Discount School Supply CIRCLE TIME

Take a Tropical Vacation!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Hi! My name is Cory Smith and I develop and design curriculum products at Discount School Supply®. Curriculum, as in Math, Language, Science, Social Studies…so why am I writing about an art supply like Colorations® Tropical Colored Dough (TROPICAL) you ask? Two main reasons: I have a degree in art, and Colorations® Dough is a useful classroom material for all curriculum areas! Plus, Colorations® Dough is used in several methods of teaching, especially our Colorations® Best-Value Dough – Tropical Colors (TROPICAL).

It’s great! You get three pounds each of six tropical colors including buttercup yellow, sea foam green, lavender, light blue, melon and pink - that’s 18 pounds of top-quality bright and squishy dough! It comes in big, reseal-able plastic tubs that make storing and organizing easy. It can be reused again and again without drying out or crumbling, and it never stains. Plus, it’s non-toxic and doesn’t contain common allergens like latex, dairy and casein, egg, or even peanuts or tree nuts!

Naturally, Colorations® Best-Value Tropical Dough is a perfect fit for your Arts and Crafts curriculum. It provides children with varied opportunities to develop and widen their artistic skills! It targets NAEYC curriculum content areas for Cognitive Development in Creative Expression and Appreciation for the Arts. Plus, it’s excellent for practicing fine motor skills.

But, I like using it outside the world of Arts and Crafts to help widen children’s imaginations, especially when teaching ‘dry’ math skills, like geometry, or retelling the same nursery rhyme over and over. Need a new way? Ask the children to bring the characters in a story to life by modeling them in fantastic fantasy colors! Tropical colors! Who says the cow jumping over the moon can’t be lavender? And boring old geometry? Make the connection between 2-D shapes with 3-D with Tropical Dough! Roll out some dough and cut flat circles, squares, triangles, etc. Ask the children to form buttercup-yellow-colored dough pyramids, melon-colored spheres, or even sea-foam green cylinders and match them to the flat 2-D shape partners. Add faces to the 3-D shapes, name them, and have the shapes tell a story about themselves! I haven’t even mentioned the endless uses and how beautiful our dough is for forming letters of the alphabet and numerals in Tropical Colors – think about the bright future in learning your children will have!

Back to our Tropical Colored Dough and art usage, you could always ‘just’ make a brightly colored dough scene with sea foam green-colored breezy palm trees, a native island woman dressed in buttercup yellow with a pink fruit basket on her head, walking in front of Caribbean light blue-colored houses and call it a day. Wait! That sounds really nice. Make it more beautiful and realistic with Colorations® MultiCultural Dough (MDS)! Plus, add Colorations® Scented Dough (ORANGE) to make the fruit basket on the head of the island woman come to life! You’ll triple imaginations and possibilities when you add additional dough sets for endless combinations!

Watch our video and check out the different varieties of dough we have available below!

Colorations® MultiCultural Dough - 6 lbs. (MDS)

Colorations® Scented Dough - 6 lbs. (ORANGE)

Colorations® Classic Colors Best-Value Dough - 18 lbs. (BVRD)

Enjoy your classroom tropical vacation!

Create with Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Hi, my name is Kathie, and I work in the Merchandising Department at DiscountSchool Supply®.

When I think back on some of the toys that I played with when I was a child, I would have to say that -- other than my favorite kid-friendly baking oven and my sno-cone machine -- play dough was one of my all time favorites. I’d like to tell you about the Colorations®IncredibleFoam® Dough Sampler Pack (FOAMSAM)…..my new favorite!

This is a dough like no other. From the tiny beads to the bright colors to the non-sticky texture, you are in for a treat that will last for hours! From the moment you open the pack, you can dive right in with creating anything that you can imagine. The time you used to spend working dough until it was soft you can now use to create with IncredibleFoam® Dough.

One of my favorite things to make with IncredibleFoam® Dough is pretend jewelry. The tiny beads make it easy to mold, shape and create into a fabulous “one of a kind” piece. I don’t have to worry about the colors mixing together and altering the overall look of my jewels. Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Doughallows the “designer” to mold the colors together and easily separate them when done. Clean up is quick and easy with no sticky or smelly residue left behind.

While working with IncredibleFoam® Dough in a classroom, this product allows children of all abilities to participate and explore sensory and tactile experiences along with endless open-ended creative play. It’s easy to work with and never dries out, and it’s all the things dough should be and more!

For more information on our Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough, watch our video below!

Bring Your Raceway to Life!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Hello! My name is Danielle Wolfe and I am a Buyer for Discount School Supply®. I select products for several categories including Dramatic Play, Blocks, Science, Math, Puzzles and Inspirational items. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is designing new products. With so many categories, inspiration can come from anywhere.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a son whom I home-schooled. Because of this, I am always looking at products with him in mind. I always wonder how he would use it or how he would play with it. This helps me to see products, not just as a designer, but through the eyes of the child.

When he was younger, one of my son’s favorite activities was playing with cars. He loved racing them across pretend roads on my kitchen floor. My goal was to create a toy that cultivated learning, yet retained this simple joy of racing cars. I wanted to create a racing product that would allow two children to play together, but would still be entertaining for one child, playing independently.

The result is RACEWAY, a two-sided wooden racing tower with six cars. With the two sides, kids can race cars down the angled drops. All the while, they’re tracking their progress while learning about angles, velocity and force. The tower is made of solid wood, which is my favorite material to work with. The six cars are also made of wood. Because of this, the cars make a satisfying “thunking” sound while racing for the finish line. I designed the cars to be a little thicker, as I wanted them to be easy to follow, even for younger children.

RACEWAY was as much fun to design as it is to play with. I hope that you have a chance to see it on our website and watch the accompanying video that really brings RACEWAY to life.

