Dollar Finds

Here are just a few dollar items I found this weekend. They are all from Target except the sorting tray which I got at Dollar Tree. There were so many more things I wanted to get from Target (mostly Seuss stuff), but I decided to put most of it back when I found a rug with streets on it for my son's room. I have been looking for one that he can drive his cars around on. 

Anyway, The Lorax bag is an addition to my collection of Seuss bags I bought last year. The idea is to put in the book that goes along with each bag and some other various items that also relate to the book such as stickers, word cards, etc. Then there are the Seuss number flash cards. I already have the shapes and colors cards that I divided among the other bags.

Then just some dry erase markers and dry erase cards to practice writing the alphabet.

Hope you get some ideas for your room!

So many ideas, so little time!

Teachers, it's Target time again! And a little Dollar Tree thrown in for good measure :) Here are some of my finds:

SIGNS! (Target- $1.00 for 2 pack) I thought the line up and clean up ones would be good for jobs to let the kids hold up. The other 2 I will probably use at circle time. I might try to find a rhyme or chant to go with it and write it out on chart paper for them to learn.

These next 2 items ($1.00 ea @ Target) will be excellent for my writing area.

 Front

 Back

Number Stamps (Target $1.00) These will be great to help the children trace their numbers.

ABC banner and puzzle piece jumbo border ($2.50 ea @ Target)- The caterpillar ABC's will most likely be used as my word wall. I just love the jumbo border, especially for those times when you just can't find enough to fill up your bulletin board- LOL.

Weather chart (Target $1.00) Circle time wall. I like that it has 3 arrows. My kids are always coming up with multiple answers for the question "What's the weather today?" Now they can document them all!

Number Tape (Dollar Tree- $1.00) Though we don't have desks, I like to put these in various places around the room where children will be counting and/or measuring. For example, the math or science table and the toys and games or manipulative table.

Last but not least, my trading card protectors ($1.00 @ Dollar Tree). Now, you might ask, what can you do with those? Well, scroll down and see...

Here are some matching activities I made using them. You could also use these for a tactile activity and fill the pockets with things that have different textures such as sandpaper, a feather, a piece of felt.

Found anything good at Target? Head on over to Target Treasures to link up for Fab Finds Fridays:

Organization

Well, Summer is winding down. Time to start thinking about organizing your classroom for another wonderful school year! Which means, back-to-school shopping with all those crazy deals that a teacher just cannot pass up. Well in the last month or so, there have been a couple new hobbies I have taken up, Pinterest.com and Target dollar shopping. Both of which are GREAT resources to use for organizing.

First of all, I stocked up on Target's plastic crates (not in the dollar section, but caught them on sale for $3.00, so a bargain nonetheless). I have used them just for storage so far. They are great because you can use hanging file folders in them. But also, they fit perfectly in the shelving unit I already had and I use them to store craft items mostly. They would be great to use in the classroom for books, etc.

Here is a wonderful example I ran across on Pinterest of how a teacher turned crates into seats, so they can be used for storage as well as seating.

Also, I found some dollar deals including a mini pocket chart and some lined dry-erase board strips. I am going to use them for circle time or small groups to have the children write something on their board and then they can come up and display it in the pocket chart.

Some other uses for the mini-pocket chart I found lying around...

Dr. Suess was well-represented in the dollar section of target, from erasers to markers to silly bands to pins. None of which I bought, but I did think the vinyl bags were a great value for a dollar, so I have picked up one of each, The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and Green Eggs and Ham. These I will use to make activity bags that will include the book itself and some activities that go along with it. For additional ideas about Dr. Suess, go to Obsuessed.com.

Pinterest has given me soooo many ideas that I wanna do them all, but I know there is no possible way I can. At least not this year...  One thing I really like about it too is that the things I repin almost always lead me to new blogs. I would like to share a blog called Target Treasures, which relates back to my other newest hobby. This is a blog all about things a teacher buys at Target and uses for the classroom. Great!

Another Pinterest find I came across is Printable Labels for Book Bins. Pretty self-explanatory, but click the link to see photos and to print out the labels!