- Leslie, You're welcome Brenda.
Thanks for sharing your tips Tamra. Chrissy ReadWriteSing. Wow! If you like to use a whole class reward/incentive system, then pick yourself up some marbles or puff balls from the dollar tree craft section. I feel as if I can buy plenty so that no matter how many games I create or download to print, I'll always have enough to store and still have some on hand for 'in the moment' teaching. Thanks Marsha! I'm a big fan (dork) of the Dollar Tree too. Love how you have used them in your room. What a great post! LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing all your excellent ideas , The dollar store ones? I think I know what you'll have in your cart the next time you go! They learn to use the start/stop button (which I always have pre-set to 5 mins) and take the time to reflect on their choices. But perhaps you may love the idea of using warm fuzzies and colorful puff balls work great for this too. I wouldn't say they are super easy to wash - but normally we just have to wash from our hands. You've given me a new mission Find one of these super dollar tree stores!
Let me repeat *Love*. But I am anaffiliate so you can check out what they have available online at the Dollar Tree. The bins are back online. I'm a Mom to 2 boys and a wife of 20 years. They make making class books quick and easy! Remove the insect tweezers and you have a tool that invites reading. I'm searching for ideas. Thanks for sharing.
The Dollar Tree is also great when buying materials for the home living area.
baby socks as erasers! 
Grab a pair of scissors and a giant fly swatter {or three} and you'll have fun word-finding tools.
Another tip, they throw away their display signs, I just put my name on 2 darling school buses !! It's a yoga ring from the exercise department at Walmart .
Funny how life comes full circle!!
I appreciate any suggestions. I grew up on Wilshire Way, and my Mom is the one who inspired my love for decorating. I also add a few of these to our big book center to encourage word and print exploration. I was just there today and think I found two more things. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I had to add gaffers tape to the legs to keep them from sliding down on our teeny kindergarten chairs, but they've held up really well! Love what you said about a clipboard - ha!
I've been able to find them every summer, but in my Dollar Tree it's usually not until mid August. Thanks fro sharing Leslie, You're welcome Maureen. Love the Dollar Tree !!!
I use the bins as well - and also the dish pans for my center work. - Leslie, Love these lists! We'd most often use them to circle or underline rhyming words on anchor charts or on pocket charts. Kids sort the letters by color and then spell the words. Great ideas!
Perfect timing!
I also (and I am soooooo excited) just found primary lined journals. Foam placemats make for quiet places to roll dice or use snap cubes.
Prebound poly vinyl folder with sets of sheet protectors sewn in. - Leslie, PS (from earlier comment) I saw a color word sort on Pinterest yesterday. These are great since they wipe or rinse very clean and you can put out anything you need to pass out to a table. No water ever gets to see the light of day in these water blasters. These pointers are always on hand for me to grab during whole group instruction. . Hold tight to the beauty in teaching kindergarten so they will love it and you will too. This snapshot comes as a sneak peek behind my teacher easel. These insect exploring giant magnifying glasses are something that have always caught my eye. When all of the marbles have been transferred we get to have a special class party. My favorite things are light-up finger lights for reading, flash lights, totes (of course) and any small decorative thing that can be used as a math manipulative. These cheapy, plastic cameras are a bit harder to find but if anyone has (get them donated) old digital cameras that don't work anymore - they work too. They were super cute. Thanks for the ideas, Leslie. Just finished reading a book about boys in the classroom for required summer reading and I've been thinking a lot about movement in the classroom and alternative seating- can't wait to see your idea in action! They get a stamped dot in their daily folder to show they earned the reward and I like that it can't be duplicated by kinder hands. I have to say the exercise bands are new to me but I LOVE the idea.
When I'm not helping others or doing a project around my own home, you can find me doing all the boy things and loving every minute of my little family! Here are my ideas on what's worth purchasing at the dollar tree as a kindergarten teacher. Wow - great tip Carol! . - Leslie. I have such a love for plastic bins.
Thanks for sharing. - Leslie. They are great for using whole group instruction since you can point directly in front of you or across your entire easel. Craft foam from the dollar tree comes in packs of multi-colors and usually has at least 5-6 pieces of each color. Great ideas Alyssa! I should know better than to go in there! I love the colors and love how lightweight they are. We have their general school supply list, but teachers spend their pay educating our children. Required fields are marked *. I love using these for two main purposes in my classroom. I don't love that the handles break (especially if I pack a bin too full of leveled books)but for the sheer number of bins I have, they are totally worth it. I've got you hooked up with my no-sew tutorial on how I used shoelaces and pins to create a curtain above my cupboards. It's an easy way to differentiate using sight words, digraphs, etc! - Leslie. I bought quite a few this year for storing snow gear sets for my kiddos. If you like these, then you'll have to see what else I've dug up in my photo files with17 MORE classroom things worth purchasing at the dollar tree.
They allow my students to carry center materials anywhere, have no holes {so less gets lost} and make clean up much more simple when I add snazzy picture labels.
It's part of our classroom management plan. SN: My husband thinks they need a glue stick factory.
This week at "my" Dollar Tree I purchased orange pumpkin-shaped ice cube trays that are 10 frames!