HighScope®/ Discount School Supply® Announce Exclusive Partnership

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:02:00 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: April Locke
Tel: 831.333.2549
Email: alocke@excelligence.com
Web: www.Excelligence.com

HighScope® Educational Research Foundation & Excelligence® Learning Corporation Announce Long-Term Partnership in Early Education

Preeminent preschool curriculum creator HighScope Foundation partners with Excelligence Learning Corporation for new products, exclusive distribution.

YPSILANTI, Michigan and MONTEREY, California (April 3, 2012) – HighScope® Educational Research Foundation, best known for the historic HighScope® Perry Preschool Study—which tracked more than 100 children for 40 years and established that those who had a preschool experience had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool—is partnering with Excelligence® Learning Corporation dba Discount School Supply®. The organizations will work together in a partnership to develop innovative educational products to complement the HighScope® Preschool Curriculum, one of the top early childhood curricula currently in use in preschools around the world.

HighScope’s® new partnership with Excelligence® has two areas of focus. First, HighScope’s® Research and Professional Development departments will work with Excelligence’s® Product Development team to create original products. These products will be available exclusively from HighScope® and Discount School Supply®. The second area of focus is Discount School Supply’s® exclusive role as distributor, along with HighScope® itself, of HighScope® curriculum products in the early childhood market.

Clay Shouse, HighScope® Vice President, comments, “Discount School Supply® has a long reputation for high quality products at reasonable prices. This partnership will provide a convenient way for programs to implement HighScope® and allow them to focus on their goal of high quality programs with positive child outcomes.” Mr. Shouse continues, “We know that with all the demands on preschool programs today, anything we can do to support our Curriculum will help teachers have more time to work with the children.”

The Water Cooler

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:40:00 +0000

Curling up with a good book is my favorite spare time activity, but once in a while I ‘uncurl’ to do a little channel surfing. Since works of historical fiction are rarely a topic with my peers, I like to be in “in the know” on shows from “American Idol” to the “X Factor” so I do not feel left out during break-time conversations. Even at an age where I should know better, I want to fit in around the water cooler!

The desire to fit in is part of us at any age, but of course it is felt most strongly by teenagers. Over the past couple of years I have participated at conferences and expos focused on children with special needs, and I continually heard from the therapists and special education teachers of teens with special needs that, while those teens benefit from the same type of help and support directed to younger children, it is vital to offer this help and support in a way that recognizes the maturing interests and expanding horizons of the teens placed in their care. At Achievement Products®, we took that message to heart.

We reviewed our catalog’s content with a number of therapists who helped us identify products ideally suited to support teens in the following areas:

Core Strength-products that stimulate a teen’s natural motivation to move, while strengthening limb coordination, balance, judgment, and visual perception skills.

Life Skills & Socialization-products that assist with management of everyday life skills.

Academics-adaptive products to support classroom performance.

Art & Creativity-items that encourage creative experiences for self-expression and collaborative socialization.

Self-Regulation-options to engage in self-regulating behavior in a socially accepted manner.

Teen Cave-options for teens to individualize their sensory environment, to provide a space uniquely theirs to relax in and un-wind.

And we have had a wonderful response, including items that can be found in the Special Needs section of our Discount School Supply® catalog: the active sitting Sit Disc (AP9620J and AP9621J); assorted Physiorolls® (AP2055J, AP2057J, AP2058J) and Gymnastikballs® (AP20710J, AP20711J, AP20712J, AP20713J, AP20714J, AP20716J); fidgets such as the Tangles (AP1290J, AP2900J and AP3300J); and Slant Boards (AP5368J and AP5368J).

We invite you to take a look at our entire teen collection in Achievement Products®, and we want to hear from you at this ‘Water Cooler’ that is our blog site! Please share what resources, services or products have helped the teens in your care to succeed as they grow, mature, and expand their horizons.

The Singing Tree Marble Run!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:40:00 +0000

Greetings! It is Barbara Riffert Glick the Central California Account Manager at Discount School Supply. This is the time of the year that many of us are starting to think about moving learning environments inside and about new wonderful items to keep the children engaged. The Singing Tree Marble Run (SINGTREE) from Discount School Supply is a wonderful product that can be used in the home as well as the classroom.

Children will enjoy the sturdy wood construction of the colorful tree. As wooden balls wind down along its branches, the “singing tree” creates tones similar to those of a vibraphone or xylophone, which is so much more calming than the sound of metal instruments. The wooden balls included with the tree are of different sizes, so they cause tonal changes. Children may also try different rolling objects to create experiments with sound.

When we display the Singing Tree Marble Run in the Discount School Supply booth at early education conferences, I love watching teachers gather around it. They really enjoy watching and listening to the tree. And in just the same way, the Singing Tree fosters social interaction among children. This is one of those great gathering devices for children of different ages, sizes and developmental levels who can all play together and have a wonderful experience. In addition to its music, the Singing Tree Marble Run offers learning opportunities about color, gravity, and cause and effect as it develops fine motor and listening skills.

Please see the video below for more information!

The Singing Tree Marble Run is in the Manipulatives section of the Discount School Supply catalog, and it’s in the Music Domain in the Discount School Supply Head Start catalog. I hope you’ll look for it, and I’d love to hear about your experiences with this product or any others you choose from Discount School Supply.

Our Center Board in Action!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Hi! My name is Loretta Ehrhart, and I develop products for Discount School Supply®. My two children aged 2 and 6 have served as an unwitting focus group over the years. Countless prototypes and samples from “Mommy’s office” have been tested and tried out and refined with their input.

I’m always so pleased to see one of the finished products that I developed go on to be used in my own children’s classrooms. About a year ago I finished work on Our Center Board (CNTBOARD). It’s a great tool to help teachers manage center time in the classroom; but, even better, it allows the children to become involved in managing themselves, too. In August, my older son Rainier started first grade. At back-to-school night, his teacher explained that she sets up learning centers and schedules a few times a week for the children to work independently at each of the centers. The centers reinforce daily lessons in math, reading, spelling and writing.

