1. House of Secrets by Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini – The first in a new fantasy series, this book revolves around three children whose once prosperous family lost everything and must now move into a very mysterious old house. Ideal for ages 8 and up.

2. Rump: The True Story of Rumplestiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff – Young Rump lives in a magical kingdom where he’s teased by the rest of the kids around him. His new found knack for spinning gold seems to promise things will turn around when the story takes off! Ages 8 and up.

3. On A Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne & Vladimir Radunsky – A story about one of Einstein’s childhood experiences that inspires him to become the genius that we all now know. Ages 6-9.

4. Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy Tale Voices with a Twist by Jane Yolen, Rebecca Kai Dotlich & Matt Mahurin – A series of paired poems explain and argue over what classic fairy tales are really about! Ages 7 and up.

Have questions or comments? Are there books you think should be included on our list? Feel free to share below or comment on our Facebook page!

Early Childhood Books

1. Steam Train, Dream Train – This #1 New York Times Best Seller takes readers on a fantastical train ride through a dream world filled with characters, animals, landscapes that will open up the imaginations of young readers. Perfect for ages 4-6.

2. Ribbit! A group of frogs are surprised when a little pig unexpectedly shows up to their pond! Ideal for ages 3-7.

3. A Little Book of Sloth by Lucy Cooke – Add a non-fiction book to your reading list with this heartwarming story of a sloth orphanage in Costa Rica. This book includes the story of one particular sloth, as well as a variety of sloth facts. Ages 5 and up.

4. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis – Timmy is the CEO of Total Failure, Inc. Travel with Timmy as he bumps his way to success, with a few snags, and comic villains along the way. Ages 8 and up.

Check back next week for our Elementary School Reading List!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to call us at 800-669-7766 or visit our Facebook page!

1. The Sprout & Grow Window – Spring means the budding and growing of plants and flowers – the perfect time to start the plant section for your science class. This clear view growing receptacle allows students to plant seeds within it and watch them sprout up through the dirt and beyond! Each Sprout & Grow Window is ideal typically for 2-3 seeds. Find this product at National School Supply for just $14.29 each!

2. Perfect for gentle play out on the playground, Foam Volleyballs are just $2.51 from National School Furniture! These lightweight game balls are ideal for volleyball, as well as a variety of other playground games.

3. Spruce up your classroom for spring with our set of Spring Fun Pop-Outs for bulletin boards! This bulletin board decoration set will melt away those winter blues with fun spring colors and images! The whole 60-piece set is just $10.29 from National School Supply!

4. Speaking of sprucing up your classroom, a desktop organizer is the perfect way to do a little quick spring cleaning! Our Trio Desktop Organizers are the perfect solution! One of most popular products, these organizers are small enough to add to a desk without taking away space, but the efficient design allows for great document storage and organization. Choose from three different styles, starting at just $24.09 from National School Furniture!

5. Last but not least, our new set of spring-themed printables are perfect for early childhood and elementary classrooms! We’ve designed several new printables, including our Spring Color by Number printable, Easter Bunny Writing Activity, and our Spring Work Search!

Celebrate Spring in your classroom with the help of National School Supply and National School Furniture! If there are any spring products you’d like us to feature, or have questions or comments, please visit our Facebook page!

The Winter-Themed Bulletin Board doubles as a new board for the classroom as well as an interactive craft for your students. As you work on the bulletin board layout, pass out a glove to each student – or have them make their own! Once they’ve designed and customized their glove, collect them and post to your new board!

Our new craft can be easily made out of several products from our website. Most of the craft is made out of basic construction paper – our full selection of construction paper can be found here. This board also features a winter-themed bulletin board trimmer, which can also be found on our website.

This simple craft will add an decorative element to your classroom, as well as get students working creatively!

Have questions or comments? Feel free to call us at 800-667-7766 or visit our Facebook page!

Read her thoughts on showing children that no holiday is superior to others.

Have questions or comments? Feel free to comment below or post on our Facebook!

