back to it

None of my recent posts have been about teaching, but I want to get back to it! I have noticed several new followers who are teachers/student teachers (welcome friends!) so I feel the need to do some more education focused posts to infuse a little more teacher talk in the mix.

Posting during my trip to the US was lacking, but while I was home I got to dive into the small mountain of teacher catalogs that came for me in the mail at my parents' house. Since I was overloaded with luggage, I decided to just tear out any pages that were particularly interesting instead of carting around all of the catalogs in order to remember the items I liked or the interesting tidbits I read.

I am not too sure what materials are in my new classroom and I have to wait until August to find out, but it's always fun to take a look at the school supply catalogs to get ideas and make wish lists. Often I use the catalogs for inspiration and then make a home-made (less expensive) version of materials I like, but sometimes it's easier to purchase the items and it's über fun to shop at teacher stores! It's pretty hard to go in for a planner and not come away with other fun stuff, so I though I would put together a "wish list" of some of the goodies I am eyeing...

Lakeshore Learning

Fill-In-The-Blank Phonics Stamps-Set 1 $29.95
This set requires students to fill in one missing letter--either a beginning, middle or end sound, but there is also a more challenging set (set 2) that requires students to fill in a blend, a digraph, or a vowel sound/spelling. These look like they would be great for a fun literacy station!

Match-A-Sound! Phonemic Awareness Boxes $99.00 ($34.95 if purchased individually-Rhyming Sounds, Beginning Sounds, Ending Sounds).  I would probably just purchase one and I like the rhyming box a lot! Students try to find three objects that rhyme with the picture on their card. Again, wouldn't this be a fun literacy station for Kinder kiddos? This is the type of item that I would prefer to buy instead of hunting down picture of items or actual items that rhyme.

See and Solve Manipulative Kit $39.95 I like how these manipulatives work on counting, 1:1 correspondence and math skills like adding, subtracting, patterning, sorting, problem solving and fine motor skills! Manipulatives are so important for young learners and these look like fun! I would probably try to put together my own version of this using some type of manipulatives in the classroom and laminated numbers/math symbols, but I do like how students would have to really practice fine motor control when putting the circles on the wooden pegs.

Storage Tray Mobile Organizer $89.00 This is a bit spendy, but I really like it. I usually use a plastic 6-drawer organizer to keep track of my materials for each day of the week. Those run about $20 at office supply stores, but this is pretty cool and I would probably use it for a different purpose. Again, I probably won't buy it, but I really like it. It looks like it doesn't take up a lot of space and it has wheels which would be great. I always love to color code so the different colored drawers are right up my alley! I hate that organizational tools can be so spendy, but sometimes it's worth the cost if it truly helps to keep you organized. If I did get this, I would most likely assign categories to the different colors and then use them to store additional activities for those different subject areas. Since there are only 4 different colors, it wouldn't really suit my needs as an organizational unit for each day of the week's materials.

SmileMakers

Ladybug Letters Game $9.99 Kinders certainly need to learn to recognize their upper and lowercase letters. Once the students have correctly matched the upper and lowercase letters together, they can turn over the pieces to see a picture of an object that begins with the letter. Seems like a cute activity (that could be hand made by printing off a ladybug image, writing the letters, laminating, then cutting down the middle into "puzzle pieces.") I am debating whether or not it's worth all the effort since it's not too expensive to just buy.

Dots Record Book $7.99  How cute is this polka dotted record book? There is also a coordinating lesson plan book, but they are both 8 1/2" X 11" and I usually buy a much larger book for lesson planning because I need lots of space. I love the color scheme/pattern and the price is good too.

The prices at SmileMakers are better than Lakeshore, but they have different products, so it was worth checking out both. SmileMakers is apparently a Staples company, but I do like the fact that Lakeshore has locations which means no shipping costs!

These is not at all a comprehensive list of the cool educational materials that I would love to have for my classroom, but everything costs money and we all know that teachers are shopping on a budget. Speaking of wish lists....don't forget that I have a $25 gift card towards any Donorschoose project, so if you have a current one please let me know! I would love to contribute to a SneakerTeacher reader's request!