What to Buy Your First Year of Teaching | Teacher Summer Series Ep 20

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MY TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS STORE:

MY AMAZON STORE:

MY PO BOX:
Michelle Ferré
PO Box 719
Gambrills, MD 21054
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SWINGLINE STAPLER (affiliate link):

SWINGLINE 3 HOLE PUNCH (affiliate link):

SWINGLINE ELECTRIC 3 HOLE PUNCH (affiliate link):

SCOTCH TAPE DISPENSER (affiliate link):

CLASSROOM FRIENDLY SUPPLIES PENCIL SHARPENER (affiliate link):

XACTO ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER (affiliate link):

FISKARS SCISSORS (affiliate link):

RUBBERMAID 10 GALLON TRASH CAN (affiliate link):

SCOTCH LAMINATOR (affiliate link):

SCOTCH LAMINATING SLEEVES - 200 PACK (affiliate link):

FISKERS PAPER CUTTER (affiliate link):

SWINGLINE PAPER CUTTER (affiliate link):

CONVERSE (affiliate link):

CRAYOLA CRAYONS (affiliate link):

TICONDEROGA PENCILS (affiliate link):

ELMER’S GLUE STICKS (affiliate link):

EXPO DRY ERASE MARKERS (affiliate link):

STERILITE CLIP BOX MINI (affiliate link):

STERILITE CLIP BOX SMALL (affiliate link):

STERILITE CLIP BOX MEDIUM (affiliate link):

STERILITE CLIP BOX LARGE (affiliate link):

STERILITE CLIP BOX DEEP (affiliate link):

ZICAM RAPID MELTS - CITRUS FLAVOR (affiliate link):
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Find me on my other social media platforms:
INSTAGRAM: @pocketfulofprimary
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Music provided by RoyalFreeSound

[beckyg]

My best tip for first year teachers: Create a Craiglist alert for retiring teacher garage sales during the summer. These are goldmines! You will find loads and loads of classroom supplies and books-all for very cheap!

[mandaaguirre]

I'm 17 and gonna become a nurse. Why am I addicted to watching these videos?!?!

[becomingme]

For the paper cutter, if you grab a big piece of foil and use your paper cutter to cut it up it will sharpen your blades so you don't have to buy replacements.

[pamsteckman]

My best tip!!!! You need a large, sturdy umbrella and also a sweater to keep at school. You did awesome with your list!

[Abby-wjje]

One tip for electric pencil sharpeners, don’t let anyone sharpen colored pencils. The waxy colored part gets stuck in the sharpener.

[MissPrincessPancake]

Hi Michelle! I am a primary school teacher in the UK. I teach Year 1 (5-6 year olds) I am always amazed and interested to learn what your US teachers have to purchase for the classroom. It is very different over here - we rarely have to buy anything for our rooms at all - everything is provided by the school. We might buy the occasional treat for the class to make it look great like an ikea tent or a nice rug. Love watching your videos and even though I don;t comment very much, thank you for all of the effort you put in! <3

[RaeAnne]

My advice to first year teachers is to hold off on all spending until you first talk to your principal and other teachers about how spending works at your school. You need to find out what the school already provides each teacher/classroom. Also, ask about requisitions and how much money each teacher is provided for the year. This differs from school to school. Obviously, some schools have more money and will be able to fulfill more of your needs (and sometimes those "wants" if you're lucky).

My district's teachers submit a requisition "wish-list" in the Spring. Many of us use School Specialty, but we can requisition anything from anywhere (Walmart, Target, etc.). Our administration looks over each teacher's "wish list" and then either approves it entirely or modifies it (you might lose your daybed, for example ;).

Since this requisition process happens at the end of each school year, new teachers missed that opportunity. However, and depending on the school, they might still get a chance to submit an order. They may or may not tell you this so ask! The nice about the school ordering items each year is that this stuff *should not* be leaving with the outgoing teacher. So our new teachers never start from scratch. Plus, if something's not there (a stapler, for example) all anyone needs to do is ask around. Our school secretary always places an order of back-up general supplies available to anyone. If your school doesn't have a general supply, turn to other teachers in the building--someone somewhere will have extra items they'll gladly hand over.

During the school year, you might realize you need something. Here too, talk to your admin. At my school, we can fill out a requisition form and submit it to our principal and business manager. Our business manager will let us know if we can place the order or not. I know some teachers who buy stuff and *then* bring their receipts to the business manager to see if he/she can be reimbursed. Never hurts to ask!

