It has been a long time since I have posted here
and it’s because schoooool’s out. For. Summer! No class, no teaching, no
updates. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been a busy bee regarding school.
Oh, no. With my first LTO coming up, I have been working like crazy getting
things ready for September. I didn’t realize how time consuming a lot of these
tasks can be. My welcome letter alone took me about an hour to create; maybe
more. My long range plans took a few days because I really had to give myself a
few brain breaks in the process. Needless to say, hats off to the teachers who
accept LTOs only a few weeks before the job starts. Working full time in the
summer, tutoring on the side, and trying to maintain my social life leaves very
little time for planning. The good news is, as much work as it is, I absolutely
love it. I always find myself on Pinterest, pinning all these different ideas
and browsing online for things I need to buy.
I
thought I’d pop in here and write a post that shows what I’ve been up to
lately, and to share some of the great finds I’ve had this summer. Once
September starts, I’ll share my long range plans and my welcome letter. I’d
like to run them by my principal before I share them online.
One of my biggest
anxieties about September was the task of getting all my picture books. I have
a few that other teachers have lent me and some family friends have also given
me some books; but once my long range plans were finished, I realized I still
needed to get some books to work with my big idea for the month of September. I
searched on Amazon, Chapters, random book websites, but the shipping costs
alone made the purchases too expensive. Then, a friend from work told me about
this website called Book Depository.
It’s a site that has grown in popularity due to its free worldwide shipping
policy. So I searched the site for the books I wanted, selected the ones that
came at a great price, then placed my order. I ended up getting 11 books for
$100. No shipping. Now I’m just anxiously awaiting their arrival. I think I have a new favourite website!
Wait.
I shouldn’t say that. Just today I stumbled across the Canadian EducationWarehouse website. I was
looking for an affordable place to purchase a rekenrek (a tool similar to an
abacus) and I hit the jackpot. I can get a class set of mini rekenreks for
about $45.00! Other items are also available on this website that are priced
very well. The warehouse itself is located in a town 40 minutes from my house.
I am going to look into whether or not I can physically visit the store to avoid
any shipping fees.
Thirdly,
the popular American dollar store chain, Dollar Tree has come to Canada, and
there is now a location close to my house. I popped in last weekend and found
some great classroom supplies and decorative items for a fraction of the price
at specialty stores.
It’s
common knowledge that teachers put a lot of their own money into their
classrooms, and many will encourage you to not fall into this trap. Starting
your own classroom with your own resources takes a lot of work and it’s next to
impossible to not invest money into it. That’s what it is, though: an
investment. These are items that I will be able to take with me from year to
year, class to class. No one’s classroom is “Pinterest Perfect” as I’d like to
say, but I really want to create a fun, creative, and comfortable learning
environment for my students. I’m a bargain hunter and I seem to have an ability
to find good deals. I want to share these great resources with you since I am
so thankful that others have shared them with me. I hope that before the end of
the summer, I will stumble across some more great stores and websites to help
me get my Grade One classroom started!