Our first craft is ideal for younger students to make themselves. These cone-like Christmas trees allow students to make custom designs and each tree can be placed together in the classroom to create a fun and festive Christmas tree forest!

The second tree we’ve designed is best for older students to create, but can also be made as a group project in young classrooms. Choose which tree is best for your classroom and get students in the holiday spirit!

Have questions or comments? Feel free to contact us at 800-669-7766 or post on our Facebook page! National School Supply and National School furniture are also on Pinterest, where we’re posting our latest printables, crafts and classroom ideas!

Our first printable is a Color-By-Number Turkey, perfect for early childhood classrooms. Help students learn basic instructions while also allowing them to get creative with this fun coloring printable!

Secondly, for students a little bit older, we’ve created a medium-level Thanksgiving Turkey Maze! Students will stay occupied and have a great time solving this intricate maze.

Third is our Thanksgiving Word Search, complete with the search and a key for teachers. Have students work individually or work together and talk about what each word means in regards to Thanksgiving as they find them.

Lastly, we’ve created a “I Am Thankful For” printable, which allows students to color in the cornucopia while also listing what they’re most thankful for. This printable is perfect for displaying on a bulletin board or sending home with students over break so that they can show their families.

Share these fun printables with your class as part of your Thanksgiving party before they leave for break! These fun activities will get students thinking about what they are most thankful for, a great way to send them home to your families!

Have questions or comments? Feel free to post below, on our Facebook page, or call us at 800-669-7766.

You’ll need an assortment of construction paper colors, cardboard, glue, markers and something to create a ring for tossing out of (we’ve chosen two paper plates). This is also a great activity for the classroom to make together!

Have questions or comments? Feel free to post below or contact us at 800-669-7766.

Product Description: This 38″ art caddie features two bins for sorting and storing young student’s art supplies. Each unit features a write-and-wipe top, a paper-roll holder and a bottom shelf for additional storage space. The tabletop also adjusts from 21″ to 24-1/2″ high. Art caddies are also made mobile with four locking casters.

Retail Cost: $338.40

National School Furniture Cost: $274.05

Pros: Mobile, sturdy and height-adjustable, these stations are perfect for children in early childhood daycare centers through kindergarten-first grade. Additional storage makes them even more handy, keeping supplies in one organized location.

Cons: Caddies are only 38″ inches, making them a smaller workstation and can only be used by a small group of students at one time.

Best Uses: Used during free work time, or play time. Add several caddies for an art room or an art-specific area to allow the entire class to work on art projects at the same time.

This customizable craft allows students to create bookmarks for use at school or home in virtually any design they choose! All that’s required is construction paper, glue and yarn or ribbon, but other decorative elements can easily be incorporated. Our easy-to-follow instruction PDF can be found here.

Take a break in your classroom with this fun and creative activity!

Sandy Gemmill, an avid piano player, songwriter, and mother of two, decided to fill that void for parents and teachers alike. Sandy created the activity book Nelson the Giant: A Heart as Big as His THUMP! to teach young children about acceptance, respect, and to appreciate the differences in everyone.

Nelson the Giant offers a unique perspective that aims at preventing pre-judging, before hurtful bullying happens. The multiple verse story-song tells the tale of Nelson, a giant so large that he was not accepted by the people of his town. This song illustrates Nelson’s loneliness due to being rejected by his fellow townsmen, pulling on the heartstrings of anyone who listens, bringing out a deep sense of empathy in listeners.

Once students have listened to the story and followed along in their own personal activity book, they are encouraged to draw out the story as they imagined it on the following pages which are allocated for illustrations. The Nelson storybook also includes additional activities, a friendship plan that has students list what they would do if they saw someone who was being bullied or upset from being bullied, and a special page with discussion questions for teachers.

Nelson also features another sing-along called “Far Across the Playground,” which offers examples of real-life scenarios that oftentimes happen to students. The song also features solutions for what students can do to help others and make them feel accepted.

