When the money for classroom supplies comes out of your own pocket, it’s critical that you only buy what you need. Here’s a list of four essential classroom supplies for elementary teachers.
Pencils and Sharpener
Elementary students aren’t ready for ink quite yet— the best part about pencils is the eraser. Keep a healthy supply of pencils stocked in your classroom and invest in an electric pencil sharpener. Manual sharpeners don’t always work, and kids love the fast (and loud) sharpening abilities of the electric variety.
With that said, make sure you put rules in place about sharpening procedures to avoid frequent disruptions!
Dry Erase Markers and Boards
The best way to avoid paper waste is with dry erase boards for your class. While tests and homework require some paper, reviewing addition and subtraction problems can work on whiteboards to reduce waste. Put a problem up on the main board, give the students some time to work it out, and have everyone hold up their personal whiteboards to review the answers.
Coloring Utensils
Without the coloring classics, no classroom is complete: markers, crayons, colored pencils, and construction paper. Build up a supply of coloring utensils, but not too many. Before you purchase more, survey your students to determine their favorite way to color. That way, you’ll know whether you should invest in more crayons or markers— kids are picky when it comes to their artwork!
Furniture Glides
Teachers on the ground floor of a multilevel school know the woes of activities on floors above— the scraping sound of 20 chairs pushed away from desks all at once becomes extremely grating after a while. This scraping isn’t just bad for your ears, though. Chair feet rubbing on the floor several times a day for years will cause serious floor damage.
Thankfully, you can protect your sanity and the floors with furniture glides. Different glides work better on different flooring, so learn more about which glides are right for your classroom.
Now that you know these essential classroom supplies for elementary teachers, stock up your classroom the right way and help those kids learn!