Inside: Back to school supplies. What the teachers want and need.

Last week as my boys and I were shopping for back to school supplies, I found myself daydreaming about how fun the paperclips and new color selection of PaperMate pens were. (None of which I needed.)

And that is when it hit me!

I placed the items in a basket, and included a simple note for the new teacher.

Thank you for taking care of Greyson this year. I appreciate all you do.

And that’s all I needed!

A small little something to help begin the new school year with a smile.

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And after buying 2 boxes of extra-large crayons, 10 Elmer’s glue sticks, 3 oversized pencils, (along with countless amounts of tissues and hand sanitizer), I get it.

How can we possibly add one more thing to the cart?

I pretty much spent August’s budget on school supplies; yet so did my child’s teacher.

I can guarantee that my child’s teacher has buckled her five-month-old into the car seat dozens of times driving back and forth to Target in preparation for her new school year ahead.

And here’s the thing about back to school…

No matter if it was my third year teaching or 13th year teaching, one thing was for certain:

Sharpies brought me joy.

Like Christmas morning joy.

So I went ahead and tossed in that pack of Sharpie markers for the open house. I remembered that a little gesture like this can bring a lot of joy.

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Here’s another thing.

Teachers are coming fresh off a of few weeks family time, maybe a quick vacation, and a summer filled with trying to better understand the new curriculum the district has decided to implement. -Because you know, last year’s ideas weren’t working?!

So here they are. Back to school with a huge to do list. – all of which needs to be completed in approximately 5 days.

Drop own children at childcare
Clean the classroom
Arrange desks and furniture
Write names on 152 folders. – seriously. I have even taken folders on a girl’s trip just to get them all written.
Review 504 plans
Think about classroom strategies to put in place
Plan for the first week of school
Begin to think about the following 170 days of school and what that will items are needed to feel successful
Attend countless meetings
Prepare for open house

In fact, the list goes on and on…

So here is something to consider:

Without further ado, here are my favorite back to school supplies for the teacher if you’d like to add a little something with your note.

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