Sweet Summer Time

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!