October E-News

How's Business?

Everyone wants to know. It's wonderful that many of our customers are concerned about us. As our economy goes through what seems like a once in a lifetime crisis, it is a challenge to be a small independent business. It is also a strength, as we have great support from our community, and we see so many people committed to shopping local! Shopping with local businesses, and keeping dollars in the local community offsets so much of the negative effects from big box stores and mass merchandising. By shopping locally, we all can help our communities come through tough times with all the core businesses thriving. The big boxes may suffer, and the internet discounters may not survive, but your neighborhood merchants will still be there! Find more on the shop local movement here!

New Items for Teachers

Publishing resources for teachers in these days of No Child Left Behind and Standardized Testing is a real challenge. Some companies that were teacher favorites just a few years ago have dropped off the charts, along with certain kinds of materials. Three companies, (all based in California btw) continue to come out with products that create excitement for teachers, and provide tools they can use every day. Here are a few recent hot items from our favorite publishers:
Evan Moor
Daily 6-Trait Writing (Series for grades 1-6)
Evan Moor adds to their extremely popular Daily Practice series with a writing tie-in that sold out on the day it arrived! It's back in stock. Here's the description: Provide your students with frequent, focused skills practice with this Reproducible Teacher’s Edition. The reproducible format and additional teacher resources give you everything you need to help students master and retain basic skills.
Teacher Created Resources
Classroom Authoring (Series for grades 1-6)
Through guided instruction and structured practice sessions, students learn and master the craft of writing. Each book includes valuable information for teachers, as well as a rich supply of reproducible student activities in vocabulary, sentence building, and writing.
Creative Teaching Press
Mini Bulletin Board Sets are hot from CTP. Display all the information kids need in a small space, and so many topics. The set shown is perfect for pre-election excitement.

The Toy Hot List

Our Holiday Toy Catalog is at the printers, and we will have them out the end of this month. These catalogs are always fun to do, we found room for all our favorite toys and most have already arrived in the store. A sneak peek:
Magformers
Fun, Safe Magnetic building that a math teacher would love. These have been a birthday party favorite, and we have a great selection coming for the holidays. See them at Golden Apple Toys
Wind Energy Kit - Thames & Kosmos
A new hands-on Science Kit from Thames and Kosmos - get a jump start on the next science revolution. See it at Golden Apple Toys
Karito Kids
Last year's hot toy is back again with a new line of soft dolls - See them at Golden Apple Toys

Morning Academy

Where did Tuesday story-time go? It's Morning Academy now. A chance for parents and preschoolers to learn skills and have fun. Every week we explore a new topic of learning, using stories, activities and games from some of the great resources we have available. For example, next Tuesday we are featuring Thinking Skills for Preschoolers. We will share activities from Building Thinking Skills and learn some games that help build a foundation for reading and math. Morning Academy starts at 10 am and lasts for about one half hour. See the schedule at our Golden Apple Blog

Sugar Skulls Workshop

Join us for a hands-on art workshop on Friday, October 24th at 4:30 pm. We will decorate Sugar Skulls the modern way - with Wikki Sticks! We did this last year and it is a great way to make authentic-looking decorated skulls, without the mess. We are also making paper flowers, time permitting. Kids ages 6 and up are welcome, and of course teachers also can stop by to learn how to share this great craft. Dia de las Muertas is celebrated November 1st.

The Golden Apple Blog

Sure, every one has a blog, but ours is the best - full of bits and pieces that add up to education, Golden Apple style. Just last week we wrote about trends in math scores and what games to play after an natural disaster. Click here to read our Blog. We are also hoping to build up our reviews on our Yelp page. If you would like to say something nice about us, click here!

Holiday Party - Independent's Day! December 4th

Our Holiday Catalog comes out this month, but we're celebrating Independent's Day - a day to shop local on December 4th.
Celebrate your local toy store at our annual Holiday Preview Party! Have fun and rock to Andy Z - find out about new toys and games from the companies that make them and play with amazing amounts of Zoobs, Wedgits and more. Watch for more details in the next e-news!

Story of the Golden Apple

We're interrupting this edition of the History of the Golden Apple to announce two new arrivals: Yianni Flevotomos arrived on July 22th and Riley Paige Baird arrived on August 28th - Congratulations to our wonderful employees Lisa and Kelly and their families!

We didn't get an answer to last months trivia - though AppleOne was a good guess for whose dumpster we pulled our giant Apple out of. The answer was -Shbooms Nightclub (now Aura). It was a prop they used for their New Years Eve Party.

We will have a quick and easy quiz this issue - just to see if you're paying attention:

Who's performing at our Holiday Party on December 4th?
Email me your answer - the winner will be drawn on Nov. 1st.
Don't forget to vote. The images at the top of our e-news this month are from DJ Inkers Harvest Hank Bulletin Board Set.

John MacDougall | The Golden Apple Learning Store | 800-858-8308

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