Have I ever mentioned that during my first year of teaching I was mentored by the great Jee Young you have all come to know and love through reading this blog? She has given me invaluable guidance in my first years of teaching. She has also shared resources. It is amazing how many things are out there that we just don’t know about. There should be a class in college that purely covers resources and how to sort the good from the bad (I am e-mailing my university asap).

One such resource is a website that sells Bare Books (and their mascot is a bear— so clever!): www.barebooks.com

Jee Young told me about this website and how she orders books when she goes home for the summer and brings them back with her.

The books are fantastic! I recommend ordering them with plastic sleeves for protection. Blank books are great for poetry units, and picture books, and the line pages work for other kinds of writing.

We are using them to publish our favorite poems from our poetry unit. Since Jee Young and I both used them last year, this year the school budgeted to order some for all of the elementary teachers! It may seem simple, but I had no idea this website existed before Jee Young told me.

What are some great resources you could share?