We teachers would seriously be rich if we earned a quarter every time one of our students said, “I can’t find my pencil.” or “My scissors are gone.” Since we have student desks in our classroom, my students’ supplies would get buried in their desks. I had to come up with a solution. Dollar Tree to the rescue!
I wanted my students to have a few of their main supplies ON their desk so they could quickly grab it. I purchased these colorful plastic cups from Dollar Tree (4 cups for $1.00), and velcro with sticky back tape in long strips. I cut the velcro to the size of the bottom of the cups and put the rougher velcro on the bottom of the cup and the softer velcro on the corner of their desk. Done! They now have a removable supply holder that holds a few of their pencils, a glue stick, scissors, ruler and pen. No more searching around for their glue stick when they need it. I also love that I can eye what is in the cup quickly.
What is even more amazing is how these $0.25 cups have held up. I have used them for two years now and they are going to last for year number three! Since it was the end of the school year, I just took the cups home and washed them in my dishwasher. After they dried out, I stacked them up and put them in storage for the summer. They have been an amazing investment.
You can see how I velcro them onto the corner of each students’ desk with the essential supplies they will need for a typical day. They do still keep a box (or pencil bag) of crayons and colored pencils in their desk.
Wondering where we keep the rest of our school supplies? Hop on over to All About 3rd Grade and scroll down to tip #3!
