In the world of education, there is an ever-growing emphasis on the important role of STEM in the classroom that correlates with the need to develop 21st century competencies among our students. Critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration skills are seen as fundamental for students as they learn to apply core skills and begin to prepare to enter the workforce. Recognizing this need, a growing number of schools and educational facilities are providing more hands-on STEM-based learning opportunities to prepare students for the future. And to help find the right STEM school supplies, they can now turn to Staples Business Advantage.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and has more recently grown to include the Arts (STEAM). It is a cross-curricular approach to teaching and learning that, as defined by Bonnie Schmidt, "includes a diverse set of 21st century skills and characteristics — ways of thinking about (and solving) the problems that we all face as global citizens." 

When I think of STEM, I think of project-based, inquiry-based and even game-based learning. I think of makerspaces, flexible classrooms, design thinking, digital portfolios, innovation and problem-solving. I also think of augmented and virtual reality, robotics, 3D printing, and programming, among others. Bundle all of these elements together and you have a recipe for encouraging youth to pursue STEM studies and empowering them with the skill set they will need for their future.

Gearing up for STEM in the classroom can be somewhat overwhelming. Luckily, Staples Business Advantage has experts on hand to help guide you towards the tools and supplies that are best suited for your needs. One thing to consider is whether there is a need for a central makerspace that will act as a STEM storage hub for the school or if it would be better to outfit each classroom with a standard STEM toolkit. A more affordable option could be to create a mobile makerspace on wheels. Whichever is best suited for your school's goals and budget, here is a list of suggested materials and STEM toys to get started:

As part of the design process, students will need ready access to materials for brainstorming, collaborative design, modelling and creating iterations of their designs, many of which are already found in the classroom.

• adhesives (glues such as craft, wood or hot glue, tape such as duct or electrical tape)
• paper (printer paper, construction paper, card stock, aluminum foil)
• craft supplies (pipe cleaners, yarn, craft sticks, fabrics)
• modelling clay or plasticine
• colouring supplies (crayons, markers, paints and brushes)
• craft scissors and hole punches
• dry erase supplies (whiteboard markers, dry erase paint, mini whiteboards, adhesive dry erase surface)

Recyclable Materials

The holiday break is officially over which means we're back and so are Staples Teacher Appreciation Days! Unlike the back-to-school savings teachers enjoy in the summer, we can save 20% on most in-store purchases, which is an additional 5% in savings, from January 9-15, 2019. There are exclusions, such as technology (including but not limited to computer hardware, software and ink, for example). Be sure to read the fine print for full details and don't forget to bring your teacher ID.

I have just a few items I plan to buy this week, including additional printable magnetic sheets to create more magnet words, a pack of printer paper and some stickers. Because teachers can never have enough stickers, am I right?

Wishing you all a wonderful week back at school and cheers to a productive year ahead!

Step 4: Unfold the hotdog so it is back in the hamburger fold, as in Step 2, and cut along the centre line/fold halfway up. Important: Be sure you start cutting from the folded edge, not the open edge. The dotted line on my livret de Noël indicates the cut line.

Step 5: Unfold the paper completely. You will notice the cut is in the centre of the paper. Now return to the original hotdog fold in Step 1. 

Step 6: Begin folding your paper into a book by holding either ends of the hotdog and pushing them towards each other. You should notice that the centre will open up to form a diamond shape.

Step 7: Continue pushing the two ends together until the pages begin to lay on top of each other. Look for the book cover and fold the last page back by reversing the fold. This is the tricky part but it gets easier with practise.

I hope to have a generic template posted soon if anyone wishes to have students write and illustrate their own stories. Welcome back et bonne année!

Just when you thought STEAM toys couldn't get any cooler, along comes the littleBits Droid™Inventor Kit. Last month, we received a free kit from littleBits to test out and now it's all I... er... my son and I want to play with. Using magnetic "Bits" that snap together, we were able to level-up on our inventor skills by creating our very own Droid, customizing it with stickers, controlling it with our device and programming it to complete fun missions.

After removing all the contents from the packaging and placing all the littleBits into the handy sorting tray, we downloaded the free Droid Inventor app onto our iPad and followed the instructions which helped us to put together our Droid. 

With this app, we were able to learn about the control hub, driving circuit and internal structure of our Droid. The final mission of the first level in this training program showed us how to put together the droid shell using step-by-step visual instructions. 

On Level 2, the app showed us where to place the stickers. You can choose from red, blue or blank stickers, which are included in the kit. Then you can add personality by changing the colour of the lights and adding sounds from 20+ authentic sounds bank or recoding a secret voice message using your device's microphone. 

Other missions include an obstacle course challenge, draw mode, self navigation mode, code master and more. The Force™ Mode mission is really fun because you can guide your Droid with your hand using the included proximity sensor. But my favourites  are the 6+ new block-based coding missions which give you the ability to program the Droid. We really enjoyed coding our Droid to navigate through a mini obstacle course, which involved a lot of trial and error, but was fun nonetheless! Here's a little sneak peak:

The littleBit Droid Inventor kit comes with everything kids need to create and customize their R2 Unit straight out of the box, including a 9V battery, and retails for $99.95. Please note that it requires a smart device. Either iPhone (iOS 10.0 or later) or Android (KitKat 4.4 or later with Bluetooth 4.0 or later and an accelerometer) is required to build and control your Droid. 

