“Giftedness is not what you do or how hard you work. It is who you are. You think differently. You experience life intensely. You care about injustice. You seek meaning. You appreciate and strive for the exquisite. You are painfully sensitive. You are extremely complex. You cherish integrity. Your truth-telling has gotten you in trouble. Should 98% of the population find you odd, seek the company of those who love you just the way you are. You are not broken. You do not need to be fixed. You are utterly fascinating. Trust yourself!”

Linda Silverman~Gifted Development Center Denver


Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Dollar Days Linky

A Teacher without a Class
Click on the image above to visit A Teacher Without a Class
I am linking up again with A Teacher Without A Class for Teacher $ days.  I live in Canada so really NOTHING here is a dollar.  All our dollar stores are now $1.25 stores including Dollar Tree.  I love me some Dollar Tree though.  There are not a lot of them in the Toronto area yet, but I am lucky to live near one.  I love to roam around and get ideas for school.  I never leave without spending at least $20 on something for my classroom.  

 Although I am no way close to being in "back to school" mode, I have not totally forsaken my teacher shopping habit.  In fact, in the two weeks since my mother passed away, one of the ways I have sought shelter from the chaos of the aftermath of the funeral, and the ongoing saga of being the executor of the estate, has been to indulge in a little "retail therapy".  I tell you I am going to need REAL therapy at the rate all of this legal, financial stuff is going.  But that is NOT for this blog post!

 As I have posted about before on my blog, I like to create Back to School Survival Kits for my students.  I put them together during the week leading up to school starting up again, and then put them on the student desks the night before school starts.  I used to create them using paper bags, then I moved up to using pencil boxes, and then I went to using pencil pouches.  The students seem to like the pouches.  The other day when I was making my bi-weekly pilgrimage to Dollar Tree I spotted these


This is the closet picture I could find to the actual pouches I got from Dollar Tree.  I will NOT be putting scissors in the pouches for my students.  Last year I pre-ordered these from For Teachers Only.

I loved that they came with the pencils, the ruler, the two cap erasers and the sharpener.  They were actually LESS than a dollar a piece.  You can click on the image to see them online.  Well guess what?  This year, with all the chaos surrounding my mother's illness and palliative care, I was not able to order them in time and they are SOLD OUT!
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD A NEWLY UPDATED VERSION


 Not to be deterred, I decided to make my own using items from Dollar Tree.  Now I do have to admit that it will cost more in the end, but I can tailor what goes into each pouch right?  I am going to put in one regular eraser, one pencil, one sharpener and the other things I list on here: 

While I was there, I got some more composition notebooks.  I started WHOLE CLASS JOURNALS last year and the kids loved it.  I really just wanted the students to be WRITING more often, and to be reading each others work.  The WHOLE CLASS JOURNAL idea worked really well with the group I had.  I am hoping it is as successful this year.

You can find lots of free WHOLE CLASS JOURNAL covers for your notebooks here Teachers Pay Teachers.


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11 comments:

  1. A Teacher Without a Class24 July 2013 at 10:02

    Thanks for linking up! Love all your great finds!

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    Replies
    1. Ms.M from Teachingisagift24 July 2013 at 13:09

      Kaylynn,
      You are very welcome! I just got some of those paper pom poms to hang from the ceiling at our local Dollar Party..they were only $2 each. I guess I save those for an upcoming linky!
      Sidney

      Delete
  2. Rebecca H.24 July 2013 at 11:04

    Hi Sidney,
    Thanks for stopping by my blog! I do like using the magnetic subject cards on my dry erase board, because our schedule pretty much stays the same every day. So I can just leave the cards up there and then hand write the more specific objective next to the card. I have the little clocks with the time up there because my school requires us to have our daily schedule posted, as well as the objectives. I love your little back to school survival kits...I need to put something like that together too.

    Rebecca
    Ladybugs Lounge

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    Replies
    1. Ms.M from Teachingisagift24 July 2013 at 13:07

      Great idea! I could add the specific objective too! I think I just might try it. Did you make the cards or did you buy them? It would probably make my day easier if I had them!
      Sidney

      Delete
  3. Second-grade-alicious24 July 2013 at 21:41

    I didn't know we have Dollar Tree in Canada! We don't have any in my city yet, just Dollarama which seems to have a lot of the same stuff as Dollar Tree but I get very excited about new Dollar stores!

    Love your pouches!

    Heidi
    Secondgradealicious!

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    Replies
    1. Ms.M from Teachingisagift27 July 2013 at 07:31

      We do have Dollar Tree but there are not a lot of them. Not sure where you live, but you can use the online store locator. I know there is on in Barrie too! I hope the pouches turn out to be a good idea for the kids next year, I got some awesome colours!
      Sidney

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  4. Jen Bellinger27 July 2013 at 07:06

    I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I hope you can finally get some rest. I know it was a rough time for you! We should talk soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ms.M from Teachingisagift27 July 2013 at 07:34

    Jen,
    Thanks! There is no rest for the wicked I guess. I have never been so busy and learning so much. Being part of the sandwich generation is an interesting role, I get to be Mom and caretaker and also now executor of an estate. I wish I had paid more attention in math class! Trying to make light of a very difficult situation seems the only way forward. I have a HUGE list of things to do. Your kind words mean a lot to me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Karen Greenberg27 July 2013 at 11:07

    I can understand using some retail therapy with everything you are going through. Sometimes it helps us to feel "normal" when faced with loss.

    I really like the bags you are putting together. I will keep that in mind for next school year.

    I would LOVE to hear more about the shared journals.

    As always, you are in my thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shelley H28 July 2013 at 00:15

    I just discovered Dollar Tree here in BC and I had a great time in there, albeit, my wallet is a little lighter.

    I love your back to school survival kits!

    :) Shelley

    The Perks of Teaching Primary

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shelley H28 July 2013 at 00:19

    I just discovered the Dollar Tree in BC. Love it!

    Your Back to School Survival Kit is great!

    :) Shelley

    The Perks of Teaching Primary

    ReplyDelete

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