My "must haves" for Fall

Let me set the scene in my house this evening for you all...

My hubby walks in the door from work with a stack of catalogs. I ask "anything good come in the mail?" He says "Nope. Just a bunch of catalogs." Hello! Those are the bomb-dot-com in my opinion. Every time my Really Good Stuff catalog arrives I pour over the pages with such intensity, hoping to find something reasonably priced that I just have to get for my third graders. I know I'm not alone.

With all of the reductions school districts have had, I have received a few emails from teachers who are moving up or down to teach third grade for the first time. I thought I'd share my "must haves" for the fall to help give them some ideas. Every now and then I included a link for you to check out a related post or photo. I hope this helps!

1. Making Words Kit-this kit is pricey but do you even know how many times I've created letters to go with my Making Words lessons? I'm willing to fork it over for this bad boy. Perfect for use on the document camera and then so portable, the kit can be thrown in Daily 5 or literacy work station tubs. Links: Daily 5, Literacy Station Organization


2. Letter Tile Stand-OK I just want the set of stands, not the letters. Last year I was lucky enough to find a company that collects and distributes old scrabble tiles. I got a set of 400 scrabble letter tiles for free, all I had to do was pay for shipping which was less than $3.00. They are awesome and just begging to be used with these stands in my spelling and/or word work station.


3. 10-Drawer Mobile Organizer-I purchased this organizer last year (much cheaper from Amazon) and it was so useful. I have some 3-drawer files near my desk for my own copies to hand out to kids, but I kept this tall organizer right next to my media station. It held large quantities of extra copies for the year that student helpers could access such as spelling tests, math homelinks, Mini-Mustang notecatchers and rubrics. My kids got in the habit of grabbing what they needed from the drawers without my support. Glorious freedom!


4. Borders-Cute borders for your bulletin boards. I probably didn't need to even mention that but honestly, look at the cuteness!


5. Oriental Trading Book Baskets-Baskets, baskets, baskets. A teacher can never have too many baskets. No really, that is a true statement. Link: See my new baskets getting all set up for this coming fall


6. Binders, binders, binders. A teacher can never have too many binders. De ja vu! Links: Team Binders,, Guided Reading Binder and Reader's Notebooks


7. Zenergy Chime Trio-OK so maybe this isn't a must have exactly, but all teachers must have some way of getting their kiddos attention. When my kids are on the carpet, I use a little bumble bee maraca but when they are at their desks or working in groups I use an old restaurant bell (ya know, of the "order up!" variety), however what I really want is this Zenergy Chime Trio from Really Good Stuff. I imagine it must sound similar to the three chimes that are played in the movie Grease before the principal makes her announcements. That makes it a must have for moia.


8. Supportive/cute shoes-A great pair of shoes. Ya got to have a great and supportive pair of shoes when you stand all day long. Literally. All. Day. Long. I love my Danskos. I have lots of them. Might I suggest this adorable tapestry clog for the Fall?


9. Water Bottle-Finally, a huge refillable cup o water. This needs to sit on your desk. You might want a second for your reading table. Possible a third for your easel and carpet area. I'll leave that one up to you.


I hope you found some of this helpful! Happy weekend! I'm off to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox. One of my third grade book club groups chose this text this past year and we all loved it. It had been a while since I read it and I've been dying to see the movie. I don't know why, the books are always better!