When I asked her how the children know where to go and what to do, I was so pleased to hear that she uses Our Center Board to help her! During the first week of school, she took a photo of each child, and put each child’s photo into one of the red photo pouches included with the product.

She hung the Our Center Board in a central location and explained its use to the children. The children know which centers are open by checking to see which illustrated Center Cards are in the pockets. If there is limited seating or access, the teacher will place a specific number of yellow sticky “dots” under the appropriate center card. The children’s photos are lined up along the bottom of the chart, easy for them to access. They select their red photo pouch and place it under the Center Card for the center they wish to visit. If time allows for multiple visits, they can move their photo to another place on the board to indicate where they are. The teacher and the children can see at a glance which centers are full and which have room for more.

The teacher reported that, after a day or two, they all got to know the rules and the routine and can now function quite well and very independently, practicing skills like self-regulation and time management.

Next, she plans to take photos of her centers and use them in Our Center Board in place of the generic illustrated cards. That way she will make Our Center Board that much more meaningful to the children and distinctively “Ours.”.

I look forward to visiting Rainier’s classroom soon to observe Our Center Board in action.

Be sure to watch the video below for more information!

Colorations® Wheat and Gluten Free Dough Helps Children with Food Allergies!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Hi! My name is Allison Craig, I am the Customer Product Advisor, and I have worked at Discount School Supply® for 16 years.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my position is to help parents and caregivers find products to meet their child’s needs due to allergies.

According to the Asthma, Allergy Foundation of America, approximately 6% of allergy sufferers have food/drug allergies as their primary allergy. Food allergy is more common among children than adults, and 90% of all food allergy reactions are caused by only eight foods: milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish.

Discount School Supply® has many products to meet the needs of children with food allergies. Discover them all on the Discount School Supply® website at Common-Allergen-Free products.

My personal favorite allergen-free product is Colorations® Wheat & Gluten-Free Dough (COLORDO). It comes in a 5 ½ lb. bucket with eight individually-wrapped, assorted vibrant colors. It is soft, pliable, long-lasting, easy to clean up, and it works well with all of our clay tools.

Colorations® Wheat & Gluten Free Dough is perfect for the classroom or at home. It can be used with children young and older, so, no matter the age, it provides hours of fun for all. Plus, it’s so affordable! You just can’t go wrong with this great dough. It’s an excellent sensory tool, and it’s great for developing fine motor skills. It also promotes problem-solving and social skills when children are sitting at the table together, sharing ideas and discussing creative options.

So sit down and have some fun with our Colorations® Wheat & Gluten-Free Dough!

Be sure to visit us online at Discount School Supply® and check out all of our Common-Allergen-Free products.

Watch our video for more information:

Sunprint® Kit to the Rescue!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:11:00 +0000

Hi, I’m Laurel Johnston of the Discount School Supply® Sales team. I have had a great time playing with so many of our amazing products, but one of my favorites is the Discount School Supply® Sunprint® Kit (SUNPRINT).

A friend of mine -- who happens to be a curriculum developer -- was looking for an activity to accompany a science lesson about sunlight. She needed the activity to be hands-on and something that a group of children of multiple ages could enjoy. Many activities she researched were too complex for younger kids; however, she wanted the activity to challenge older kids as well as younger ones, so it couldn’t be too simplistic. She also wanted something eco-friendly and low-mess since she wanted to encourage teachers to complete the activity outside in a natural setting. She was stumped.

Discount School Supply® to the rescue! I suggested she try our Sunprint® Kit. It’s super easy to use for children of all abilities, exciting for people of all ages, and a great, no-mess activity.

The kit comes with light-sensitive paper that children can use to create interesting and one-of-a-kind prints. They can use items from nature, found items, paper cut outs or any favorite object to place onto the special paper. Exposing the paper to sunlight for a few minutes will create a reaction on the areas of the paper where there is no object covering it. The paper will turn white, and, after rinsing with water, the prints will appear. Anywhere an object touched the paper (and blocked the sunlight) the image will appear! This proved to be a great science activity that teachers could use in classrooms and with children of many ages.

Check out this video about this great product and to see more ideas for cool creations kids can make with the Sunprint® Kit available at http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Default.aspx?es=4589500000w.

Beach Explorations with Moon Sand®!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:25:00 +0000

Hello. I’m Amy Foley, an Educational Consultant with Discount School Supply® based in Ohio. Although I am new to Discount School Supply®, I have worked with teachers in early childhood classrooms for the last 10 years.

Growing up in Central Ohio, I didn’t get a chance to see or feel sand on a beach until I was a teenager. Finally, we went to spend two weeks over the 4th of July holiday, and I can still remember that feeling of warmth and calm between my toes. Do you remember what it felt like the first time you felt sand between your toes?

Everyone can get that same feeling with Moon Sand® (PMOONSET) from Discount School Supply®. Let your senses be excited with this unique product that shapes into whatever you ask it to- sand castles to letters and anything in between. Moon Sand® is specially coated sand that molds without adding water, and it retains its shape until you want to make something new.

Little ones will love using simple shovels and rakes (SHOVRK8) to play and practice gross motor skills while others may want to mold T-Rex dinosaur bones with our sand molds (EXBONES). My personal favorite would be to practice letter recognition with our Uppercase Alphabet Sand Molds (CAPITAL). By filling these primary colored sand molds with red, blue or yellow Moon Sand®, children can recognize and practice their letter recognition and learn to spell their names. What fun!

Where to store and use my Moon Sand®? How about a sand activity tub (TUBS)? Or for toddlers, the Sand and Water Table with Shelf (2856) keeps your Moon Sand® clean and fresh, while storing your sand toys underneath on the birch shelf.

Moon Sand® is sure to offer hours and hours of fun, educational play time for kids of any age: preschoolers to grandparents and anyone who loves to remember that first time they felt the sand in their hands and between their toes.

