And then I started thinking of all the things I have that are "outside of the usual" that make life easier. Consider this blog a public service message.
1. A small personal heat-seal laminator - You can get one for about $30 if you pay attention. Mine came from Wal-Mart and was on sale. I use it for tons of things from making ID cards for my National Honor Society Officers to protecting bell schedules and labels for things. I still have my large posters done in the library because of size, but for all the little stuff, I do that myself.
2. Self-adhesive magnet discs - You can buy them from Wal-Mart or a craft store, but I find the best value to be online. I use them for countless things. They turn anything into something easily hung and easily removed. I hang notices, labels, posters, the term cards that compose my word wall, instruction signs, everything really. I don't have to fight stick-tac (which only sticks SOMETIMES or FOREVER), and it makes it easy and fast to change things out.
3. Ceiling Hanglars - (yes. that is their real name.) Almost every classroom now has drop in "grid" ceilings. If your doesn't, these are of no use to you. If it DOES, then these are a display/decoration dream-come-true. I use them to suspend artifacts from my travels, mobiles, and tons and tons of student projects. Again, this is about easy-up, easy-down with no damage to the fixtures. Everybody loves the fact that I've used student work to decorate, too.
4. Command Velcro Strips - I'm not sure that this is the right name for these. They have a plastic surface that meshes with and holds to another similar surface, so I am calling them that. They might be picture-hanger strips. Again, no-damage hanging is the goal. I found these and tried them for some things I wanted to put on my plastered walls. They work like a charm. No nails. No mess. They go right up and come right down perfectly. They hold fairly heavy frames, too.
5. A small plastic box each of Sharpies, Post-its, pens of a different color (green/purple), and highlighters - My students use these all the time, but some of them either cannot keep up with them or can't seem to get around to getting them. It's easier to have them on-hand and easy-to-access than to fuss or hold up an activity because of their lack. I use fliptop plastic boxes that I think were actually made for cds or something. They hold a lot of each thing. I put them out when we need to use them, and the students (with the exception of one particular class awhile back) have always been very good to use what's needed and return it at the end of class. No fuss, no hassle.
6. Index cards - millions and millions of them. I use all sizes. The 3X5 blanks are fabulous for quick notes/passes/etc and also exit slips. 4X6 is what I put my word wall elements on. 5X8 is what I use for instructions, labels, and my "quote wall" of interesting student sentences from their papers, etc.
7. Endless plastic baskets from Dollar Tree - I prefer the ones that are colored vinyl with a metal frame. I use them for every kind of thing. If we need to draw strips to choose something, I cut them up and put them in a basket. If I need to put candy out for Parent-Teacher Conferences, I put it in a basket. I have one for completed exit slips, one to collect the pieces of a bulletin board my students are creating and one to hold extra blanks. I use one to hold student project CDs as they're turned in. They're just good for organization.
8. A small bookshelf stereo system - I have my laptop hooked up to mine, and whenever we watch movies or listen to Hamlet, the sound is crisp and clear. I show YouTube videos. We do a version of "musical chairs" involving walking until the music stops and picking a poem taped to a chair. I have my students do multimedia projects often, and even if the recording wasn't the best in the world, we still hear. I use it to play music while they write and to play textbook supplemental CDs of professional readers or original authors presenting the work we're dealing with. During my planning period and after school, I use it just for me. I don't see how anybody manages with just a pair of computer speakers.
9. A scented wax warmer - You have to be careful with this one, but classrooms can be stinky places. Since science has proven that smell influences mood, I think this is something important to deal with. I said that you have to be careful with it, and I mean that, because if the fragrance is heavy or cloying, it can give those with allergies or asthma big problems. I always stick with things that are clean (citrus or lavender) or at least non-floral (apple cinnamon, vanilla, sandalwood), and I have never had a problem with it. The students seem to like coming in to it, too.
10. A tape dispenser, a stapler, and a 3-hole punch for at least two "stations" in your room - unless you want kids constantly at your desk for stuff, put it out for them elsewhere. I have two sets of the basics out on two sides of my room. When not in use, it sits neatly on a Dollar Tree silver serving tray. One set is near the printer. One set is next to the turn-in baskets. This works really well.
11. A pass just for the bathroom - I fabricated mine from a cheap unpainted wooden door hanger, painted it black, and put a tiny silver cutout of a man (like the standard men's room icon) on one side and a tiny silver cut out of a woman on the other. I don't like to let the "big pass" our school issues us out of my sight very often since sometimes students just wander around with them. With the bathroom pass, it's really obvious they're not supposed to be anywhere but the restroom.
12. A laser printer - I actually have two now because I have a laptop cart in my room. Mine is not a $400 job; it's a fairly inexpensive Brother. It was some of the best money I've ever spent because where I used to go through two or three ink jet cartridges a month, I now go through toner about every other month for about the same money. It also duplexes, meaning that if I get in a bind to print something off in the morning, I don't have to fight my way to the copying machine. I love it. The extra for the laptop cart can't be praised enough, either. It's set up wirelessly, and so everybody can print to it from the laptops, no muss (as long as our network is up), no fuss.
13. Plastic shower curtains and small "cafe" rods - A shower curtain can hide a multitude of sins on a big bookshelf. Just saying. I put mine up with small extendable cafe rods that are supported by a Command hook on either end. They keep all my supply and book shelves looking neat even when they are really not and give my classroom the illusion of neatness when it's just not possible to have the reality.
Yeah. Well, if you're not a teacher, this probably bored the crap out of you. However, I've been thinking about this list for awhile, and I wanted to share it. I probably have left off some things that others consider to be essential. That just means they get to make lists of their own.
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