Not every dollar store is the same, so take these ideas, what your dollar store has to offer and my opinion with a grain of salt.
- Leslie. Somebody chimed in and said craft foam letters would hold up longer and no need to lamintate/cut them. If you ever want to share your picture with us on facebook of these in your classroom, I'd love to share it with my readers. Oh yeah, in full disclosure this is not a paid endorsement for the Dollar Tree.
When I found these lime-green border placemats I knew they were the perfect solution to hiding my eye-sore science kits. Quantity is king - Leslie. Oh, thank you Marianne for sharing your kind words. Snip out a rectangle shape in order to make a word-finder. I'm sharing this with everyone on fb! Decorating and crafting are like therapy to me and I want the same for you! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); My passion is to inspire and teach others how to create and decorate and find JOY in their homes! These definitely get grubby after a year or two so I give them a scrub or toss depending upon how much I love them still. I LOVE the fidget band idea. Learn to organize, think and teach kindergarten in smart ways. I call these pointers and we use them during guided reading groups. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly. Where did you get the ring-type holder for your exercise ball in the picture where you have the exercise bands on the chairs? I'm right in line with the totes.
I'm a fan of headbands for myself on special days in addition to t-shirts {wink} and I'm on the hunt for crown ones in order to give an extra reward coupon option for this coming school year.
I do like the dishpans for storing stuff in my teacher cupboards but I wish they were clear sometimes to better see stuff when I'm looking for something particular.
My students "snap" {albeit imaginary} photos around the room and like the feeling of being a sneaky letter detective. This works for me since I have enough to make a set of small group materials without having to purchase multiple sets. My favorite use has been to create ten frame manipulatives, but I have also used it to make a flash card flash game, and rekenreks. If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. In order to reward the entire class, we transfer marbles from our apple jar to a "party" box (which may have also come from the dollar store). I love to get the Presentation booklets when they have them. Pass out becomes quicker when its in a tray and clean up too, since it everything can get stacked, picked up or dumped. I love purchasing the small regular dice since they sometimes come in different colors. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts! It's part of my plan on giving students the best and varied seating options within my classroom.
I use a timer on my phone for everything related to keeping me reminded of specials {yes, seriously I lose track of time}. Based on what I've learned over the years I hope you can find some great tools {inexpensive too} to use in your classroom.
It's amazing when you stock the kitchen with real cooking utensils and plastic plates and cups. I've purchased many things too that I've never used, or that broke quickly.
So happy to have you here on my website, be sure to check it all out to see everything there is to offer!
This is another fun way to promote students reading the room, looking for focus letters or working on finding digraphs or word patterns. Love the camera idea! You won't go wrong with a large set of dice that make playing math games fun. Thanks for all the ideas. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. So excited! She enjoys drinking hot tea, making mud pies with her three kids and sharing what she's learned with teachers.
- Leslie. Your email address will not be published. As a teacher I set off to the Dollar Tree regularly in order to find good buys for my classroom. She believes in teaching kinders how to be pretty incredible along with teaching them to read, write and think for themselves. - Leslie, You can find the dollar tree bins all the time online at http://t.co/JRpg6iJEcb. {honest confession: we call it the $20 store since I never seem to make out of there for less}. Have we met yet? I use matching colors for matching rhyming pairs and then we'd read through our poem of the week and clap or jump on all of the rhyming words. If you're browsing any photos of my classroom you'll probably see these in the background. So here's my list of things worth purchasing and how I like to use them in my classroom. I love the Dollar Store/Dollar Tree, too. now I have to take the dollar store! - Leslie, I want to go shopping with you! I love also using one during whole group phonics instruction when we are finding bits or chunks. Do you have a blog post about how you organize your centers?
detective {read and write the room} literacy center, Snip out a rectangle shape in order to make a word-finder, digraphs, vowel patterns in addition to other word chunks and bits you're learning, 17 MORE classroom things worth purchasing, 5 Things That Make Your Life Easier as a Kindergarten Teacher, 6 Fun and Simple Hallway Transitions {Printable}, 27 Kissing Hand Freebies and Teaching Resources, How to Set Up Your Space to Teach Math in Small Groups, 87 Cool Pete the Cat Freebies and Teaching Resources, 12 Tips to Start a Successful Kindergarten Year. I appreciate hearing feedback and I'm happy to hear that you are taking away something from the time you spend here on KWorks! About 10 minutes to read this article. Thanks for sharing and for your great ideas ! Read More, For all customer service related questions, please email [emailprotected].
I bought these exercise bands with plans to use them as kicking or fidget bands for a chair or two in my classroom. Once I retired it I had a whole bunch of baby socks that were perfect to fit onto kinder hands as quick-slip gloves.
Each color word cut out on the Ellison machine with the appropriate color. Your email address will not be published. I never would have thought that! My kinders love using these in our big book center to explore print, sight words and punctuation. - Leslie. Ready? Your email address will not be published. Hope you've been having a great summer! Thanks for sharing! If a pair breaks, no tears shed since they were only a buck for a pack of 3. BTW- do you use those Dollar Tree bins just for materials storage, or also for centers? I also have two more hung on a wall in my classroom to create a calming wall hanging and to break up some visual space.
