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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Life at the Target Dollar Spot...freebies on their way

Target Dollar Spot:


I can't decide if Target Dollar Spot is a friend to me or not. It is summertime and I should be relaxing. School will be looming in front of me in just a few weeks. But... I was in Target and the Dollar Spot was calling to me (once I grabbed a Starbucks coffee). I just glanced over. You know where you just sort of sweep the bins cause you are totally in summer mode and not ready to think about your classroom. I resisted the call to check them out.
The bins were pretty chaotic so I was even less interested in exploring them and hit the main part of the store first. I raced down the first aisle (those bins were calling to me) and slammed around the corner.  Believe it or not School Supplies had taken over the entire back end of the store. Who knew? Nothing was on sale that grabbed my attention so I made sure I didn't even slow down. But then I noticed  black charts hanging on a back wall. BLACK. I swear if they has been any other color... Yup, black pocket charts for $1.99. I was sucked right into the Target School Supplies drama. I was not leaving those in the store, no sir.  So I threw 2 into my cart and knew I was now hooked. OMG. Target has hypnotized me back again  and it's only July. Please insert hanging head in shame. Now I knew I was checking out the dollar bins. What else was I missing? I had to pay better attention.



In the Target Dollar Bins:

As I looked more carefully I found all kind of bulletin board cut-outs that I could use with the kids at the beginning of the year. Oh crap, the theme was crayons so use your imagination. I was hooked. I took the big crayons and made color labels for them and used a ring to hold them together. 



I am a sucker for alphabet stickers since I can use them for all kinds of projects during the year. Right now I am using them for large glass gems so my students can do some alphabet activities. I always need more for my water bottle tops too. Score! I even found talking bubbles that I think will be fabulous when kids draw self portraits and write words in these. 



Can you ever have too many giant dice? Let me help you. No. They get grungy from those sweet little hands that use them all year after wiping their nose or using them after recess. Iwon't even remind you of the ones with glue on them. You get the picture. At the beginning of the year my games are simple. I am just teaching procedures so nothing fancy. If you want the backpack freebie you can grab soon. I will link it soon.



I was really excited to see scented bingo markers for a dollar. They were in some new colors, different from the Dollar Tree version. Here's a trick. If they get too juicy blot them with a paper towel and remind your students not to push down too hard. Good luck with that!



I am addicted to these markers because I use them early in the year for many different activities. I am working on a new one as we speak! "Spotlight on Numbers" just needs to be edited but I am using it in September for beginning number sense. I think the kids will really like this one. It is one of those packets that can be used throughout the year as their mathematical understandings grow. 

I have other packets in my TpT store that teachers have really liked so here is a quick glance at some of the possibilities if you want to know... Click on the picture to get to my store.
  

I only bought a few sets of these foam blocks but I am going to put words on them so students can build sentences. I will keep them simple at the beginning and scaffold them with sentence strips where some students will just match the words up. It will be important to keep all the blocks the same color and package them in separate containers. Wait does that mean another visit to Dollar Tree?




I am not sure what to do with these crayons gel clings but they are too cute not to purchase. I was thinking of putting them in the widow of our recess door but if you have a better idea I would love to hear it. I haven't used this before.





Isn't this banner adorable. This is such a great word for kindergarten. If you believe you can do it, you can... right? That goes for us too. So BELIEVE.





So that's it for now and if I have some DIY projects finished in a few days I will be happy to share them with you.
Target is not my friend. I am so sorry but I could not resist. I will do better. Hehe.
Happy Shopping!