Watch our video for more information!

Yummy Food Is a Great Teaching Tool!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:11:00 +0000

Hi, my name is Sabrina and I am an Account Manager at Discount School Supply®. As a mother of a 17-month-old daughter, I am constantly looking for dual purpose products that can be used for education as well as playtime. Thankfully, I found such a product in our Yummy Plush Play Food Set (YUMMY), a 25-piece plush food play set which includes: bacon, an orange half, grapes, a whole banana, a strawberry, a tomato slice, a whole apple, a lettuce leaf, a whole carrot, corn on the cob, half an avocado, a pea pod, broccoli, a baked potato with butter, two halves of a hardboiled egg, two slices of wheat bread, a tortilla, beans, Swiss cheese and milk.

This product really can be used for so many things. I’ve used it for color recognition, shape and textural/sensory play, and as a way to find out what my daughter wants to eat. We play a game where I will lay out a few pieces of the plush food set (depending on what we have in the pantry) and I will let her choose what she wants to have for dinner. Or I will put different combinations of foods together and let her know what we will have to eat for that particular meal. For instance, I will put the eggs, bread and bacon strip on her plate for breakfast or the banana on her plate for snack while I’m preparing the actual meal.

What I like about the product the most is that the colors are vibrant and true colors, not dull or faded tones. The pieces are appropriately sized for what they represent (with exception of the banana and corn on the cob) yet are still small enough for her little hands to grasp, and it’s not one of those toys that “gets old” after a few uses. My daughter has been playing with these since she was nine months old, and even now, eight months later, still loves to use them. She received a new play kitchen for Christmas and she will be getting even more use out of this food set in the years to come.

Savannah at nine months old playing with the strawberry =)

Insta-Snow® is Great for Indoor Activities!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Hello. I’m Regina Eardley, Discount School Supply® Account Manager for South Texas. I’ve been working with children and art for more than 15 years, and I have found many art materials that children really enjoy. But I think that Insta-Snow® creates Insta-Fun!

Even if the weather outside isn’t frightful, you will find Insta-Snow® (SNO) delightful! As an educator I have found so many wonderful things to do with this product. And it’s something that can be adaptable for students of most ages and abilities.

This polymer product comes in a powder form and when mixed with water grows to more than one hundred times its size to create a wonderful sensory product with the look and feel of real snow. I use the twist-top Nancy™ bottles (NANTWS) filled with approximately 4 ounces of cold water and about ½ scoop of the powder to produce about two cups of snow. You can use water at room temperature, but if you use cold water it really feels like snow. I love the reaction of someone touching it for the first time. I hear comments like, “Oh, it’s really cold to the touch!” or “It really feels like snow!”

There are many fun ways to incorporate Insta-Snow® into your daily lessons. I love lessons that can cross curriculum areas such as math, science, language arts, geography and art. Here are some of the things I have done with students. To begin, I have two students paired at a 14” x 8 1/2” tub. I like the translucent bins with lids in clear (BBCL, BBLCL) or aqua (BBCA, BBLCA). One student will measure out 1/4 scoop of Insta-Snow® powder. The second student will hold his hands cupped together over the bin. The powder is poured into the second student’s hands along with about 2 ounces of water from the twist-top Nancy™ bottle. After the snow has formed, we repeat the process, allowing the students to switch roles. This gives each student an opportunity to measure the substance and feel the chemical change taking place in her hands. When both students have completed the process, I have them repeat it. But this time, instead of using plain cold water in the Nancy™ bottles, fill them with one of two primary colors of Liquid Watercolor™: red, blue, or yellow. For example, one student may use blue and the other student may use yellow. When they each add their colors, the snow will begin to turn green because blue and yellow make green. They have just completed both a science lesson on chemical change and an art lesson on color-mixing.

We take the project a step further by putting a lid on the container. The bins have a nice slot for an index card, so I like to label the bins with the student’s name and the date on which we did the project. We set the bins on a shelf in the room, and each day we graph how long it takes to begin to see condensation on the lid. We discuss absorption and how the water is separating from the powder. This is a great way to introduce academic language and teach basic math graphing skills.

During the weeks we are watching the condensation, we may also introduce a literacy lesson and read stories with a snowy setting or write a story or poem about snow. We many also look at our classroom maps or globes and discuss regions that get snowfall and those that don’t.

In South Texas, my students don’t see snow frequently, and, if they do, it is usually very short-lived. This product offers an exciting, interactive way to experience snow, and it is an opportunity to develop knowledge across the curriculum. Insta-Snow® comes in two economical sizes including a 100 gram jar or a 454 gram class size, and it can be found in the science section of our catalog or on our website at http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Default.aspx?es=4589500000w.

So, if you are looking for a great hands-on activity for the classroom, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…Insta-Snow®, that is! Your students will love it.

Angeles Value Line™ is a Real Value!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:13:00 +0000

Hello, my name is Thom Parsons and I’m part of the Merchandising Team at Discount School Supply®. Part of my job as an Assistant Merchandising Coordinator is to help to select new furniture items for our catalogs. Our primary philosophy and objective when selecting any new products is always to provide Discount School Supply® customers with high quality products with exciting and innovative features and benefits at great prices!

Birch 10-Section Wall Locker (VB9160)

Our new Angeles Value Line ™ Birch storage units definitely meet and exceed the objective listed above! Outstanding quality at low prices, with lots of exciting new features and benefits, made in the good old U.S.A., incredibly easy to assemble (more on that to follow), eco-friendly and shipped absolutely free within three days with a lifetime warranty!! How’s that for starters!!? Want more? Okay, allow me expand on everything listed above!

