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School Specialty: Products, Ideas, and Resources for the K-12 Classroom

7/10/2017

2 Comments

 
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School Specialty combines everything you need for your school or classroom into a single, online resource.  From classroom supplies, to furniture, to makerspace gear, to the lesson plans that support these materials, School Specialty has it all. The School Specialty team even has a collection of model classrooms, whitepapers, and digital samples that show how classroom materials, learning spaces, and curriculum, all come together within the classroom.  

Before jumping into the review, here’s a short introductory video from the School Specialty team:


Overall, School Specialty is meant to be a hub where curriculum, products, classrooms, and learning spaces all come together.  Rather than having to dig through numerous sites and companies to find what you need for your school or classroom, School Specialty has everything in one place.

On the product side, School Specialty offers solutions from brands like Childcraft, Califone, Frey, Foss, and so on in order to provide an enormous range of furniture, supplies, kits, and anything else a classroom or learning space might need.

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These resources are all great, but where I think School Specialty offers the most advantage is the Ideas and Resources page.  From here, teachers and administrators can find lesson plans, product guides, whitepapers, digital samples, and more.

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All of these resources are available free of charge and offer an enormous range of ideas across all subject areas and grade levels.  Plus, these resources are all meant to help schools move towards supporting 21st century skills. 

Let’s say you’re interested in starting a Makerspace in your school, but you’re not sure where to begin. Checking out the STEAM rooms under the Model Classroom section can give you a better idea on the way these rooms can be setup and constructed.  You can then use the Lesson Plans section to find ideas for the types of activities you could implement in your new Makerspace.  Plus, all of the lesson plans are aligned with standards, include objectives and supply lists, and provide detailed instructions on how the lesson can be implemented.

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You could also get ideas from the Case Studies page and see how other school districts have implemented similar setups.  Rather than starting from scratch, School Specialty provides schools with a ton of support resources and ideas from schools that have already gone through these types of processes and curricular implementations.

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Plus, all of the resources throughout School Specialty are designed to help schools and classrooms move towards supporting the development of 21st century skills in active, student-centered learning environments.

Overall, I’m a huge fan of School Specialty.  Even if you’re not searching for classroom materials, the free collections of lesson plans, case studies, whitepapers, and other resources are absolutely wonderful. 

For teachers and schools that are looking for tested ways to make curricular changes and shift towards more student-centered, project-based learning, School Specialty is the perfect place to visit first.  You’ll come away with new ideas, product guides, implementation possibilities, and more!  If you’re looking for a major, school-wide shift, or just some new ideas for your classroom, I absolutely recommend checking out School Specialty.

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The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was not compensated for writing this review.


2 Comments
Wendy Ellsworth
8/10/2017 11:31:13 am

Thank you for the comprehensive review of School Specialty. I have use this site for ordering materials and classroom furniture. They are very good at replacing products if they are not up to your quality or standards, or if they come damaged. I have never used the site for the resources or ideas section. I look forward to exploring this.

Reply
Mike
8/10/2017 12:44:18 pm

Hi Wendy,

Thanks so much for reading and sharing your experience! That's great to hear that you've had positive experiences with School Specialty and I hope you like their curricular resources as well!

Mike

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