We give it two thumbs up for ease of initial setup, creativity, inventive fun, and overall cool factor. But don't just take our word for it. It is the recipient of the Toy Association’s 2018 Creative Toy of the Year award and six other toy awards. Here's hoping your family will find a littleBits Droid Inventor Kit under your tree this Christmas!

Disclosure: We received product to facilitate this review. Any opinions expressed in this post are our own. This post includes affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Looking for something a little more personalized? Hallmark has a collection of festive holiday mugs for mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and more. This durable ceramic white coffee cup features a red dipped-glaze base and a sprinkling of embossed snowflakes. It retails for $15.99. 

Of course, we can't forget the super cute Interactive Santa Plush. He says any of eight phrases at the push of a button and has an attached bag with a functional drawstring. This super soft and cuddly plush retails for $24.99. Throw in a beautifully crafted Hallmark card and you're all set for the little one on your shopping list. Honestly, Hallmark has some of the most beautiful greeting cards that feature delicate embellishments, festive designs and stunning simplicity.

And then we have Hallmark's collection of Paper Wonder Holiday Pop-Up Cards. These are a gift in and of themselves to be treasured for always. The crafter in me truly marvelled over the beauty of these cards. Keep an eye out for exclusive Paper Wonder cards the next time you're at Walmart. 

For Peanuts fans, you will love Hallmark's Woodstock 3D House with Cards. It comes with 16 gingerbread house shaped cards and envelopes which are stored in a beautiful box. This set retails for $16.99 and pairs perfectly with the Linus and Snoopy Gift Card Holder Box that plays the iconic Peanuts tune when opened. The gift card holder box is priced at $6.99.

Disclosure: I received product to help facilitate this review. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Before we even begin folding it into a mini book, I plan on coaching the whole class through the illustrations one page at a time, practising additional vocabulary that is not in the text by directing them as follows: "On doit finir le dessin du père Noël. Tout le monde, dessine la tuque sur sa tête, le manteau et la mitaine." And then I will invite them to provide their input: "Qu'est-ce que le père Noël dit?" for example.

For the next two pages, I can already predict many of my younger students will complain that they cannot draw the same way that I did so I will model a much simpler version of Santa. What I will stress, though, is the importance of drawing  the line of horizon (which I will simply call la ligne) on most  of the illustrations since it helps to separate le ciel en haut and la terre en bas.

And then we learn how to fold and cut along the dotted line in the centre. This is where it gets tricky so I will likely come around and cut for the grade 1 students once they are done folding. 

If you'd like to try this petit livret, click on the thumbnail below to download a copy. 

UPDATE: I've created a slightly modified version in the hopes that each page will be better centred and not cutoff when folded, given that the proportions might be a bit off depending on how your printer adjusts for borderless printing. It also more clearly shows the dotted line where you are required to cut in the centre. Here is the modified version of Le père Noël mini book:


Should you require a tutorial on how to fold the mini book, let me know in the comments below and I will post one on the blog.

Update: Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to fold the mini book.

This holiday season, the family and I are looking forward to cozying up with some hot cocoa and watching holiday classics and some of our favourite family flicks. And luckily, YTV has an incredibly festive lineup of feature films and specials all throughout the month of December. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching The Muppet Christmas Carol, airing on December 22, Home Alone, airing on Christmas Day, and Wall-E, airing on December 28. To see the full lineup,  visit YTV.com or click on the thumbnail below:

A few weeks ago, our family was sent an incredible package full of TV holiday cheer, direct from The Kids Table's workshop. It was jam-packed with goodies including an Elf glass, festive popcorn from Toronto Popcorn Company and so many toys featuring lovable characters from YTV and Treehouse. It was such a heartwarming surprise, my daughter and I decided to head out to Toy Drive Live at CF Shops at Don Mills last week to donate some of these toys in support of the Toronto Fire Fighters' Toy Drive. The event was hosted by Global News and partners, and featured familiar faces such as Peppa Pig, Spongebob, Marshall, the hosts of YTV, Cheryl Hickey, and even Santa himself.

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Just dropped off some unwrapped toys at @cfshopsdonmills in support of the @toronto_firefighters #ToyDriveLive with @globalnewsto. Love my new ornament! Off to enjoy some tasty treats... Remember you can come by until 8pm with unwrapped toys and enjoy some family-friendly fun! #christmas2018 #kidscharity #twittergram

A post shared by Diana Mancuso (@torontomom) on Dec 6, 2018 at 2:38pm PST

My favourite toys of the bunch were these Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. These collector toys, designed for kids age 12 and up, include newly designed accessories and come in their own sleek looking window box, perfect for display. Seeing these toys brought back the nostalgia of watching TMNT when I was a kid. Now I get to enjoy these heroes in a half-shell with my son on YTV, Fridays at 5:30pm!

There were also toys featuring characters from Treehouse's Sunny Day These dolls are super cute and come with fun mix-and-match accessories.