Each Nelson the Giant storybook includes a 2-song CD and an activity booklet. Booklets feature the words to both songs, allowing children to sing along, outlined pages with areas designated for illustrations, a word scramble, a page for students to imagine what a day would be like with Nelson, and a Daily Friendship Plan.

Both songs, as well as all the activity and illustration pages, are enclosed in an individual booklet that features a yearbook-style format, leaving room at the end for signatures and “messages from the Heart.” The fun overall format makes Nelson less like an activity book and more of a keepsake that will remind children of the story, the message they learned, and the positive experience that surrounded it. It gives them a chance to personalize this story, illustrate it themselves, and then reread messages from their friends and teacher that they shared this experience with.

We found this book to be a charming, heart-warming and educational experience – one that we feel would be beneficial for both children and adults alike. Nelson the Giant is a gentle way to teach young students about the harmfulness of bullying and how it can be prevented. When planning out your anti-bullying lesson plan, we highly recommend Nelson the Giant: A Heart as Big as His THUMP! as a helpful resource and learning activity.

Start with a stack of paper plates, construction paper, a pack of markers, scissors, and glue. Then let young students begin creating!

Find our new end-of-summer craft here.

1. Merriam-Webster’s Spanish-English Dictionary – More and more middle schools are starting foreign language sections. Make sure you’re students are prepared with this handy 800 page Spanish-English dictionary. This pocket size book is just $2.34 from National School Supply.

2. The Human Body Activity Book – This activity book is perfect to go along with your basic human anatomy science section. An inexpensive supplement to any science textbook, purchase online for just $9.29 each!

3. GeoVision Microscope Sets – Students can observe anything from bacteria to bugs with this 50x to 600x microscope. This microscope set also includes blank slides, prepared slides, a camera mount, a projection/drawing device and more! The 48 piece set is just $28.59 while the 98 piece set is just $64.39.

4. Spotlight on America: Elections Activity Book – With the upcoming election this year, this activity book is a must for any Social Studies classroom! Each book is just $4.00.

5. Eye on History- These classroom books will aid in teaching students about both The Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement of the 60′s. Both books give students a first-hand perspective of this time in history. These 32-page books are just $2.30 each.

6. Exercise in Grammar – This teacher resource book includes overheads, activity worksheets, review tests and more. Teach students about adverbs phrases, subordinate clauses and more with this 96-page book, just $4.80 from National School Supply.

7. Water Soluble Professional Grade Oil Pastels – Move students creative abilities to the next level with these professional grade oil pastels. This classpack, which includes 12 pastel colors, is just $39.15.

8. Quiz Wit – Students can keep their minds active while having a fun break in the classroom. Quiz Wit is a great multi-player game with 800 questions on 200 cards. Each game is just $4.32!

1. “Simple Internet Activities” Book – Computers and the internet are a part of every classroom nowadays. Plan educational lessons for you children to do using the internet as a resource tool with this 96 page teacher resource book, just $5.93!

2. See n’Solve Visual Calculator – Help young learner tune their math skills with these easy-to-use calculators! These calculators set up a basic equation for students to solve, appearing exactly as it would on a piece of paper. These large-screen calculators are just $21.49 each.

3. Grammar Mania Board Game – Teach students about nouns, verbs, adjectives, subject-verb agreement, comparisons, superlatives and more with this fun classroom game! This complete board game set is just $18.59.

4. Our selection of Social Studies Classroom Decorations – Start with the basics – basic geography! These large visual aids and decorations will help young students learn the geography of states and countries.

5. Child Size Human Body – Children can learn basic human skeletal anatomy with this 50″H science decoration, just $9.29!

6. Desk Saver Literature Organizer – Featured in our last “Best of Back to School” section, these desk organizers are a must have for any teacher. Choose from either an 11 pocket or 12 pocket design from just $37.39.

This craft can be easily made with just a few basic supplies – all you really need is paper, scissors, a pencil and a pushpin! We’ve made our pinwheels summer-themed, but this easy-to-make craft can be quickly customized to any season or holiday!

Have comments or questions? Feel free to comment below, call us at 1-800-669-7766, or post on our Facebook or Pinterest!