Birch 5-Section Preschool Locker (VB9154)

All Angeles® Value Line ™ Birch units feature a CLEERseal ™ UV Finish which is easy to clean, sanitizer-safe, eco-friendly, non-yellowing and resistant to stains, scratches, and abrasions. All Value Line™ Birch storage units are constructed of 5/8”-thick, 11-ply birch plywood, with smooth, rounded corners and edges for safety and fully finished wood-grained recessed back panels. All units include a kick plate that prevents items from rolling under the units. Mobile units come equipped with heavy-duty 2” casters making them easy to move around the classroom. All units have 14 ½” deep storage cubbies, perfect for books, games, toys and other classroom essentials!

Birch Mobile Divided Storage (VB9150)

Okay, now back to the incredibly easy assembly. And I can speak to this first-hand because I was lucky enough to be the one chosen to assemble these units when they were shipped to my location for our photo shoots! All units are built using dowel-pin, cam-lock, bolted construction. What does this mean? It means practically no tools! All Angeles® Value Line ™ Birch units are shipped ready-to-assemble with easy-to-follow instructions and a small bag of connecting bolts, dowel-pins, cam-locks, and a single hex-wrench. That’s it! You won’t even need to open your toolbox! True story: the first sample unit we received for photography came without instructions (because it was a sample), and I was still able to fully assemble it in less than 10 minutes. It just doesn’t get any easier than that!

Birch 2-Shelf Storage (VB9147)

Did I happen to mention eco-friendly? Besides the aforementioned CLEERseal ™ eco-friendly UV finish, all Angeles® Value Line ™ Birch units are GREENGUARD Children and Schools® Certified. Plus, all Value Line™ Birch units are shipped in packaging that is 100% recyclable! How’s that for eco-friendly!?

Birch Mobile Divided Storage (VB9149)

Check out our full selection of Angeles® Value Line ™ Birch storage units online at http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Default.aspx?es=4589500000w. View the video and other images of any of the Value Line™ Birch units online. Additionally, several new Value Line™ Birch items are coming soon, including the narrow 3-shelf mobile storage unit; the 18”D x 35 ½” W x 62” H teacher’s storage cabinet; 15-, 20-, and 25-tray cubbie storage units shipped with opaque trays, and 5-packs of opaque cubbie trays made exclusively for our existing Value Line™ Birch units!

For more information, watch our video here:

Angeles® Sinks Are So Versatile!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:30:00 +0000

I’m Judy Short, an education consultant in the state of Georgia for Discount School Supply®. I’ve been with Discount School Supply® for 13 years and taught preschool for about 10 years before that. It’s important to me to keep current on child care rules and regulations and industry standards.

I recently attended a child care licensing orientation meeting in Atlanta, GA. The 35 attendees were there to learn about opening a child care center. And although it was not an in-depth meeting about rules and regulations, some rules were touched on briefly.

One that stood out in my mind was the rule about washing hands. Although the rule had not changed, it was a bit different. When I taught many years ago, washing hands was important in my preschool class before and after art, eating a snack or playing outside. Soap and water was used, however, there was no hot water allowed in the classroom. And of course we all are familiar with the rule about how long to wash hands; to the tune of "Happy Birthday" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The difference in the rule is the requirement for hot water.

One of my customers is a preschool classroom, which is a lab school in a high school setting. Washing with warm soapy water is required immediately before entering the lunch room. For those preschoolers in a high school environment, the lunch room is down long halls and through many doors. And of course a child-sized sink in a high school bathroom is unthinkable!

Another modification to the rules is with infants. No longer are towlettes or hand wipes acceptable for washing the infant’s hands after a diaper change. Warm soapy water is required.

Many facilities such as older schools, smaller churches are not equipped with hot water or even sinks in the classrooms. Expensive plumbing is not an option in most cases.

New products are introduced daily in the early childhood industry. The newest product available to help make the required rules accessible to your facility is the Angeles® Lil' Portable Hot Water Sink (LILPREM).

Angeles® makes a variety of portable sinks to fit the need of any child care facility. There are teacher-sized sinks, child-sized sinks, double sinks, each with its own fresh water supply and waste water tank. There’s even a Portable Hygienic Changing Table (KIDDIE). All of these products have scald free hot and cold running water and best of all they come assembled! No expensive plumbing is required. Accessories include Slip Resistant Risers (LILSTEP) and EZ Flow™ Water Sensor (SENSOR) for hands-free washing.

There’s also an EZ Fill-N-Roll™ Kit (ROLLDOLLT)which makes refilling and transferring water easier. No heavy lifting with the adaptable hose and easy-to-roll dolly.

The preschool inside the high school facility I mentioned earlier installed a single preschool hot water sink(LILPREM) with an ABS Top and Basin right next to the cafeteria. And by installing, I mean they took it out of the box and plugged it in! Now they meet the requirements for washing hands immediately before lunch. And don’t forget the sinks are portable. If you need to change the location, just unplug and roll to the next location!

Watch our video for more information!

Brilliant Glittery Glitter Dough!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:37:00 +0000

Hi my name is Cyndi Williams and I am the Product Development Manager for Excelligence Learning Corporation. I really enjoy playing and creating new projects with our Colorations® Glitter Dough (GLITTDO). We offer six brilliant colors in a set, all non-toxic to little ones. Our Glitter Dough adds sparkle to any play table and is fun and easy to work with. It can be a learning tool by using it to cut out numbers, shapes, and letters of the alphabet. It is good for learning about textures, and Glitter Dough can be used with raised patterns or embossed surfaces. Also, our Glitter Dough does not contain latex, dairy, casein, eggs, peanut or tree nuts. This is fantastic information for children with allergies.

I have a set of Glitter Dough in my home. When my nephew Kraemer comes over to visit, he always asks to play with it. We set it up on my kitchen table and play for hours. We create our own superheroes, creatures, blobs, bad guys, and even buildings. We pretend the superheroes are saving people, and sometimes, in the process, our buildings get knocked down or destroyed. Our Glitter Dough makes it easy to rebuild so our superheroes can go on to fight the bad guys another day! It is so much fun!

