Are you ready to start thinking of going back to school? If not, skip this blog post and keep enjoying your summer! For everyone else, you might be thinking about what back to school supplies you need or planning your first week of school. If that is you, keep on reading.
Back to School Supplies I Stock Up On Every Single Year
Confession time. I have a love / hate relationship with the Walmart Back to School Supply bins.
When I first see them, I am overcome with a sense of dread and I mentally count how many days I have left until I go back on contract.
But on the other hand, I can’t help myself and I have to look at every single thing – I dig through those back to school supplies like I might find gold, even though they are the same every year.
Here are my favorite back to school supplies that you probably know about
I mean can you ever have too many flair pens?!?
Check out this IG Reel from my friend Annalyce from Teachers Creating Curiosity.
I mean – she isn’t wrong.
But did you know that they now have scented flair pens?!? Delicious.
And it brings me back to my childhood days with the smelly markers, but I get to be an adult. (And I now know how to not get marker all over my nose!)
2. Pencil boxes for group work supplies
Do you put your students in teams or tables? Our district always has a pencil box with supplies at every meeting and PD.
I loved the idea, so I stole it!
I keep an extra pencil or two, a few markers, small scissors, post-it notes, highlighters, and a few colored pencils. This way students have what they need for gallery walks, annotations, notes, group work and I don’t have to deal with passing out those supplies.
One of the jobs of my students TA’s (do you have these in your school?) is to go through a refill supplies on the boxes. So I don’t have to deal with them and students always have what they need.
Pencils boxes are on my must have back to school supplies so that I can start on the first day of school getting kids in groups and working – check out my lesson plan for the first day of Mythology class.
3. Crates
I use these for everything!
- I hand file folders in them and put in the notes and assignments for students who are absent.
- I use it as a turn-in basket for projects.
- I carry supplies in them.
- I store copies in them.
- I keep my pencil boxes in them.
- I turn them over and students can sit on them for alternative seating during group work.
- I’ve even used one as a footrest.
And the best thing is that they stack so beautifully. So they don’t take up any more room than a filing cabinet (or two if you have a lot of them like I do).
4. Refills on my art supplies
I love using art and projects in my classroom (like my Creation Myth or Heroic Journey Projects). That means that I need to have art supplies in my class at all times.
I always buy my markers, colored pencils, glue, scissors during this time. My school will only give me 1 box of markers a week – and yes they keep track. I don’t have time for that, so I buy 10 sets in my back to school supplies binge buying session and refill during the school year with what my school will give me. Honestly, the policy has turned me into a hoarder of markers and colored pencils!
Pencils
Pencils for Students
Give them a damn pencil! I don’t want kids to not be able to participate in class because of a damn pencil.
And if your argument is about teaching responsibility, then pay attention over the course of a week or month at how many times you don’t have a writing instrument when you need one. Or you have one and end up using the one provided.
If your argument is the cost and kids taking your pencils, my response is:
“Yup. It happens.”
So, now I include a reminder in my closing routine. I say something like this at the end of class in my normal wrap up announcement, “Remember to turn in your assignment, pass up your books, clean up the area around your desk, and if you borrowed a pencil, please return it.” It’s amazing how the verbal reminder just helps kids.
And buy the cheap pencils in the back to school supplies bins – don’t spend a ton of money on them.
Pencils for Teachers
However, I will say that I don’t use the student pencils and they don’t use mine. I buy really nice Ticonderoga Black Pencils. Not only are they the best (in my opinion) but because they are black and it is very clear that it is the “teacher” pencil.
Now you need to know that I HATE pencils. I don’t reach for a pencil first – ever. Starting in middle school, I only used a pen – even in Math class. When I made a mistake, I just put a line through the problem and tried again. So, I did go through a ton of notebook paper, but it was worth it.
But when I’m planning or sketching out an assignment or making the seating chart, I just need a pencil. I have to erase. Once I found these pencils, I have never gone back. They are smooth and dark, but erase easily. The glide onto paper the way my pens or flair pens do.
I’m telling you – they are worth the price. And let’s face it, we are adults and we take care of our stuff, so they last a long time.
Little Known Back to School Supplies You Might Want to Pick Up
1. Binders
Just call me Leslie Knope – I love a good binder. And the best time to buy them – you guessed, back to school shopping. A good binder can cost a pretty penny. Especially if you like the D-ring and the clear sleeve on the front and spine.
I became a binder person when I lost my entire hard drive.
Everything.
9 years of teaching materials.
Yup.
My backup had some, but not all. So, now I print and put everything in a binder with a sheet protector. That way I always have a copy.
This has also helped when I need to make copies. I can pull out the original and send it to my school’s copy center.
An unexpected bonus is that when we have gotten new teachers on my team, I can hand them my binder and it walks them through what I do. This is so helpful for new teachers, who often don’t know where to start. Adding them to the google drive is great, but it don’t really walk them through in order what you did.
2. Planner Supplies and Stickers
Do you use the July to July yearly calendar? I do, because my “year” follows the school year.
So a January to December planner is really disruptive to my teacher life. I don’t like having 2 different planners for the year. So, July and August are great time to buy planners and planner stickers.
I’m a fan of the Happy Planner because I can punch papers and add them to my planner at any time. But what I really like are the sticker packs. And I’m not partial to the brand. I love the quotes and the to do lists.
I’ve tried bullet journaling, but I didn’t like that I had to create my weekly and monthly spreads (and I just can’t do straight lines and it bothers me).
3. Notecards and Postcards to Parents
One of the back to school supplies I always get are my postcards to parents for the upcoming year. Then I ask my school secretaries to print address labels for each of my students.
Over the course of a year, I mail a positive postcard to each of my students. It makes a huge difference in my relationships with students and parents.
I also buy a stack of notecards and print out a class list – each student getting their own cards. These cards are my notes on students (that I don’t want in our class management system or email).
This information is just for me. I put down anything a student tells me that helps me get to know them. And I mark the card when I have sent a postcard home.
I have over 200 students every year. I can not remember everything. These note cards help me remember. I keep a paper seating chart that I print out every 2 weeks.
On this seating chart I mark attendance, behavior, and any notes. So, if a student tells me they are in the school play, I write it down on the seating chart – kids are used to me carrying my seating chart around on my clipboard all the time, so this isn’t weird for them.
Then I write it on their card.
If a student does something or says something kind, thoughtful, or amazing in class, then I write it down and add it to the card. This way I have something to say to students, to write on the postcards, to talk to parents about.
I also use these write down concerns I have. As an English teacher, we read a lot of concerning statements in essays and journals. I will write things down to see if there is a pattern or to remind me to talk to a counselor about it.
On the card, I also document dates and topics of emails to parents or if I have to pull the student in the hall for a chat about their behavior.
I also tally mark the number of days I have been able to use the two by ten strategy with students.
As I get older, I really can’t remember much and using notecards I am able to remember and build positive relationships with students. The postcards reinforce that and help me build relationships with parents.
Whew! That is a lot of back to school supplies, but what we do is difficult and it takes a lot of supplies to make our classrooms organized, engaging, and help us as teachers streamline our teaching.
*Contains affiliate links, so I do make a small commission if you purchase using the links. However, I only include links to the things I love, use in my own class, or books I have in my own classroom library.
