Raise your hand if you love Target!!
I DO!!
I particularly love the "Dollar Spot" which is more commonly referred to as "Bullseye's Playground" because let's be real, there's not much that's just a dollar anymore!
However, I found some great finds over the past week! {Never mind that I may have stopped at Chaska, Waconia, Chanhassen, and Edina to find everything I wanted!}
I teach first grade (and will be teaching Kindergarten the following year as part of a K-1 loop) and one thing our students struggle with is remembering their lunch numbers the first few weeks of school. Each year we are asked to put name tags on the students with their lunch numbers. I found these simple lanyards that come 10 to a pack that would work perfectly for this! I also decided to purchase them in three colors: red, green, and yellow; in case I want to use the name tags to divide students into groups for any activities - field trips, special events, etc.
A teacher can NEVER have too many sleeve protectors! I use these with students in small groups for activities like "Roll and Read" from Sparkling in Second Grade on Teachers Pay Teachers. I also use these to provide directions for parent volunteers, reading passages at my small group table, and numerous other activities when I don't want to laminate everything!
These name tags and adhesive pockets are perfect for our desks and the price of $1.00 is fantastic!!
I purchased LOTS (well, 7 sets) of these index card holders! Each set was $3.00. I am using four sets - so 12 containers - to make "game kits!" Each kit will contain 40 of each of two styles of erasers (see below), two game pieces, and one die. Now, whenever we do a "game" activity like Roll & Read, I just pass out one "kit" to each pair of students to play the game and they have everything they need to be successful! In the event there's a game with four players, I can pass out two of the "kits."
These erasers are amazing! I had so much fun using them to put together my "game kits!" I particularly love the variety of unicorns, rainbows, llamas, pizza, ice cream, gumballs, tacos, and the Earth because they can be used year round. In the winter, I have a few sets of snowflakes and snowmen to mix things up!
While I am super excited about everything that I have purchased, I am really excited about these fun finger puppets! After my initial purchase of "The Ugly Duckling" and "Little Red Riding Hood," I also found a set of "The Tortoise and the Hare." I will store each of these sets in the index card holders, pictured above. These will be great for story retelling as a Daily 5 station.
I plan to use these ABC Word Building *magnetic* boards in small groups to first introduce how to use them properly. Once I feel that students understand how to build words, I will use these as a center in Daily 5. As students become more proficient in building words, I can increase the academic rigor by having them use the words they built to write sentences. This also provides me an opportunity to check their work and ensure they are on task, spelling words correctly, and working on an appropriately challenging task.
This magnetic board can be used to build sentences. I envision using this as an option for Daily 5, Word Work or Work on Writing. Students can also copy their sentences down into their notebook for writing practice and reinforcement of learning.
The final thing I purchased at Target were these fun Activity Dice! I hope to introduce them to the whole class first. Once the whole group understands how we use these properly, I want to add them to my calming corner as an option for students when they need to return to the Green Zone to be ready to learn.
What are some of your favorite finds as you are preparing to return to the classroom this fall?