Bottom Line: Don't spend until you know what's been left over for you, if the school has a general supply for you to take from, what other teachers can hand over (seek out retired teachers, especially for decorations!!!), and how much (if any) money is granted each year to each teacher towards requisitions (this likely changes). And ask how that requisition process works.

[cat-dkql]

I’m a high school kid but I really enjoy watching these videos.., also gave me a different perspective and I tend to empathize with my teachers more now

[itsferslife]

I'm a first year teacher, and this video is spot on!
Every single thing you said in this video I've done or had already planned to do :)

[madelinerh]

“Soon to be 1st year teachers”
me, a 12 year old 6th grader: sure

[RealNathanLehn]

I don't teach... why did I jump to watch this 😆.

I'm going into the 7th grade and I'm just excited for school I guess.
I like summer for the first half, then I wanna go back.

[jmass]

Very helpful ideas. I am retired now, but I remember the early years very well. There were two things I found helpful in my classroom. One was I also used fabric to cover bulletin boards, but burlap was my favorite. It comes in several colors, and it can be bought by the yard. Love the texture. Check fabric prints, too. I had designated boards for my two subjects, math and science, and there are all kinds of fun designs to go with the subject in general or to switch out to match your unit. Everything from frogs to spiders to planets are so fun and colorful. Many times these can be found in the remnant bin if your store has one. My Walmart does. Math prints can simply be numbers or shapes and left up all year.
My second suggestion is for inexpensive dry erase boards. These are more widely available these days, but when I started teaching they were hard to find and expensive. Go to a home improvement store like Lowe's or Home Depot and ask for white board or shower board. These come in very large sheets, but the store will cut it for you. Some stores have changed the cutting policy, so try another location or tell them you are a teacher. It usually works! I had them cut approximately 10x12 inches for individual use, 10x24 for partners, and table size for group work. You can decide on sizes based on what you need and make the best use of the whole sheet. Take your dimensions with you. Mine were smooth on the edges, but you can sand them if you need to or add duct tape to the edges. I used orphan tube socks as erasers. Easily machine washed, and the markers can be stored inside. These usually work better with good quality dry erase markers like Expo, but an occasional cleaning with dry erase board cleaner or a magic eraser might be needed. I used them for 5 years, then I passed them down to a new teacher when I retired.

[stacyransom]

The Xacto School Pro pencil sharpener is the best! A teacher on my team and I have had one for a few years and they quit sharpener this year. We called Xacto and found out it has a 10 year warranty! We didn't have our receipts but they still sent us a brand new sharpener! They told us to just throw away the old one, however for only $8.50 on Amazon we bought new blade assemblies. It was super easy to swap them out and now we each have two amazing pencil sharpeners to start the school year with!
Also, instead of sending your trash can to the nurse use an empty Clorox wipe container. Line it with a Walmart bag and wrap over the top. Kids can hold it against their mouth so there's no splatter and when they are finished, just tie the bag closed and throw it out. We also send them home with kiddos when they are throwing up so no messes in the car. They work great!

[debcase]

"Who you are to your students is more than your classroom" Brilliant quote :) Another tip is to share your amazon wish list.

[katiewray]

Can you do a video on advice and just talking about teaching for teenagers who are considering a future job in teaching?

[starrydreamer]

I think you should ask a custodian if they have extra trash bins before buying, the school probably has extras around.

[ashleydunn]

I would LOVE to see a video of ALL of your teacher supplies. It would be long, I know. It would also be glorious. 😉😁

[moriahsachs]

I am a sub right now and one of the best storage ideas I saw this year was a room where the teacher saved the wooden cuties boxes for storage! She spray painted them all and uses them for books :)

[Dansperryluver]

I’m a 20 year old drop out from nursing school and I’m fixing to start elementary education classes in the spring. Loving all of these videos.

[oryoung]

I’ve still got another 2.5-3 years before I begin teaching... but I’m thankful that I come from an incredibly supportive family full of teachers who have tons of advice to give. My cousin’s wife was actually my kindergarten teacher & she’ll be retiring around the time I begin teaching & wants to give me her old stuff. She was also the one who told me I’d want a laminator & recommended the Scotch one... so that was one of my Christmas presents last December. I’ll be sure to keep this video saved for future reference down the road. Great advice as always! Your channel is by far my favorite.