Sometimes, Kraemer likes to use my cookie cutters with the Glitter Dough, and we practice learning different shapes by cutting them out in different colors. Our Glitter Dough cleans up easily with soap and water. It never seems to crumble, and with the re-sealable tub, it lasts a long time!

Due to the nature of my job, I visit preschools frequently. I see children playing at the art station and they often have Glitter Dough. It makes me happy to see our product being used, but even more so, I love the fact that children are enjoying themselves and creating things with our Glitter Dough. It’s fun for children because it stimulates their imagination and allows them to create something great! The possibilities with Glitter Dough are endless.

Check out our video for more information!

Pantone in Paris!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:07:00 +0000

My name is Mary and I am one of the Arts & Crafts buyers at Discount School Supply®. I would like to share a story with you.
This summer I took a trip to Paris and was delighted to see a "Pantone" exhibit at the Pompidou Museum. Within the museum was a snug passageway that opened up to an amazing chamber overflowing with wildly shaped furniture and cases filled with vibrant 3-dimensional displays. The walls were lined with brilliantly colored canvases that invoked in me a childlike sense of happiness. I just wanted to jump on the furniture -- but, instead, I decided to take in the art.

In the back section of the exhibit hung a series of resist paintings. One in particular caught my eye. The entire canvas was black with the exception of a few perfectly placed circles that popped in rainbow colored swirls. As I looked closer, the base of the canvas was covered with red, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple. Atop was a thick layer of black paint, with only the circles showing the underneath colors. The contrast of the stark black to the vivid colors made me recount the first time I did resist art in Mrs. Wortman’s 5th grade class.

She never had much money to buy supplies, but she always found clever ways to inspire us. She cut up her old manila file folders into squares and had us fully cover the square – first with bright colored crayons and then with a layer of black. Her recommendation was to color as hard as we could so that the colors underneath would pop. I remember coloring so hard and outrageously that the crayons would get hot to the touch.

Using a pair of blunt-tip scissors, we would scrape off the black, making a design. I remember being mesmerized by the contrast of the black to the vibrancy of the colors beneath; I scraped nearly every inch of that square just to see the “reveal” time and time again. Once our class was finished with the squares, Mrs. Wortman arranged and hung them together like a quilt.

Today, it’s much easier to create resist art. As an Arts & Crafts buyer for Discount School Supply®, I was delighted to be able to construct the Colorations® Scratch Design Boards (SDBOARD). These sheets of multi-colored cardstock are pretreated with a non-toxic, easy-to-scratch-off paint. Similar to scratching off a lottery ticket, the black paint can be removed with a wooden stylus (SDJPEN), craft stick (CRAF) or a finger nail. Inspired by Mrs. Wortman, I designed them in 5” x 5” squares, which is enough space for a child to draw in, but small enough for a teacher to be able to arrange in “quilt” style. For safety reasons, I thought it best to avoid using scissors for scratching off the surface and designed a small wooden stylus in the same dimensions as a child’s primary-sized pencil. The stylus is easy for young children to manipulate.

I hope that children today enjoy the stimulating contrast of resist art as much as I did, and maybe someday they’ll be able to recount their own childhood experiences of drawing on scratch art paper.

Watch our video for more information!

Moving and Learning…It’s a WIN-WIN!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:04:00 +0000

My name is Lara Lauer, and I am the Michigan Account Manager with Discount School Supply®. From the time I was a little girl, I was always in motion. I was constantly involved in sports. I still love to be very active and recently completed my second marathon. For me, staying active is just part of life. I have learned how important it is in relieving stress and how much it helps me to stay healthy and in shape.

We all realize that not everyone is active. Over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years. When I visit child care centers, one of the most prominent requests I get is for new, fun, active play items. The GET UP AND GO DICE® (GODICE) are perfect for sneaking in active play while teaching at the same time. The dice promote healthy physical movement along with enhancing gross motor skills. They also help to reinforce language, math awareness and social skills. The GET UP AND GO DICE® can be used for inside or outside activities. The students love to see their teachers get up and move!

One of the coolest things about the GET UP AND GO DICE® is that they include 10 blank cards which allow teachers and students to be creative. The blank cards can be personalized with fun and unique challenges, like “act like a monkey” or “fly like an airplane.” What other activities or movements can you think of? The dice come with a handy activity guide that includes even more fun ideas. When children learn to move while they learn, we hope that it becomes “just part of life” for them. That’s a WIN-WIN situation for everyone.

Check out our video for more information!

Table Top Easel Pad Makes Art Time a Breeze!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:11:00 +0000

Regina Eardley, Discount School Supply Account Manager for Southern Texas, has been working with children and art for more than 15 years. Previously, she owned and operated a KidzArt® franchise serving hundreds of students in the private and public sector. She is TEA certified in Art K-12, ESL, Generalist 4-8, ELA 8-12, and Journalism 8-12 and taught middle school through the public schools. Additionally, she holds certifications in both One Stroke decorative painting and faux finishing for Walls & Furniture. She has a passion for color, pattern and texture and delights in using imagination and creativity to stimulate the senses of young children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you remember paint days at school when you were a child? One of my earliest memories is standing at an easel, paintbrush in hand, letting my imagination run across the paper in front of me and getting carried away by the colors. I like to recreate that experience for my students, but I have not always been fortunate enough to have enough workstations. When I came across the Go Craft® Self-Stick Table Top Easel Pad (TEASEPAD) I was thrilled. It is a very affordable, portable easel pad with wonderful rubber feet on the base, so it won’t slide or move around.

Storage can be a problem in the classroom, but because this easel pad collapses onto itself and closes with hook and loop tape, you can easily store several in a closet. It is perfect if you want to take the class outdoors for inspiration. One of my favorite features about this product is that it comes with 25 16x15" sheets of high-quality paper. What is even better is that the sheets tear off and have a self-stick adhesive on one end so you can place a sheet on the opposite side of the easel and -- ta-da! -- you’ve created a two-person work area!

