Teacher Haul

If you are a follower of any fashion or makeup/style blogs, you know they talk about hauls every once and a while.  Well, I know many of us have teacher hauls!  I wandered around Target (the Dollar Spot, of course), Walmart, and Party City for some great finds.

My first stop was Target! Did you know that you can get gift cards from Schoalstic with your bonus points?  To tell the truth, I haven't found too many books that interest me to buy with my points.  I usually buy guided reading sets with bonus points and the values haven't been too great lately.  I have not found the quality of some of the classroom items to be stellar.  So, I have been ordering gift cards.  Can I just tell you, that I totally forgot I even had it on me?  Well, it will just be saved for another time.  Anyway, here is what I grabbed from Target:

Magazine Files - these were a relatively good value for my classroom this year.  They are a dollar and lasted the year (46 days and counting down!!!) The sad thing is, the colors are not great for boys.  This year I used some extra spray paint I had to change the color and there were no complaints.

Stackable trays - I saw a video about using little containers at the guided reading table to house all the little tools for the kids, then you don't have to pass them out.  Brilliant!

Glo-Sticks - I am planning to pass these out to my homeroom and math classes after testing with some clever little saying yet to be determined.

From Walmart I bought Mr. Sketch markers, an exact-o pencil sharpener and Starbucks K-Cups. We have the smallest supply budget I have EVER seen this year - even when I taught at a very rural district where everything was tough.  I just happened to see the very same pack of markers was 15.00 in the catalog and was half that at Walmart - I LVOE Mr. Sketch markers.  They make me happy to make charts because they smell so nice.  The pencil sharpener is not electric and I have no idea about the durability, but it was cheap and will get me through a year where not one, but two electric pencil sharpeners were broken.  And I must mention that one lasted 5 years with first graders and was still going strong until it moved to third grade.  Coffee, well that's just a necessity for me!

Next up was Party City!  I had this idea to give my kids little motivational trinkets every day. I'm not sure why I would do this when they buy the same junk...I mean wonderful items at the school store and drive me crazy playing with it.  But, alas, I thought it was better than candy.  The pencils will say "Go for the Goal!", the smiley faces are pencil sharpeners that will say "Stay Sharp," and the google eye rings will say "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize". The things we teachers spend our pennies on!

Finally, I found some fun stsuff for centers at Party City. 

Glasses – These babies are for buddy reading!  My firsties loved them and I am sure my third graders would to, but I was really thinking about them for a summer reading class I want to do and maybe for next year.  I pop out the lenses and buddy reader who follow the buddy reading rules get to wear a matching pair during buddy reading time. 

Mini-Springs – these are great for helping students stretch out words during reading and writing.

Star Wands – these are fun for reading the room or locating certain words in reading or writing.

Colored Pencils – these pencils are marbled and they writing in several colors at once.  They’re are fun to use for the standard “write your words three times each".

Well, that was my haul from yesterday afternoon.