As much as I am dreading the end of summer vacation, I have to admit that my heartbeat increases with excitement at the mention of Back to School. Backtrack a couple of decades and it's the same excitement I felt as a child. A new year means a fresh start, new beginnings, an updated wardrobe and the latest classroom supplies. What's not to love? Shiny, new manipulatives, bulletin board sets, and brightly coloured posters - these are all items teachers swoon over at this time of year. One of my favourite educational resources is the High Frequency Magnetic Words set from Barker Creek Publishing. A Teachers' Choice Award winner, this set of 205 magnetic words and punctuation marks contains the most commonly used words in the English language. This includes sight words, rhyming words and nouns that begin with every letter of the alphabet. These words are also colour-coded based on parts of speech which makes it easy for children to make new sentences by replacing words of the same colour.

You can use them on a magnetic black board or white board during a large group activity, or use a magnetic Kidboard to help children practice writing skills on a more individual basis. Kidboards are sized to fit on a child's lap or desk and they are stackable for easy storage. They are also lightweight and portable which make them ideal for use in the classroom, at home or on the go. They are available in brilliant blue and fire engine red for $14.99 each or $69.99 for a 5-pack.

This September, I will be teaching health primarily to grade one classes. It's a really fun subject to teach but I don't have much in the way of visual aids. Until now, that is. Barker Creek sent over this super cute Healthy Habits Building Blocks Bulletin Board Set featuring twelve square charts highlighting ten healthy habits and a poem entitled, "I'm Making Healthy Choices."

On the back of some of the charts, teachers will find reproducible versions of the healthy habits and poem as well as suggested activities to help teach healthy habits. Once I have taught these habits, I plan on posting them on my bulletin board in the hallway as a daily reminder for students. It will pair quite nicely with the polka dot pop-out letters I received last year!

Finally, if you're looking for some hands-on activities to help strengthen reading comprehension and writing skills, check out Barker Creek's book series on Reading FUNdamentals. From adjectives to idioms, their collection is pretty expansive. Skill-based lesson books are listed at about $12.99 and contain roughly 48 pages of reproducible activity sheets.

Has all this talk about teacher resources have you drooling to get your hands on them? Luckily for my readers in the US, I am giving away a Barker Creek prize pack that contains the items featured in the photos above:

When it is time for teachers to head back to school and into the classroom, being organized is a huge component in starting the year off on the right foot. Truth be told, I don't actually have a classroom but rather a classroom on wheels. Teaching French à la carte is something I have been doing ever since I moved to Toronto nearly ten years ago and, truth be told, organization has never been my forté. Each year, it seems, I am always trying to organize myself in different ways using different products. I have accumulated so much that my little crate on wheels just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. This year, I am looking at setting up a French corner in each of my eight classes to help lighten my load with a little help from my friends over at Barker Creek Publishing.

Barker Creek has a really nice selection of Letter Pop-Outs in a bunch of really cool designs. I chose their 4" Over the Rainbow polka dot letters because I love the bright colours on black. The set includes uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and Spanish punctuation which could easily be adapted for French - 255 pieces in total!

With school in full swing, there is very little that gets me more excited than browsing through a catalogue of teacher resources, pop-out letters and bulletin board sets. What really catches my interest most are the various manipulatives available today that help elementary students progress in their learning by stimulating their kinesthetic intelligence. This is probably due in part to an innate preference I hold towards being able to manipulate tactile objects and using my visual-spatial strengths in everyday applications. Even as a young child, I remember being drawn towards the sand box, building blocks and puzzles when others would prefer to curl up with a book or two. Reading and writing, I hate to admit, were never my forté and it took many years of studying French, Italian and Spanish for me to have a better understanding and appreciation of English grammar, syntax and linguistics in general. Looking back, I struggled with writing and reading while growing up, and now that both my kids are in school, I fear that they may experience similar difficulties. This is why I am grateful to have had the chance to review the Learning Magnets High Frequency Word Kit from Barker Creek Publishing Company.