Using the Go Craft® Table Top Easel (TEASEPAD) gives me an opportunity to let students explore Colorations® Liquid Watercolor, BioColor® and other great paint mediums available from Discount School Supply. It is also a perfect teaching tool for me as an instructor when I demonstrate a technique. I love the flexibility I have to tear the sheets off as I go and stick them to the walls around the group. Students love going on “gallery walks” through the classroom and seeing their artwork displayed.

See the easel in action by watching this video!

If you have a limited budget but want to create economical workstations, this is the way to go. For less than $20 each you can have an area that will accommodate two children at a time without taking up a lot of classroom space. Give your students the opportunity to make memories and let them use their imagination to explore art mediums with the Go Craft® Table Top Easel (TEASEPAD). And don’t forget there are plenty of activities at our Free Activity Library – just visit www.discountschoolsupply.com!

Tactile Discovery with Moon Sand®!!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:39:00 +0000

Hello, my name is Sara Strand, and I’m an Administrative Assistant for the Merchandising department here at Discount School Supply. I help our buyers as they select new products for the catalog and develop new items for our customers.

Of all the cool things I’ve gotten to play with in my job (Wait, did I say play? I meant work…), Moon Sand® (MOON20) has got to be one of the most unusual. This specially-coated sand is designed specifically to provide endless opportunities to mold and sculpt. Moon Sand® feels like wet beach sand, but molds beautifully. Plus, it’s just really fun to squish!

Moon Sand® can also be baked to create hardened sculptures. If little ones want to preserve their sandy masterpieces, it’s easy—baking at a low temperature causes the Moon Sand® to harden. But, here’s the best part: when you’re ready to start reusing the sand, just reheat it, and it goes right back to its original, moldable form. In other words, it’s an art supply you can actually reuse over and over.

I am always looking for fun ways to incorporate early literacy activities into play, and Moon Sand® is perfect for this! Kids can practice letter recognition in a no-pressure, tactile way by drawing letters in the sand, using letter molds, and starting over again and again. The super-sensory experience gives a great incentive for kids to play and learn in a hands-on way.

I also love the opportunities for children to practice their narrative skills using Moon Sand®, because it is completely open-ended. This material can become anything a child can imagine! Have a child or group of children use Moon Sand® to tell a story, shaping objects in the story, crumbling and recreating as they go. Or, have the children describe to you what they’re doing as they explore the cause-and-effect relationships of molding, packing, crumbling, squishing, rubbing, and pressing.

Moon Sand® doesn’t require any special tools or maintenance. My favorite way to play with Moon Sand® is in a large tray, which minimizes clean-up.. Another great option is to spread a plastic sheet on the ground in your play area and let kids play to their hearts’ content. When they’re done, just gather the corners of the plastic and funnel the sand back into your container of choice. Or you may prefer to just wrap the Moon Sand® in the plastic sheet and place the whole bundle in a container, ready to go for the next time.

See how versatile Moon Sand® is in this video:

If you’re looking for something tactile, creative, open-ended, and incredibly fun to use, I highly recommend Moon Sand®, available in a variety of sizes and colors through Discount School Supply.

3-D Magna Tiles Have Many Uses!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:21:00 +0000

My name is Rebecca Patterson and I am one of the buyers in the Merchandising Department at Discount School Supply. One of the categories that I manage is Manipulatives. My favorite product by far in this category is the 3-D Magna-Tiles® (MAGNA100). 3-D Magna-Tiles® is a favorite for use in designs, building and imaginative play.

You may not believe this, but 3-D Magna-Tiles® were inspired by the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras of Samos (560 – 480 BC), who was responsible for many important discoveries in mathematics. It was his belief that the entire world could be better understood through a greater understanding and appreciation of the relationships among numbers. Pythagoras may never have envisioned Magna-Tiles®, but they offer a wonderful way to explore many of those complex relationships he felt were important. Whether through directed instruction and guidance, or through open-ended creative play, Magna-Tiles® allow young minds to experience and understand basic math and science and yet to still have fun!

Magna-Tiles® are unique magnets that attract on all sides, even when flipped around. Children needn’t worry about poles as they build with these magnets. Children will learn through interactive play about geometric shapes, symmetry and other basic math concepts with these colorful pieces.

Other activities and skills that can be explored are stacking, splitting stacks to work with halves, matching shapes, observing symmetry, covering larges shapes with smaller shapes, creating enclosed shapes and observing angle relationships.

You can also use Magna-Tiles® to explore magnetic attraction with other metal items such as paper clips, silverware, metal file cabinets, refrigerators, car doors, etc.

By far, this is one purchase that you will be glad to have as a teaching tool in your classroom!

Check this video out for more information!

Refillable Window Blocks Are Diverse!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:59:00 +0000

Hi, my name is Nancy Maycroft and I live in Cary, IL. I work for Discount School Supply as a Sales Consultant for the state of IL.

I love thinking up new ideas for the Refillable Window Blocks (FILL). They are well constructed and the screws make it safe so that the children cannot open the blocks. The set is made up of large blocks consisting of four triangles, four rectangles, and four squares. The corners are all rounded for toddler safety. They are large enough that it is easy to fill them. These are a great add-on to any large unit block set.

Refillable Window Blocks can be used in many ways. They can be used to store and protect things that are fragile. Children can still observe items front and back without crushing or breaking them, such as dead insects and fragile flowers. This makes them a great asset to the Science Center. They are wonderful for theme days, such as color days, holidays and beach days. This product inspires the imagination of both teachers and children!

But Refillable Window Blocks can really be used in every aspect of learning, such as the Science Center I mentioned earlier. Another great area of use is the Nutrition Center. The refillable blocks can be filled with rice, pasta, beans and any other dry good you would like to show -- all without the chance of spilling! You can also use the Refillable Blocks to store art products like feathers, beads, sequins, or foam shapes. Or use them in the Social Studies section for dioramas. Your Math Centers will come alive when you use refillable blocks and fill them with items used for counting. Have fun! The possibilities are endless!

