Necessary teaching supplies

Ahh! There's nothing like the smell of new crayons to get you going in the morning! I love scent of brand new school supplies!

In my first year of teaching Kindergarten I was totally clueless about what supplies I would need as a teacher and what supplies my students really needed. The first thing to keep in mind is that it takes years to build a perfect classroom, don't expect to have all the supplies your fellow teachers have. Here are a few examples of some items that you might want to consider splurging on your first year.


For the teacher:
A good stapler, a three hole puncher (I got a great hole punch and pencil sharpener at Sam's), lots of pens in a multitude of colors, a lanyard for your classroom keys and whistle, a clip board, varying sizes of binders, manila folders, ziploc bags in varying sizes, permanent markers, invisible tape, masking tape, electrical tape (this works great for marking where students are to stand when it's time to line up),  and very very comfortable shoes! Take it from me...don't wear brand new shoes your first day, you'll be so sorry!!


For the students:
Individual sized dry erase boards (I know these can be pricey, but you'll get a lot of use out of them), a package of men's tube socks (these are used as erasers for your dry erase boards and they hold the marker!)

 lots of baskets and containers (they have a great selection at the dollar store), playdough, beanbags (try orientaltrading.com), books (goodwill is a great resource as well as garage sales), a pencil sharpener, extra crayons, markers, dry erase markers, printable labels, clip boards, and pick out a cute theme for your classroom. If you're teaching Kinder specifically, you'll need a calendar, days of the week, months of the year, colors, numbers, and words for your word wall. Luckily many teaching supply stores sell these in a set and they have some really cute themes! Check out www.lakeshorelearning they have lots of awesome sets. Be sure to laminate everything before you put it up so you can protect your investment.

Lastly be sure to keep your receipt! In Texas you can write up to $300 off of your income taxes for work expenses. Some schools will reimburse you for some purchases so make sure to ask a fellow teacher. Although I've never had this happen to me, but hey you may get lucky!

Meet the teacher night

About a week before school begins you will have a "Meet the Teacher Night". Here are some tips to help you get ready...

Before the event:

1. You'll probably have a list of your students names by now. Call each student and invite them and their families to the event. Calling them will help ensure a good turnout and sets up a good first impression. Meeting the teacher before the first day also will help alleviate the nervousness that some students feel.  Ask them to please bring any supplies they have purchased. While on the phone...if they can't come ask them how the child will be getting home on the first day of school and every other day after that.

2. Prepare a packet to hand out to each family that includes a "Getting to know you questionnaire", your classroom rules and procedures, a little bio about yourself and your goals for the year, and how you want parents to contact you.

3. Make a log in sheet for parents to sign when they arrive...make a few of the same and disperse them throughout the room, that way you won't have a line forming to sign the sheet. On the sheet have a place for them to put their phone number, email address, and most importantly how the child will get home on the first day of school and each day after. Most of the time with Kindergartners, parents will drop them off and pick them up the first day.

4. Put each child's name on a piece of paper or a post it note and attach it to a chair. This is where you will tell them to put any supplies they brought. Seeing their name somewhere in the classroom helps students feel more welcome!

During the event:

1. Wear a name tag and stand by the door, as families approach, introduce yourself and ask the student to go and find their name. Ask parents to please sign in and take a packet.

2. You'll want to try and avoid getting into in depth conversations on this night, mostly because you're going to be super overwhelmed with lots of people and you don't want to be rude to the other parents...if you find yourself being cornered by an over zealous parent, simply say that you really want to be sure and give them your full attention so let's go ahead and make an appointment or set up a good time to call and talk in more detail.

After the event:

1. If you aren't totally exhausted, make a little mental note of who brought supplies, who showed up, and whether or not they signed in.

2. Some teachers like to make a spreadsheet of the supplies that each student brought, but since I use a "community" approach to supplies I don't find that necessary.  I will go through the bags they brought and sort things into piles. If they have already put their names all over everything then set those things aside for later...nothing is more annoying then labeling all of the students take home folders just to have a parent call to say why aren't you using the folder they brought.

3. If you are totally wiped out...go home...and get some sleep all of the supplies will be there tomorrow. Uh-oh my procrastinating side is coming out. Seriously though you don't need to stress about the supplies just yet...as long as you have at least the crayons out on the first day you'll be fine.

Preparing your classroom

Okay...so you got the job! Congratulations! Teaching Kindergarten is such a rewarding endeavor, but it takes loads of preparation! The key to being a successful teacher at any grade level is being prepared. Speaking from a true procrastinator, I know what I'm talking about! I have always prided myself on working well under pressure. In high school I'd be skimming a book, I never even cracked moments before the test...speaking from experience and a lot of stress that could have been avoided...don't do this.

I know it's still your summer vacation, but now there are actually some things you can start preparing even before you get into your classroom. Usually you get a few days to work in your classroom once your contract days begin, but it's never enough time and admin loves to sneak little meetings in on those days to suck up that precious time.

So let's start by talking supplies...first you have to decide if you want community supplies or individual supplies. For Kindergarten I recommend community supplies. Especially at the beginning of the year these kids will be all over the place and keeping track of their own heads will be a challenge let alone which crayon box is theirs.

I love using play dough containers to keep the crayons. You can fit a standard box and they won't fall out. Head out to the shops now and take advantage of the back to school sales. I know you think you'll have plenty of supplies from the kids, but it never hurts to have extras... and you'll be surprised at how many kids will come to school the first day with absolutely nothing with them.  Buy the play dough and put it in a ziplock for later use and get those crayons in there. The first time I used these I went through the trouble of ripping off the label, but this isn't really necessary. You can always stick a label with the kids names on them later.

 Okay, another thing to think about is unit storage. For Kindergarten every week or two you will focus on a new unit of study. My first year in Kinder I inherited 45 file boxes from a Kinder teacher who retired. I was also lucky enough to have an enormous closet to store them in...you probably won't be so lucky to have this much storage so I would recommend smaller boxes like these. These are cowboy boot boxes, which you can go to a shoe store and ask if they'll gift some to you. Go ahead and start labeling them now. You will definitely need a box labeled, "All about me", "First week of School", "Family", "Community Workers", "Winter Holiday's", "The Gingerbread Man" (My favorite!), and if your school allows religious holiday then Easter, etc. or if you work at a public school then a lot of times we would do "Eggs" during Easter week or "Bones/Bats" for Halloween.

You'll want to have at least some of these boxes ready now, because you'll be bombarded with so much stuff during the first few weeks and throughout the year, that it's great to have a place to shove it, instead of a big pile in the corner which is what I did my first year!

Now that you've got your boxes for things on theme like puzzles, toys, etc. you need a place to put all the papers and when I say all the papers, I mean all the papers!!! By the end of your first year you'll be convinced that a whole forest was bulldozed for the amount of paper you're going to collect!

So run out to a big box store and get your self at least 100 file folders, the regular old manila one's will do. You can start labeling those as well with the same titles as the boxes above and if you are teaching Kinder specifically you can make one for the Math subjects too. If your school has an online curriculum, it would be a great tool for you to find out what subjects will be taught so you can use those categories to label your files or boxes.

Below you'll find a file box that I want you to put by the door of your classroom, this will be a place to keep important papers on your students, notice how it's numbered. The reason for this is so that next year all you have to do is remove the papers and you are ready to go, instead of having to re-label all of the folders with each students name. Make a chart like this to hang on the wall next to the file box

These are just a few things you can do to get ready, at least until you get your list of names. Until then, have fun going to your local teacher's store to get classroom essentials, like a classroom calendar, desk name cards, etc and get to the laminating machine if you can!