet dots have a million uses in the classroom and you simply can never have too many! It is a back to school must-have, especially for the price. I always have these on hand, because you just never know when you need to turn something into a magnet.

My first back to school project with these magnets was creating a new check-in/lunch count system. I made circle numbers for all my students, laminated, and put the rectangle magnets on the back of each number to make sure they would hold. So easy and so efficient. And thanks to these adhesive magnets I didn't have to use hot glue. It took me no time at all to stick magnets on the back and call it a day.

Once I had a few practical items, I started looking for FUN ways to increase engagement in my classroom. 

I ordered Neon Color Gangster Hats for reading! I just knew these would be perfect to use with Hope King's Get Your Neon Read On Activity.

I had quite a bit of fun trying on all the hats...especially with the Snapchat filter.

And those clear tall storage baskets are going to be perfect to hold my Get Your Neon Read On supplies. They are so versatile.

I also plan on kicking off the year with a Book Tasting, so ordered a set of paper chef hats. I only ordered hats for teachers to wear during the book tasting. The kiddos ( i.e. the customers) will get something else, but I love the how tall and silly they are. It's going to add just the right amount of fun to our book tasting experience.

Finally, I can never order anything from OTC without getting a few rolls of stickers. The emoji stickers are adorable and the incentive foil roll was too good to pass up.

Thanks to a combination of items from Oriental Trading Company and Learn365 I am ready to head back to school a more organized and more engaging teacher! Click here to check out all Learn 365 has to offer for back to school!!

Disclaimer: Oriental Trading Company provided these products free of charge in exchange for an honest review of their products. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Back to School!

A Logic Puzzle for Growth Mindset

Are you looking for a fun way to encourage problem solving and critical thinking in the classroom?
How about a fun hand-on brainteaser to add to your growth mindset lessons? I know just the thing.

It's an old frog hopping game that can be found in many variations. In my classroom, we call it Leaping Logic and it is one of my all time favorites.

Simple in design, yet more difficult than you might imagine - my students love this challenge!

I use the game board below.

I  teach Leaping Logic at the beginning of the year during one of my growth mindset lessons.
The puzzle is not easy to figure out, but that is (of course) the challenge! And...There is no greater success than figuring out the pattern and being able to recreate that pattern. Many versions of this game can be found online and through an app, however I still prefer to play on paper and use manipulatives.

To set up your game board, you need 8 game pieces in 2 different colors. I like to use the two-sided math counters. Put one color on one side and the other on the other side. The counters represent the frogs - red frogs and yellow frogs. 

It should look like this.

Your objective is to move all the red counters to where the yellow counters are and vice versa.

To play, you can move any counter you want, but you must follow these rules.

• You can only move each frog forward - never backward.
• You can leap over 1 frog at a time.

The puzzle has been solved when both colors on the board have switched places and the rules have been followed.

Some students do get frustrated. It helps to break it down into steps and start by switching one of each color successfully. Then, try switching two of each color successfully and so on. As they say, how does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time. This is the same thing. By starting small and building upon each small victory, students are able to solve the puzzle and feel the success of perseverance and grit.

Want a hint?!?  Never move two frogs of the same color next to each other. Keep the colors alternating. 

After students know how to play, I leave this brainteaser in my math games area all year and kids continue to play. They love it! If it has been awhile, I see them reteaching themselves the pattern and if they have it mastered they start solving for speed and racing each other.

Each year I have to reteach myself the pattern. I know the rules. I know the hints. And yet, I still have to think. That's why it is engaging all year long. It's just like the triangle peg game. You can play over and over again.

If you are interested in adding this fun little brainteaser to your back to school goodies, just click any of the pictures above or here to download it for free from TPT.  Let me know if you use it in your classroom. I'd love to hear how it went. Tag me on Instagram @classroomhoopla !

Happy Hopping!

Leaping Logic first appeared on my blog The Teaching Thief 9/6/2013