We're moving towards holiday break, and we don't need to tell you that it has been one crazy year. Whether your students are heading home for their break early in distance learning, or they're only apart from the classroom for the holiday, send them off with a "Flat Stanley"-like cutout of their favorite teacher (that's you!) and a fun assignment to document your (their) experiences while you're in two different places! With social-emotional support at the top of every educator's mind during a trying year, what better way to remind your students you're always with them, than a small cutout take-along of yourself!

You've got a big job to do. And like always, we want to help. You're preparing for a new kind of year. You might be welcoming students back to your school building with brand new safety precautions, continuing distance learning for the foreseeable future, or a hybrid of the two - but your teachers, students, and staff will need new resources to adapt to the changing times. And so, we pledged to give you new content - for education on virus prevention, directional crowd control, and social-emotional wellbeing - on TOP of tons of new pieces for traditional and virtual instruction! We've delivered. Exclusively for the VariQuest 8.0 Software, this content update is packed with over 2,500 NEW and revised templates, cutouts, graphics, fonts, and collections - bringing our grand total to over 22,000 content options for our nation's best educators to create with. And it's FREE for our customers!

As adults, we imagine relaxing activities in the context of going to take a walk surrounded by quiet and nature, or soaking in a bubble bath with soft music and candles. We seek calm in a place of our own, free from distractions and unwanted noise. For many students, school is a safe and familiar place where there are established routines and food is a guarantee. And unfortunately, we know there are students whose homes are sometimes not any of those things. So while we as educators make every effort to mentor and support our students in a safe environment in every way possible, we must also consider how to create personal spaces for when the world becomes too overwhelming. On top of all of this, we're in the midst of a global pandemic. Enter the Calming Corner.

At VariQuest, we offer a number of different resources and tools to help you improve the ability of students to learn in the classroom. The interactive learning tools for kids and teachers we offer are exceptional for enhancing the classroom experience and improving comprehension and overall knowledge for students in various subjects. One of the tools teachers can use to help students gain important knowledge in the classroom is the cold lamination machine.

It's hard to describe this school year without using the words unprecedented, unexpected, chaotic, and strange. There just aren't the right words for the emotions you and your students are feeling about losing their "previously normal" routines. As this school year begins to wind down, there are some things you can still do to celebrate their achievements and remind them that the role models surrounding them with love and support are there for them, even in times of social distancing.

At VariQuest, we offer many tools and resources to help you enhance the learning environment in your classroom. Our interactive learning tools for teachers and students are highly effective for helping children flourish in the classroom and increase in their knowledge and comprehension of different subjects. With the latest trends in classroom technology, teachers are turning more to interactive methods of teaching, and using the various tools that make this way of relating information, data, concepts, and ideas possible. Educators have numerous opportunities to present information in a fun and engaging way through interactive learning.

We're approaching the end of the calendar year, and that means gearing up for a holiday break, then full speed ahead in January!

In the spring of 2019, we made a big commitment to our customers. We promised LOTS of new and revised content and we're happy to report - we've delivered. Just in time for back-to-school! We are thrilled to announce that our VariQuest® Design Center Software v8.0 is now available for download - packed with over 900 NEW templates, cutouts, graphics, fonts, and collections - bringing our grand total to over 19,000 content options for our nation's best educators to create with. And it's FREE for our customers!

Most of us have experience with "hot" lamination. You plug these machines in, wait for them to warm up, smell the hot plastic (which is a good indicator it's "ready"), then run your papers through to preserve projects, posters, reusable handouts, etc. And while this does typically work for the finished product you need, there is a better way - and we'll tell you why. Cold Lamination. Requiring no electricity, powered by a hand-crank and lasting longer than their hot counterparts, here's why you should consider a cold laminator - the lesser-known, more efficient alternative...

"Class, what is the Order of Operations?" My energetic class of fifth graders shouted out loud, "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally!" What? Who is Aunt Sally? When students initially learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, they are taught to perform those skills using two numbers and one operation. As they progress to the next levels, they begin to see numerical expressions with more than one operation and word problems that involve multiple steps. Introduce your students to the Order of Operations - and help them memorize the "PEMDAS" or "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" acronym as early as third grade. Putting this memory into practice can be more of a challenge - so we've come up with some tips and a fun lesson plan activity for your students to drive the concept home!