28/07/2024
Hi yall. It’s been about a year since I’ve posted anything teaching related. I wanted to come back and start by sharing a few things with this incredibly grainy throwback picture.
This was taken right before I moved all of this into my first classroom in Pennsylvania.
During my last year of college and student teaching, I wanted to buy alllllll the things. (Pre instagram and ). My cooperating teacher for pre service and student teaching stopped me and said, you will never know what grade you’ll teach year to year. If you want to buy stuff buy storage and make it quality if you can. And whatever you do, DO NOT buy colorful, trendy stuff. Buy neutrals. They’ll go with everything and you won’t be worried chasing all the bin colors down or crying when one breaks and you can find the same shade. So that’s what I did. Every pay (I worked full time while in school), I’d buy a set of containers, or hit up yard sales for sterilite stuff.
After I started actually teaching, teacher gram convinced me I needed all the things. Colors, target dollar spot crap etc. so I did. Guess what? Almost all those seasonal and trendy things already broke and I hated them after a few short years. Know what I still have? Everything in this original picture.
I wish I had listened longer to my cooperating teacher because he was right. Quality and neutral colors stood the test of time.
Offer up, fb marketplace, yard sales and goodwill are incredible places to look for furniture and bins before buying full price in a store. Save your $. We do not make enough. I wish someone had told me that too. Lesson learned and tons of money spent.
What has been your best and worst purchase you’ve made for your room?
I’ll go first, this tower of drawers.
Great in theory, horrible in practice, ESPECIALLY w/ young. The drawers come off the track, the k***s fall off, and it needs tightened more than a first grader’s laces. 🙄 They just suck unless you only use them occasionally.
I should get stock in sterilite, because it lasts!