Check out this video!

Delightful Pat Bells

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:35:00 +0000

I’m Genie, one of the Sales Directors here at Discount School Supply. I taught school for nine years, as well as having taught music and movement classes. Music is one of my favorite areas in the curriculum, and I love the Pat Bells.

The first time I saw the Pat Bells (AP8090J) in the Discount School Supply catalog, I realized that some teachers might find the cost a little more than expected. However, I ordered them and I played with them, and I was just delighted. I realized I had made an investment for life.

Pat Bells are of very high quality; they have perfect pitch; and, with very little effort, they create a beautiful tone. Teachers, parents and children will all enjoy playing songs using the eight notes in the major scale. Each bell is a different color, and the set comes with a color-coded song book. If one child creates a song by color, another child can play it back by matching the color order. These wonderful Pat Bells come in a beautiful box and will be a special treat and treasure for your early childhood classroom.

Watch the video below for more information!

Rock On!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:56:00 +0000

My daughter’s very first cradle had rockers that allowed side to side rocking, and that gentle rocking motion helped to soothe her quickly in those first days after we brought her home from the hospital. To this day, when I hold an infant in my arms, I find myself swaying, unconsciously and oh-so gently, from side to side. I suspect I am not the only one who moves this way with a babe in arms; it is soothing for both the swayer and swayee!

I am Julie Fraser, buyer for the Special Needs category at Discount School Supply. One of my favorite items in the Special Needs collection is the Body Rocker (AP93211J). Rocking is a wonderful way to soothe children when outside stimulus becomes overwhelming. A back-and-forth rocking chair or a swing are the items that first come to mind to provide this soothing motion, but both can be impractical in a classroom setting. At 36” long and 23 ¼” wide, the vinyl-covered foam Body Rocker takes up far less space than a swing, and with no rockers to pinch indiscriminately placed fingers and hands, does not pose the hazard of a standard rocking chair. Plus, the Body Rocker’s unique design allows full-body rocking in a cushioned, laying position, or upright rocking in forward and back or lateral motions, all while exercising a child’s sense of balance.

Numerous researchers, such as the late A. Jean Ayres, Ph.D., and Lindsey Biel, OCR/L, presenter and co-author of Raising a Sensory Smart Child, suggest incorporating rockers into a child’s environment for the calming benefits of the rocking motion. While they suggest rocking be an integral part of sensory therapy for children with special needs, all children may benefit from this soothing motion when life around them gets too hectic. The same is true for many of the other sensory products we offer in the Special Needs section at Discount School Supply. I invite you to consider how the Tactile Air Cushion (AP9531J), the Classroom Light Filters (AP92301J), or the Senso-Dot Balls (AP15174J) (among others) might help soothe the children in your life as they go about the very important work of learning!

You can watch a video about the Body Rocker here:

Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough Boat Races - Perfect for Summer Campers

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:33:00 +0000

My name is Adriane Simmons, and I am the NY Account Manager for Discount School Supply. I am also a NYS Certified Art Teacher, and I always use Discount School Supply Colorations® Art Products when I conduct Art Workshops for Early Childhood Associations and Schools.

I love creating and playing with Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough (FOAMMIX). It has such a nice texture…its not too hard or soft. It is just right. Also, it isn’t too sticky or gooey…I don't like a product that sticks to my hands so that I cannot easily remove it. Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough comes in such upbeat colors…I LOVE the bright pink, blue, and orange.

Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough is great for open-ended art projects. An activitiy I like to conduct with children is teaching them about abstract art. I explain a little bit about the definition of abstract art, about artists who create abstract paintings and sculptures, and I show examples of abstract art. Afterward, the children get to create their own free-form abstract sculptures with the Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough. You can also incorporate found objects, such as buttons, rhinestones, feathers, and mosaic pieces into this sculpture. The kids have a great time creating their work of art.

Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough is an especially wonderful product to use at summer camps. For one project, all you need is Foam Dough, Paper Fans (FANS), Medals (MEDALS), and a variety of art products to decorate the fans and medals. First, have the campers decorate both the fans and medals. Since the Foam Dough floats, you can have the children create fantasy boats. Once their boats are completed, fill up a water table, or use a kiddie pool, and the children can have boat races. If there is no wind, the campers can use their paper fans to sail their boats across the pool. When the race is over, the winner gets a medal! You can split the children up in teams, or they can race individually. However you conduct this activity, it will be fun for all!

Check out this video for more information about Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough! You'll see just how fun it is!

Decorate Your Own Duffel Bags!

noreply@blogger.com (Discount School Supply Staff) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:57:00 +0000

My name is Lydia Wilson and I work in the Sales Department as the Bid Manager for Discount School Supply in Monterey, California. I am always excited to hear from customers who love our products and even more excited when someone in my immediate circle of friends and family loves DSS products.

I recently purchased some Fluorescent BioColor® paints (FBIO16), Colorations® Fabric Markers (FABCLR) and the Canvas Duffel Bags (DUFFEL) for my niece, Denise. She recently joined the color guard at her school and used the duffel bags I sent her to design a bag for each girl on her team.
Denise and her best friend, Krista, wrote me to say thank you but I also wanted to share their comments with you about our products in their own words. “Krista and I really liked using the paints. They worked very well and are easy to use. The fabric markers were awesome because they really show up in the design and don’t bleed all over. Without the markers, our bags wouldn’t be as cool as they are now. Here is an example of the awesome fabric marker/paint combo. We used the bags you sent us and made a two-sided design adding our own flair.” Denise said that the bag is the perfect size to put a few needed things in when they travel for color guard competitions.

I hope that you will take the time and view our website at www.DiscountSchoolSupply.com to see all the great products we offer and our great prices.