Target Teacher Treasures: July 2017


How is it possible that we are a week away from August? Despite my excitement for the new school year, a new classroom, another chance to teach an awesome group of kids (that I had 2 years ago in 2nd grade), I am still experiencing that end of summer shock!

One of my favorite ways of dealing with this shock is a nice, quiet afternoon stroll around Target with a Dr. Pepper in hand. I decided to hit the store yesterday after realizing that it had been an entire week since I had last been to Target! I managed to find some awesome classroom ideas and I snagged a few things for myself too.


1. Motivational signs
motivational signs
I snagged all five of these signs this month because they were honestly too cute to resist. The smaller ones are a dollar and the bigger one is 3. I figured they could give a bright pop of color and some motivation to my students (and me!) throughout the day!

2. Thank You Notes

I am always writing my students thank you notes and I do my best to get them out the same day I receive a gift or I know it'll be harder to get around to. I snagged a few packs of these and threw them in my teacher toolbox so I will always be prepared.

3. The Most Beautiful Assortment of Colored Bins Ever

I seriously have heart eyes for all of these things. As I packed up my classroom in May I realized just how many plastic bins I have accumulated in my three years of teaching and I promised myself no more plastic bins. I am kicking myself now that I am seeing these. So many possibilities!

As always, I could spend all of my Target time in the Dollar Spot, but there was a whole store to explore so

Here are the rest of my July Target Teacher Treasures:

4. Wireless Mice
I have two of these and they have been a game changer in my room. If you don't have a smart board, it's a simple way to get away from your computer but still navigate your powerpoint, Brainpop, videos, etc. Plus there are always super cute prints on the mice at Target.

5. Target Twist Time Games

I have never seen these games at Target before but they are awesome! There's a whole section of lawn games that would work great in a classroom! The two I am most excited about at the giant lighted dice that you could play as a game during indoor recess but also use during any activities that call for a dice during the day. I can also see kids getting pretty excited about practicing spelling and vocabulary words with the giant scrabble letters.

6. Antsy Pants Building Sets

 I saw these building kids on the same aisle. They would be awesome for a STEM center or fun Friday and then you could leave them up for a flexible seating/work area option!

7. Books On Sale!

There are so many books on sale at Target right now! With teaching writing and science I am still wrapping my mind around what my classroom library is going to look like but I did snag a few books. One of the ones I was most excited about is What Were the Twin Towers? which provides a history of the towers before and after the 9/11 attacks!

8. Bed Risers


 I swear back to college is a flexible seating teachers dream! Stick these puppies under a table or desk and Bam! standing table!

9. Flexible Seating Ideas



 There are so many fun chairs and storage ottomans that are perfect for a flexible seating classroom. I would seriously use all of these!

10. Light Up Signs

 I debated buying this sign over at least 4 trips to Target this month and then finally I saw it on sale so I considered that a sign that I needed it. I always want my kids to do their best. Here's a way to remind them!

I hope I have inspired you for your next Target run (which, let's be honest, is probably happening this afternoon). Of course you'll run to the back to school section to grab 99 cent markers but there are some other gems in the store too. Also if you missed my June edition, some of those goodies are still around the store.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Have You Read Teal?

Image
I am always looking for new back to school read alouds. In the past I have read Chrysanthemum , A Bad Case of Stripes , and Pout Pout Fish Goes to School , among others. This year especially I have been looking because I am about to have a "new" batch of kids, many of whom I taught two years ago in 2nd grade. Honestly, I have probably been too worried about this for too long until I found the book Teal  by Renee Galvin. This book is about a beautiful, confident teal crayon. He knows his worth and is generally a happy guy until it comes time to clean up. As all of the crayons go back to their labeled boxes, he feels alone. He's not quite blue and not quite green so he doesn't know where he belongs. After much thought and hard work, he finds a solution to bring all of his crayon friends together! I absolutely love this book for a number of reasons: 1. It's so relatable. After all,  everyone  has felt left out at one point in their life, even if they ge...
Read more

Start Your Year with Kahoot

Image
A few years ago, I was introduced to Kahoot during a staff training. If you have never used it before, it's a free website where you can make different quizzes and games that your class or group of teachers can interact with on their laptops, iPads, or phones. Since learning about it, I have used it with second graders to create end of unit, group review quizzes. This summer though, I have been thinking about what a fun tool it would be at the beginning of the year. My disclaimer is this: I haven't actually tried  any of these ideas, because they are just that, ideas. So here they are and if you take any of them and run with them please  let me know how it goes for you! 1. Two Truths and a Lie Have all of your students write down two true facts and one "alternative fact" about him or herself on the first day of school. After school or on your planning plug them all into a Kahoot quiz. Have your students guess the "lies" by taking the quiz in gro...
Read more

Confessions From A Messy Teacher

Image
I am not organized. Nope, not at all. I try to be and I try to be perceived that way, but it's just not who I am. As a child I would let me room get crazy messy and then have an itch late at night to clean and reorganize it all. And I would. And then a few days later you would never  know because it would be a mess again. In graduate school I spent a huge chunk of my winter break creating an elaborate, organized binder for my lesson plans. That lasted a week. I was quickly back to my mess of a self and a desk. During my first three years of teaching, I worked really hard at the beginning of the year to create a comfortable, inviting and safe place for my students. It was beautiful, bright and full of books. This is something I will continue to do every year of my teaching career. That beautiful, organized space, however doesn't stay organized. Inevitably, my desk turns into a disaster and supplies and papers get stuffed everywhere in an effort to quickly mask the m...
Read more