Shifting Schools podcast · Free teaching resource
Welcoming Winter: how six brands tell their story
Our Welcoming Winter episode tested six winter wellness products. This free slide deck turns them into a lesson: students read how each brand tells its story, take apart the language on its website, then write for a brand themselves. Every activity links to Washington's 2026 ELA standards, and it works in any English, media literacy or business class.
What this is
A lesson about reading products better
More people are starting businesses than ever, and every one of them needs words that stand out. So students are surrounded by marketing, and many will write it one day. The deck uses six real brands to help them notice how that writing works, and then try it.
Plan your winter, then ask why stories sell
A winter wellness habit planner, then record business applications, the rise of one-person businesses, and research on why the story around a product changes what people pay.
How brands tell their story
Selling in Washington's new standards, three questions to ask any brand story, how brands talk about science, and a frame for writing a brand story.
Read the website like a designer
A five-second test, the parts of a product page, microcopy, a button lab, page flow and a Copy Lab where students take a homepage apart line by line.
Brand studio
Students research a market, fill in a brand identity card, mock up a piece of writing in one of six formats, then test, pitch and label it.
Six brands, three slides each
For each brand: who it says it is, the language of proof it uses, and a longer blog post to reverse-engineer. Use them as examples or as research starters.
The slides
Flip through the deck
Use the arrows to preview it here. To teach with it, make your own copy so you can edit, reorder and see the speaker notes.
The six products
What we tested, and where to find it
Each product is sorted by what its brand says it's for, with a line in the brand's own words. Listener codes are shown where a brand has offered one.
Deep Immune
St. Francis Herb Farm · Ontario
A family herb farm since 1988: “We are herbalists. We are farmers.” Our episode includes a conversation with their medical advisor, Dr. Blossom Bitting, ND.
Merino wool layers
Minus33 · New Hampshire
A brand that says it “wasn't created in a boardroom. It was born in the backcountry,” from a mill founded in 1916. We tried their merino hats, gloves and base layers.
PRO Yoga Mat 6mm
Manduka · since 1997
The mat Manduka calls “the only mat we sell to studios,” promising “floor-like stability” and a lifetime guarantee.
No listener code yet.
Mudita Kompakt
Mudita · Warsaw
A minimalist E Ink phone sold with the line “More offline. More life.” No tracking, no ads, and up to six days of battery.
Lora & Langley lamps
Circadian Optics · Minnesota
Light therapy lamps from a company that “began in a dark Minnesota office.” Their comparison: an office is around 500 lux, a cloudy day outside is 10,000.
No listener code yet.
Embr Wave 2
Embr Labs · started at MIT
A wristband for personal warming and cooling: “Press to cool. Press to warm.” Embr lists the studies behind its claims on its science page.
No listener code yet.
Codes are set by each brand and may change; check the terms at checkout. Minus33 ships from the US, and its Pro discount doesn't apply on Amazon. Deep Immune is an herbal supplement for adults: talk to a doctor before starting any supplement.
Your turn · winter wellness planner
Plan your winter habits now. Stack each one on something you already do.
Rank the five areas for your own winter, then write a habit stack for the ones that matter most. None of these need a new product: a towel works instead of a mat, a window instead of a lamp. Fill it in here, then print it.
Move
Manduka PRO mat
e.g. After I brush my teeth, I'll get right on the mat for five minutes of stretching.
Stay cozy
Minus33 merino · Embr Wave 2
e.g. After I set my alarm, I get my morning gear ready to roll and leave it out.
Keep bright
Circadian Optics lamps
e.g. After I pour my morning drink, I'll sit by the window or the lamp to read.
Nourish
St. Francis Deep Immune
e.g. I have it ready on the counter next to a glass of water so I can grab it first thing.
Unplug
Mudita Kompakt
e.g. At dinner each night, we talk about how we feel about our use of tech that day.
Prep for winter: my one stack
Two weeks: tap the days you kept it
Week 1
Week 2
The habit-stacking formula comes from James Clear's Atomic Habits, building on BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits work.
Keep going
Hear the full conversation
Tricia Friedman and Jeff Utecht talk through the products, and why the way a brand tells its story matters to the people buying it, on the Shifting Schools podcast. The video edition is on our YouTube channel.
Transparency: the brands sent us these products to try for free. They didn't pay for the episode and didn't review this lesson. Quotes come from each brand's own website, read in November 2026. The links between the slides and the standards are our own reading of the 2026 Washington ELA standards.