I use a lot of tape. Just within the last couple weeks, I’ve used cellophane tape to wrap a gift and packing tape to seal a box for mailing. When my enthusiastic pooch tackled my floor lamp, I repaired it with electrical tape. Duct tape did the trick when I accidentally pulled the hem out of a pant leg. I even purchased some double-sided tape to speed up a craft project. (I’m not sure whether I’ll do that again—the double-sided stuff is doubly sticky!) And I mustn’t forget to mention my daily masking tape routine, which involves using the tape to pluck pet hair from my work clothes.
I don’t think I would have noticed my need for tape if all my tape rolls had been full. But I kept running out of the sticky stuff, so I went on a tape-buying extravaganza. At some point during my shopping spree, I began to think about restocking school supplies. (I know, I know. I have a weird brain! But in my own defense, I think my thought process was triggered by some kinds of tape being shelved with school supplies.)
Now I’m curious! In your classroom, which supply do you frequently replenish? Is there more than one supply that quickly runs out? Is the time of year a factor? Please share! And if you have some budget-friendly tips for loading up on frequently used school supplies (tape included), please share those too!
Happily sticking around for your reply,
Diane
Post-it notes! My students use them to track summaries about the books we are reading and write conversations to each other for handwriting and grammar review (similar to instant messaging). They love this slightly “grown-up” school supply!
White board markers. My preschoolers love to use them and when I need them they are either dried out or the tips are smooshed flat so we constantly need those more than anything!
Glue sticks and washable markers. We do a lot of cutting and pasting and also coloring in first grade. Those glue sticks don’t have much in them either!
Linda, I had that same problem, so I made two containers and labeled them. I made sure the students knew which were THEIR markers and which were MINE! It made all the difference!
I am constantly running out of tape, too…I use it to hang everything on my walls. I really need to invest in some of that Mavalous tape, because my admins aren’t thrilled about me putting scotch tape and packing tape all over the painted walls!! (Don’t worry, it’s just white…easily touched up!) I also run out of super glue too frequently. I use this to fix all the things that break in a kindergarten classroom. Oh, and candles. When the kiddos are gone, I like to refresh my room with some scented candles, and those just burn out too quickly. Kindergartners can be stinky!!
Have you ever tried to help a little one learn to write his/her name? Of courwsse you have. I have found that by writing the name (printing) with a highlighter the little ones can trace the letters. Works especially well for children in a special education class.
One way that I keep my classroom well-stocked is by scaning the sales flyers for sales. Staples has many items for less than a dollar, and several as low as 1 cent each! I am able to have enough folders, pencils, notebooks, highlighters, crayons, etc. for all of my students, without having to beg administration for more!
I run out of glue sticks, paint, and bottled glue. I refill the glue bottles weekly but I also have colored glue and the kids like to experiment a lot with both. Dry erase markers go quickly too but mostly because they don’t put the lids on tightly.
To help with paint, I use ice cube trays for painting so that we aren’t having a lot of paint left over. I also recycle the mini lunchable snack containers (3 square trays), and the kids use them for glue, collage materials, and paint. I recycle all the applesauce containers too for the kids to use for the same materials or for using water to paint with watercolors.
I love the ideas I have seen. Keep them coming!
Tape, glue sticks, and dry erase markers!!
Instead of tape, I started using magnets and thin wire. I hung up the wire in several places in our classroom and in the hallway. This way I just change out the art work and never have to use tape!!
also for liquid glue we store the glue in small tupperware containers and provide q-tips for the gluing! It saves so much glue!
I use sticky tack to put up artwork instead of tape and I use LOTS of it! The good thing about it is it’s reusable. Also, I use candles, too, but I put jar candles on a candle warmer and they last forever! The glue sticks go like crazy and we use lots of paint for various projects. We have a supply list at the beginning of the school year for parents which includes 4 boxes of crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. and several other necessary items. We give out one box to each child at the beginning of the year and store the rest for later. We also have several bins to put lost crayons, markers, colored pencils in and use the bins as spares for those who need them. It all works!
Last year I could not keep enough tape in my preschool classroom. I decided it was so good for fine motor skills to have tape available all the time. Well, instead of the paper that they used to ask me to tape, they found that covering their mouths was much more fun. The picture I posted of them, with smiles under the tape, did have the caption: THEY DID THIS THEMSELVES. Will supply tape again this year? I’m not sure yet.