Oh, am I considered old-school for having a timer in my classroom?
I call these bingo daubers 'dot makers' because that's what they are. Yes, I will admit - I may have spent a lot of money there {wink}. Sunglasses are cheap enough and come in fun shapes to use in my detective {read and write the room} literacy center. We don't know our children's teachers yet. I think they feel less awkward than a hat to wear all day and I've found the same can be true for kinders. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Let's organize, think and teach smart so you can make learning fun, age-appropriate and the cool thing to do. I purchased baby socks for my first year of teaching when I had a house literacy center.
I use magnifying glasses like other people use paper clips and I never met a clipboard I could say no to. It's simply a collection of things I've purchased and ways I've used them in my classroom. These are the mini-version of the blasters above. I just found some smaller magnifying glasses that are inside a credit card sized item. I too have some fun pointers (smaller) to keep it interesting, but I love the idea for placements and keeping them quiet.
You'll love how *quiet* these dice are.
I love the dollar tree! I think I have most of these things in my classroom too! Mine does not have 1/4 of the stuff yours seems to have but they get new stuff all the time. I would hold off until you can maybe ask the teacher someone may love a class set of earbuds, or another may love extra scissors or one may be in need of paper or folders. We use them quite often in math to illustrate our work when working with ten frames or large quantities. I'm Leslie - welcome! I'm not fancy.
They have held up for years! Woah! Why the Wilshire? So great! Thanks for commenting Jen. I'm officially on the look out for the squirters and the magnifying glasses! Uh oh! These headbands will become an option for my students to wear on their birthday. Love the class books from presentation notebooks- will have to keep my eye out for those. Leslie is the teacher behind KindergartenWorks. Another great alternative to keep in pencil boxes for dry erase marker erasers are baby wash cloths.
I also love not panicking in case some get lost - since they were a buck. I have been looking for ice cube trays that have the 10 frame design for a year. I can't say it enough ways. Make learning fun, age-appropriate, and the cool thing to do. - Leslie, Great list! I've always been keeping my eye out. Are there items in which K, 2nd, and 4th grade educators would love? Love this post! I have several old cameras I can use for this in my class. I love those SAME EXACT BINS! baby socks for erasers! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The mini clipboards are perfect for making this center feel special with its own set of tools. Love it! Cleaning up after an art project isn't my favorite way to spend classroom time, but I've learned to simply both prep and clean up by using snack or chip trays. Thanks Monica - great to know it spanned a couple grade levels! I'm heading in that direction tomorrow. Students love seeing the print magnified when reading their leveled books through for a repeat reading to make it fun and keep it fresh. ./smacks head. I need to make a stop at my area Dollar Trees today and pick up some other things mentioned. These last me years. Cut out a deep rectangle including the top edge and you have a word-framing pointer. - Leslie, Great list! , Your email address will not be published. I can always find regular composition books (and usually cheaper this time of year) but the ones with the picture space and the handwriting lines - hardly ever-- got 20 (all they had) and am going to see if I can get 6 or 7 more (in case I have a full class or transient students). And I've used fun placemats as bulletin board or wall decorations too! Oooh, I'm glad to know when to rev my stalking skills into high hear. All the kids have to cook then. LOL :)), Ooooh - back online?! So YOU'RE the reason why all the plastic bins are gone from all my local Dollar Trees! I start going about 2 times a week to check that way I don't miss out on color and quantity! Thanks for sharing that you were excited about the cameras April.
I haven't seen them in our Dollar Tree recently, but they are one of the reasons I visit regularly {just in case they should appear}. It was funny to see how many things from the post I already have:) Still found lots of things that I need to grab.
If they have already had one think card and still haven't gotten back on track, then they obviously need more time to get it together. But - you probably can't go wrong with some chocolate, pencils and erasers to start out the year!
Why did I not think of that???? I like the variety and having enough to let students use them at literacy centers as well. Required fields are marked *. Thanks for all the fabulous ideas. Thank you for all the ideas! But we turn them into craaazy long pointers that are perfect for reading the room. Hope your kinders love using them. I like they make normally unreachable spaces now reachable to even my smallest kinders.
Just kidding although seriously I am dying to get my hands on more of these, I was only able to find six after visiting six different Dollar Trees!
Cut out a smaller and taller rectangle and you'll have a pointer that encourages student to look for digraphs, vowel patterns in addition to other word chunks and bits you're learning. He sent me a picture of scissors sticking out of a glue stick. - Leslie. These items may be used exactly as they were intended or I may have a creative classroom purpose for it. And I stalk dollar trees for them! Thanks for sharing. That makes me excited to check out You are so kind to ask about what to get for your upcoming teachers - yes, glue sticks are definitely something that seem to go missing (just like the socks in the washing machine). But I purchase a few of these in order to have my students give themselves a time out.
- Asymmetrical Strappy Ruched Midi Dress
- Residence Inn By Marriott Cranbury South Brunswick
- Jacquard Lumiere Acrylic Paint
- Plate Carrier Side Panels
- Plastic Canvas Cross Stitch Kit