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ISSUE 7 | SPRING 2025
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Teaching sometimes feels like running a marathon, so what if we approach the end of the school year the way a distance runner approaches the end of a race?
Find out why runners use a “kick”—and think with us about what a teacher’s kick might look like in the classroom.
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Thank You, Teachers!
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Zaner-Bloser appreciates—and celebrates—all the seen and unseen ways teachers support children every day. With deep gratitude for you, teachers, we’re celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with a special offer.
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Enter to Win a Prize Package
We're giving away five prize packages, each valued at $100, to thank you for subscribing, reading, and contributing to The Hive!
Packages include stainless steel water bottle, sticky notes, notebook, stickers, tote bag, and $50 e-retailer gift card. See rules and details on the entry form. Enter by Sunday, May 11, 2025.
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Teacher-Friendly Retailers
With help from teacher friends across the country, we’ve compiled a big list of teacher-friendly retailers that offer freebies or discounts to educators.
You’ll find a section specific to Teacher Appreciation Week as well as a section for offers available 365 days a year! Download, print, and display the list in your faculty lounge, or hand out copies at your next team meeting.
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Fun Fact: Field bees leave the hive daily to forage for pollen and nectar they bring back in “pollen baskets” on their legs.
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Inspired by the field bees, we’ve collected ideas from classrooms across the country to share with you!
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Hats Off to You
Holy Spirit School showcases awards on personalized bucket hats that accompany students on their K–8 journey. Pins mark perfect attendance, honor roll, and other achievements.
Principal Gina Fleming has carried this tradition to two schools in her administrative career after first experiencing it as a teacher—proof that great ideas are timeless and transferable!
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Dear Future Student
Mrs. Cook’s fourth graders write letters to next year’s class—sharing what they loved most and offering tips or things they wish they’d known when they were new to fourth grade.
On the first day of school, Mrs. Cook hangs the letters in the hallway. Former students enjoy reading them as much as the new fourth graders do!
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Chalk Their Walk
Students and families at Eliza Blaker School 55: A Butler Lab School gather on Sunday evening before Teacher Appreciation Week to cover the school sidewalks with notes of thanks.
On Monday morning, teachers get a heartwarming walk from the parking lot to the school entrances!
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Share Your Ideas!
Tell us about a favorite activity in your classroom or school. Email us to be featured in The Hive.
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Fun Fact: The buzzing sound we hear near honeybees is caused by the vibration of their wings flapping 230 times per second!
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There’s a growing buzz about math intervention, including talk about how to help students and teachers feel more confident in their math skills. Join the conversation!
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Let Your Math Flag Fly!
Watch this on-demand panel discussion on math positivity to learn more about how math identities are formed and why they shape our math learning.
Math specialists from across the U.S. share practical strategies and resources to boost math positivity and address learning gaps in number sense, fractions, and operations. Check out the recorded session at your convenience.
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Enjoy a taste of Zaner-Bloser with these free printables.
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Exit Tickets
Encourage self-assessment and reflection with a simple Exit Ticket for students to complete at the end of a lesson—or end of the day.
Teachers can use completed tickets for formative assessment and to inform differentiated instruction. Save a stack of exit tickets and invite students to see their growth over time and look for patterns to support reflection on their learning.
Two versions are available:
Download Grades K–2 Exit Tickets
Download Grades 3–6 Exit Tickets
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Postcards
Versatile, positive postcards come in four designs. Download for use by students and teachers alike!
Students can write tips and advice to next year’s class, write notes to their future selves that get delivered at the start of the new year, or write notes of thanks to specials teachers or school support staff who they’ve interacted with all year.
Or keep the postcards for yourself to write a special note to each student! You can hand deliver the notes on the last day of school, or send them by mail to students and their families over the summer.
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School Year Memories
Our most popular free printable of the 2023–2024 school year is back!
Capture this year’s facts and help students think and talk about how they’ve grown with our memory page template.
Download now, complete them in class, and send originals home to families as a keepsake!
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Congratulations to all the 2025 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest Winners!
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Shine On!
Thousands of K–6 students from 48 states and the District of Columbia won their school-based handwriting contests and advanced to the next level of competition.
Ultimately, 28 Regional Winners, two Nicholas Maxim Awards, and seven Grand National Champions were named.
Learn more about the annual contest and meet this year’s winners on our website.
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We’re serious about skills and value joyful learning, too—so we’ll leave you with some quick fun to tuck into your school day.
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Teachers-Only Bingo
Recount the highlights, laughter, and bittersweet moments of your school year with a game for teachers only. ✔️Went on a field trip… ✔️Triaged a recess injury… ✔️Accidentally wore mismatched socks…
See if you can score a Bingo! Print and hang a copy in the faculty lounge or play together at a staff meeting. Extra credit if you can cover the whole card!
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Fun Fact: A honey super is a box a beekeeper adds to the top of a hive structure to give bees more room to store honey. The term is short for superstructure.
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The Hive’s Honey Super is a space for extra resources, too! We’ve included links to past issues you can explore again at your convenience.
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In Case You Missed It
WINTER 2025 | Engaging Class Visitors
FALL 2024 | Real-World Resourcing
SUMMER 2024 | Back-to-School Edition
If you like what you see in this enewsletter, share it with a colleague. Not yet a subscriber? Sign up today!
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