Also, I'm excited to share with you an exclusive preview of some brand new toys from Treehouse's Top Wing, an action-packed adventure preschool series featuring Top Wing cadets: Swift the blue jay, Penny the penguin, Rod the Rooster, and Brody the Puffin. These toys will be available in stores this February. And don't forget to tune into Treehouse on Sundays at 8:05am to catch all the action

It is Computer Science Education Week and, in anticipation, Apple released new resources that will help bring coding education to more students throughout the world thanks to the Everyone Can Code program. This includes free Hour of Code sessions available at all Apple store locations from December 1 through 14. You can register through Today at Apple for coding themed sessions such as How to Get Started with Coding, Coding with Swift Playgrounds, App Design and Coding Basics, How to Program Robots with Swift Playgrounds and Kids Hour: Sphero Maze Challenge, designed for aspiring coders aged six to 12.

The new Swift Coding Club kit gives teachers, students and club mentors the tools they need to start their own coding clubs and gives students aged 8 and up the ability to collaborate, prototype apps and explore how coding can make a difference in their communities using fun activities from Swift Playgrounds and App Development with Swift on iPads. 

Swift Playgrounds is available as a free download in the App Store in 15 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and more. For teachers in the TCDSB, you will be happy to know that the Swift Playgrounds app is already available for download within the TCDSB App Store!

There are so many free Playgrounds you can download in app that guide students through puzzles to master the basics, so no previous coding knowledge is required. There is a complete set of Apple-designed lessons that kids will love because they get to use real code to guide a character through a 3D world while making their way from the Fundamentals of Swift towards more advanced concepts.

To help prepare and develop students for the workforce, Apple also unveiled new Advanced Placement curriculum and App Development with Swift certification. Students can earn a certification that recognizes their knowledge of Swift, app developer tools and core components of apps. The App Development with Swift Level 1 certification exams are offered through Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide.

A few weeks ago, my son and I were recruited to join an elite team and embark on a special mission - Starlink: Battle for Atlas. This brand new action-adventure game, created by Ubisoft Toronto, allows players to travel seamlessly throughout the Atlas star system and discover exotic alien planets, each with their own ecosystem, wildlife and secrets. To help us on our mission, we received a little care package that included a Starlink: Battle for Atlas starter pack for our Xbox One and a display stand. What makes this game so unique is the ability to custom build your starship in real life and see it appear instantly on screen!

We first gave Starlink: Battle for Atlas a try at the #XboxTogether holiday preview earlier this fall and it was one of my son's favourites. To be able to select a starship, attach the weapons of your choice and mount it to your Xbox controller was the epitome of cool in his eyes. You can even experiment with the different attachments in real-time as you play, which proves handy once you become familiar with your enemies and learn which weapons prove most effective.

After my son set up his Zenith Starship and started out on his mission, I could hear him exclaim, "This is so cool!" multiple times, commenting on how easily he learned to manoeuvre his ship and how smoothly it travelled. His shouts of excitement were too compelling to ignore so I soon found myself taking over his game. For me, I was happy to find the video to be fairly stable in the sense that I didn't find the constant movement overwhelming, unlike some of the racing games he likes to play. It is also a relief to know that the game is rated Everyone 10+.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is available for $99.99 on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 but is currently on sale for $52.99 on the Ubisoft Store. The Xbox One starter kit we received includes:

You can also purchase additional accessories such as additional starship packs, pilot packs, weapons packs and controller mounts for as little as $12.99. Check out the Ubisoft store for the full lineup and to take advantage of their current sale where you can take advantage of savings up to 50% off.

Disclosure: We received product to help facilitate this review. Any opinions expressed in this post are our own.

Celebrating 25 years of world tours, Slava's Snowshow is returning to Toronto and I couldn't be more excited! It has been 20 years since the tour last brought them to our city, which was long before I got married and had two kids. In short, it was a lifetime ago! This  Olivier  Award-winning show will be taking place from  December  7-16,  2018at  the  Bluma  Appel  Theatre at St. Lawrence Centre. It's a must-see event that promises to be full of theatrical magic, colourful clowns and dazzling effects.

Created by one of the great living minds in theatre, and one of the world’s most famous living clowns – Slava Polunin – Slava's disarming troupe of clowns will take you on a visual and musical extravaganza where audiences members both young and old will experience a sense of childlike amazement and joy.

Also, on Wednesday, December 5 at 5pm, Slava's Snowshow and its world-class clowns will be making a special appearance at Nathan Philips Square for the official launch of Holiday Fair In The Square! Santa and Mrs. Claus will also be in attendance for this FREE, family event. This is the only public appearance Slava's Snowshow will be making while in Toronto in support of local charity Epilepsy Toronto and in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Slava’s Snowshow.

One lucky Toronto Teacher Mom reader will win a family 4-pack to attend Slava's Snowshow, a package valued at $360. This giveaway is open to residents of the GTA or surrounding areas and must be able to arrange his/her own transportation to and from the event. Parking is not included. To be eligible to win, please complete the Rafflecopter form below.

Disclosure: I have received complimentary tickets for my family to attend Slava's Snowshow.