As of right now I do not have a classroom. I am still in the interview process and waiting to hear back from a few different schools. Buttttt just because I do not have a big girl teaching job yet does not mean I can not stock up on teacher goodies right?! About a week ago my mom (who is my best friend and an amazing mother!) found out about this Teacher to Teacher garage sale that was happening about a half hour drive away from our house. So we cleared our schedules and planed a girls day to head down to see what goodies we could find.
When we got there it was set up much like a craft show, if you have ever been to one before, where each teacher had their own booth and displayed their own items, priced and ready to sell. There were about 20 booths there all packed full of stuff. We spent about an hour and a half shopping around and talking to other educators. Because I am not sure exactly where I will be and what grade I will have in the fall we were looking for things that would work for a variety of ages. We looked for board games, card games and books. We found quite a bit of stuff! Everything was so reasonably priced too! And as soon as I told them I was a first year teacher many of them gave me even better deals! Take a look at all the goodies we got!
I was able to get seven different sets of brand new books, some award winning books, about ten games, sixteen handheld magnifying glasses, and a ton of math manipulatives and a few other fun things. I was able to get this for honestly about a third of what I would have paid elsewhere. And I was able to help out some fellow educators as well by cleaning out their spaces and putting a few extra dollars in their pocket.
These were some of my most favorite finds. I was able to get some fraction dice, and other types of dice, learning wrap-ups (which could be great for a math center, earlier finishers or indoor recess), some bingo chips and markers as well as my most favorite...eleven sets of Base Ten Blocks. I sorted them all into little Base Ten packs. To save time and the hassle of passing all these materials out individually, I pre-bagged one Base Ten hundred block, ten Base Ten rods and twenty Base Ten unit cubes. When I child needs one they just grab a baggy rather than grabbing hand fulls of materials or having to sit and count out what they need. I was so happy to spend the day with my mom and walk away with some great goodies too!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think these types of Teacher to Teacher garage sales are a fantastic idea. It allows teachers who are maybe retiring, changing grades, moving or changing schools to pass on items that they have used and make a little extra money while doing it. It helps teachers like me get great deals on stuff that would regularly cost three times as much. It really is a win-win for everyone involved. If I ever have the opportunity in the future to join one of these or even run one in my community I will certainly do so!
If you are looking for a Teacher garage sale in your area the newspaper and Craig's List are two great places to start! I spent about 20 minutes looking up teacher garage sales on Craig's List and came up with dozens of locations and hits! Try it!
0 comments:
Post a Comment