Teacher Wishlist

I am obsessed with Amazon, especially, Amazon Prime… I don’t know if that is a good thing or not but I can tell you that I like adding to my Amazon Wish List, it makes my life a heck of a lot easier and gift buying streamlined. I order something and it is here within two days and the price is usually no different than I would find in my local Target or Walmart. I gathered a list of items that you might want to order from Amazon to help with your back to school planning.

1. Sensory Bin Items (Link to Blog Post)
If you are using sensory bins in your classroom or homeschool you will find so much of what you need at the dollar store or amazon. I would get beans, rice, food coloring, oil, salt and sugar from the dollar store and then use amazon to order items such as Toob Toys, water beads, letter tiles, confetti.

2. Classroom Organization & Classroom Decoration (Link to Blog Post)
Teacher toolboxes are versatile for keeping small items neat and organized. Use this awesome toolbox to store paper and binder clips, rubber bands, bandaids, staples, etc. Use this roller cart to store and transport your items to different areas of the room. I always used a roller cart instead of a desk. You can take it anywhere and all your information is with you for you to access immediately. Use this drawer rolling cart for center materials. I have heard that using a shoe organizer for supplies such as markers, white out, dry erasers, post it, notecards, etc. works well. Organize your center task cards using this photo box.

3. Puppets & Stuffed Animals
You can use finger puppets to help students track the words on a page or as a pointer while reading big books. One of my favorite ways to use puppets is during read aloud, a puppet can help assist you as a teacher as your thinking voice and the students really do pay better attention when your friend comes out! I like this wrap around monkey from silly puppets. You can get really nice ones from Folkmanis and they are a bit more affordable.

4. Hanging Student Work
If you are not allowed to nail or drill things into your wall you may feel limited but there are some ideas and hacks that can help you. This product is called Stikki Clips and they are very similar to 3M hooks, except their adhesive is reusable, which I love. Another trick I learned, is using painters tape on the cement block nothing seems to stick to and then using hot glue to attach what I need.

5. Must have school supplies
You can never have enough astrobrights paper, cardstock, laminating pouches, file folders, crayons, markers, and pencils.

6. Games to use for Classroom Management & Learning
Kerplunk Marble Game: I have seen this game used in many ways. One of the ways is as a reward system, when a student is rewarded they get to choose a stick. When all the marbles fall the whole class gets a celebration. Here is a cool giant kerplunk – on my amazon wish list… A girl can dream!

Mr. Potato Head: The same thing can be done with Mr. Potato head – when the class is complimented a piece is added to Mr. Potato head. \

Trouble: This is a great game to use with the students in small group or to put it in a center for them to play. Replace the cards to answer with questions from the content you are working on, student draws a card with a question, if answered correctly gets to pop the dice and move on the board.

Really, the list can go on and on but I wanted to share with you some of the items that I find most valuable. Please check my blog often for tips and tricks for teachers.