Target Deals!

Finally I have officially been told I will be teaching second grade, as was planned at the end of last year. It actually was still in discussion mode yesterday but the class placement letters go out Thursday so there is no turning back. This means I will be the "new kid" in the class as 22 of my 24 students have already been together for one year with another teacher. I have never taken over a loop so it will be interesting! I get to meet my kiddos (although I was partnering up with their teacher for the last few weeks of school last year so that I could scope them out) next week at an ice cream social. At least now I can get ready for the year!

So, of course, I went shopping. I love Target. We've had Targets here in MN since I was little (this is where their headquarters are) and my younger sister actually works as a business analyst at Target HQ so I've always been fond of them. Plus, they have EVERYTHING! And it's good quality. (By the way, my sister told me that some of the Christmas lights and cards will be on sale at Target starting in September! And the other holiday decor will be out near Halloween- crazy!)

I can never walk in without first checking that Dollar Spot at the front of the store (my sister likes to remind me it is called "See Spot Save" because there are things that are $2.50 as well). They are pulling at my pocketbook when they have all the teacher stuff out. I wanted to share with you what I got and my plans for my treasures.

Two Blue Baskets: I plan to use these in my writing center for crayons and markers. They are a perfect size for the shelf I have.

Two Sets of Magnetic Numbers: These will be in a box in my math area for skills practice. They have addition and subtraction signs in them.

One Set of 4 Large Cups (white): I was thinking of using these for my sharp/dull pencils and highlighters for the writing center.

One Pack of Sticky Notes: I really liked how these were numbered. My plan is to write down the steps to complete a project for students who might need them in close proximity. Could I do this with regular sticky notes? Of course. Would I remember to do it if I didn't buy these? Probably not. On a previous Target trip I also bought some star-shaped sticky notes since my theme this year is stars.

Three Math Placemats: These things are awesome. They are wipe-off placemats that have different skills on them. The ones pictured are time and money, but I did purchase the addition placemat on a previous trip. The Addition one has two spinners that you add up. The Time one has analog and digital clocks. The Money one has a spinner that you add coins to a given problem. I will definitely use these in my math center when we are teaching these subject areas. They also had another placemat that had upper and lowercase letters.

These awesome tabletop pocket charts were $2.50 each. That big space at the top? A whiteboard. The lines underneath? That's a pocket chart. There are also pocket chart lines all along the back. They are the perfect size for a word work center. My plan is to have the kids find their spelling word on strip and then put it in the pocket chart. They will use paper letters to spell the word in the next pocket. Then, they will have to write the word on the whiteboard area. Or I will steal these for my own use. The possibilities are endless!

I also bought some alphabet stamps. I got the larger set that was $2.50 but they have a small set for $1. My plan for those is to use them in a word work box with playdough so the kids stamp their spelling words into the dough. Luckily I don't have any allergies this year but in the past I haven't been able to do playdough because of gluten allergies. I just use an ink pad with the stamps in that case.

I think I have maybe spent $20 at the Dollar Spot See Spot Save section and I've gotten lots of new centers. Just looking at all the fun stuff gets my brain going a mile a minute! Have you gotten anything from there lately? How are you using it in your classroom?