Win a Mailbox Gold Subscription!

Mailbox Magazine is one of the most trusted names in educational publishing. I've been using their inspiration and ideas since I stepped foot in my very first classroom 21 years ago (what?!). So when they contacted me about participating in their #BeTheDifference campaign, the answer was an immediate and resounding yes!

Mailbox wants to know how you make a difference in the lives of your students. They sent me a fun little box to help with that endeavor, and among other things there was a beach ball. I knew right away that I would put that to good use! One of my most tried and true first day activities is the Name Game. We gather in a large circle around the room and toss the ball to each other. If you catch it you have to say the name of everyone who caught it before you in order and then add your name to the mix before throwing it to someone else.

It gets a little tricky by the end. We help out by pointing and gesturing when someone gets stuck. I kick it up a notch and first ask my kids to think of a word that tells a bit about them that starts with the same letter as their first name and we say both when catching a ball. So, for example the fourth kid in our group had to say Musical Mrs. Boehm, Awesome Andy, Elegant Elisa, and Bowling Brooks. Poor Brooks. The first child said Bowling Brody and then just about every other kid said Brody then Brooks. So we kind of renamed him BrodyBrooks. It's ok, he was a good sport about it and everyone giggled when we got to his name in the line up.

So how do you make a difference for your kids? What fun things do you do to welcome them to school and create a fun learning environment? The Mailbox wants to know and there are some pretty awesome prizes for telling them. Head over to their Facebook Page. Look for the #BeTheDifference tab & click.

You'll see some easy peasy directions to enter for some primo prizes.

But wait, there's more! {Couldn't resist...}

They are also giving away a Mailbox Gold subscription to TEN lucky blog readers! You can learn more about Mailbox Gold in this video.  Now, this is a quick giveaway so act fast! If you are a winner your name will appear on the Rafflecopter widget as soon as the giveaway is over and I'll forward your email address to the fine folks at The Mailbox.  Good luck and go #BeTheDifference!

a Rafflecopter giveaway