Surprising Myself
Posted by Diane Badden on 16 Jun 2010 | Posted in: Teachers and Teaching
| Do you surprise yourself sometimes? I sure do! Recently I went shopping for a new handbag. I wanted something fun and colorful for summer but nothing too flashy. Well, I came home with a jumbo straw bag with shiny orange trim that’s large enough to carry a small cow. What was I thinking? I haven’t a clue. I’m surprised I bought the bag, and I’m even more surprised that I’m lovin’ it! |  |
| Something similar happened with a hammock I won. I immediately thought, “When am I going to find the time to relax in a hammock?” Surprise, surprise—I love that thing! |  |
And here’s one more. Bear with me: it’s a doggie-poop bag dispenser. You fill the dispenser with bags and clip it to your dog’s leash, and then you always have a poop bag handy. You can probably imagine what I thought of THAT when I first got it. I’m not embarrassed to say (well, maybe a little bit) that I love that gadget! Actually, that gadget has saved me from total embarrassment many, many times.  |
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So now it’s your turn. What school-related purchase, gift, or gadget have you been most surprised by? Maybe it’s something you thought you’d never want, and now you use it all the time. Maybe it’s something that seemed frivolous at first but turned out to be a huge timesaver. Or maybe it’s something you simply can’t live without and would like to tell other teachers about!
Surprise me!
Diane
PS: Remember, a response to this blog post by June 20 earns you an entry into our new book giveaway on June 21!
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I have a collection of various old fashioned nut crackers and a few of the formal nutcracker men. My students love to use them. Give them a container of nuts (beware of allergies) and let them crack them and eat them. Assorted nuts in shells are great for patterning and sorting as well so have them do this using muffin tins first. Once you check they can crack and eat!
My most used item I didn’t really think I would use is washed tv-dinner trays. I use them for paint pallets, organizing office supplies, holding items for “centers”, etc. From the small ravioli cups to the large adult dinner size. I can find a use for them at least twice a day!
My husband got me a blackberry. I thought I did not want one and I would be tied to my email for school more. On the contrary, I can check it quickly unlike my desk computer. My husband set it so that I can check our home emails too so now I can quickly see if I have a new one and not have to log in to my desk computer. I try to check it before I go home so I do not have to do “school work”once I am home. He also set up the weather channel. This is great because I can see 10 days in advance and plan our field trips and activities better.
I gathered a bunch of miscellaneous math manipulatives (try saying that 3 times fast!!) several years back, when “Math Their Way” was the rage. Most of them are “junk boxes” filled with “junk” from the dollar stores, or free stuff. Now at least three math programs later, I still use those ALL THE TIME for SOOOOOOO many different activities in math and science!! Kids’ favorites: those little colorful glassy stones that come at the bottom of those water gardens (and plastic ones), which are absolutely perfect for counting; and keys (free from Home Depot). They usually “play” with the items during indoor recess, too!
Another cool purchase: the Apprentice Desk Caddy. My mom’s a huge fan of the show, and when they debuted this office organizer a few years back, she just had to have one. After seeing it, I got one, and it’s an invaluable tool!
I found this HUGE square metal pizza pan with no sides at Goodwill for a dollar! It’s not that amazing of a gadget, but it works perfectly for my magnetic letters for center time. I <3 Goodwill!
When my mother brought me one of those discarded cardboard display boxes with stepped inserts from our local Walmart, I thought I’d never use it for anything but storing stuffed animals. Now, I use it in place of a pocket chart for story sequencing: what happened first is on top but receded in both time & 3-D space, while what happened last is on the bottom “step,” which sticks out & represents something that occurred closest to us in time & 3-D space. (Hope this makes sense!) I plan on using it next to introduce simple vertical addition problems using fun math manipulatives for my kinesthetic learner and am sure I can think up other uses for it too, now that I’ve seen the possibilities
Wow I had to laugh for this blog. My Mom is a avid garage saler the last year or so she has been buying lots of things for my classroom. She recently brought me this huge very old book on animals. I teach prek and really didn’t think the kids would use it because it is way above them. I had a little boy this year who loved animals and would sit there for the longest time just looking at the pictures. He surprised me when I found he knew every kind of monkey in the book.
She also go me a yarn baller. The kids love to rewind the yarn.
I always used CDs for circle time and I still do at times, but I did not like changing them. I have an itouch for my personal use and thought an MP3 would be great for class. I know they are not the newest thing but it has saved me so much time not hunting for the right song on the CD. This year my radio went out so when I replaced it I bought one that hooks up to MP3 players.
I also bought these handwriting boards in the shape of an apple and pencil, my kids sat for hours writing on those boards. I have had plain boards before that they could careless about, but these were a hit and they were cheap.
I was given one of those red-yellow-green timers from a collegue. Figured it would be handy for older grades that have tests, but not all that useful for Kindergarten.
I use it everyday for our snack. I start my kids on snack everyday and their gym teacher comes and tidies them up. With the timer, I just set it and the gym teacher doesn’t have to worry about how long to give them to eat….as soon as the yellow light goes on, the kids know to start packing it up and get to the carpet.
Now that I’ve used it, I can imagine a lot of other ways that it could be used. My kids seem to respond really well to time limits that don’t appear to be set by me.
I actually also love a “Kagan” product. I bought their Megatimer. It was a little expensive but does alot of cool things. I bought it for the large display but it is back lit as well so it can be seen very easily. It also gives a warning beep when there is 20% of the time remaining (ex: if you set it for 25 minutes it gives a little beep when there is 5 left) I used it for stations all year and it was great to help with transitions. It will also do several other things that I have yet to try out. It is definitely one of my favorite things.
I won a schooolhouse shaped lamp.
I purchased Kagan’s “projector pals”. I love using them with my document camera because they make the kids smile. They are just faces, arrows, and words but they jazz up a regular printed document.
I love the large 8 inch timers!
Kindergartners see the dial in a new position each time they look up from their work and quickly learn what 5 or 10 minutes feels like. They also watch the timer to make sure they will be finished with their lunch in time to go to recess.
My husband insisted I get an iPhone, and I am so thankful that he did!
I teach at an “outdoor” school in South Texas. (Our classrooms lead right to outdoor hallways - no indoor hallways at all.) We have had some terrible storms, and of course, we always have to turn off our computers. I was able to check the radar on my iPhone and find out what was coming our way, how intense the storms were, etc. It really made me feel safer having access to the weather radar.
I was given a portable file folder with all these upgrades (who knew you could even upgrade a simple file folder) and at the time I thought, I don’t need this because I keep all my files in my file cabinet…but now I pass it around for my students to hand in their homework alphabetically and when I get home, it is all so easy to grade! Live and learn!