Bargain Shopping!

With summer school starting on Monday, I figured it was about time I hit up my local Dollar Tree and Target stores to see if they had anything fun for my classroom. I found some great stuff - and you can't beat the price - just $1.



I found these great dry erase boards at Target in their dollar spot section. 4 Boards come in a pack and they have 2 handwriting lines on them (perfect for just writing a sentence or two). I think I'll give each student one to keep in their chair pocket. I can imagine pulling these out when we have a few minutes to spare and practicing sight words or even math facts on them.

I also found these neat packs of lacing beads in Target's dollar section-great for practicing fine motor skills. Heidi at Swamp Frog First Graders posted some great task cards on her blog for using these beads in math work stations to practice all sorts of skills (patterning, addition, subtraction). So be sure to check that out!

Here is a cute game called "Poison Frogs" that I made for my students out of a little box from Target and a package of frogs from Dollar Tree. This great idea also came from Heidi at Swamp Frog First Graders - head on over to her blog for the directions on how to play!

My last find of the day was this bug catcher kit from Dollar Tree. Instead of using it to catch bugs, I thought I'd make some activities for my students to do using the neat tongs in the kit (they seem great for working on fine motor skills). I'm thinking of filling my discovery table with some different colored pom poms (you can get these at Dollar Tree too) and having the kids use the tongs to sort the pom poms by color. Or, you could label cups with different numbers and have students pick up cotton balls with the tongs making sure to count out the right number to put in each cup.

I hope I've given you a few fun ideas for your classroom-I know all teachers love a good bargain! Be sure to leave me a comment to let me know about any neat bargains you've found or any fun games you're making for your students!