Congratulations! You have just been hired for your first position as a Spanish teacher! You’ve dreamed of decorating your own classroom for years! But what do you really need? Here are some essential back to school purchases for teachers!
What to buy for students
Individual white boards and dry erase markers: These are amazing for doing quick check-for-understanding activities with students! Buy a class set and pass them out when you need them. You can buy individual white boards on Amazon for about $6 a piece, but here are two even cheaper solutions:
- A sheet of 4’x8’ White Panel Board costs $13.75 at Home Depot. Ask one of the salespeople to cut it down for you into 8”8” boards and you can get an entire class set out of one board!
- Option two is to buy a ream of white card stock and place a page into plastic sheet protectors. These are you cheapest option and take up the lease amount of storage space, but they can be flimsy and need replacing more often.
Dry erase markers: For dry erase markers, I suggest buying the Expo thin markers. A box of 24 markers is about $32 on Amazon. I also recommend sticking with black or blue because other colors tend to stain the boards more quickly.
Black socks: These are your reusable erasers for your dry erase markers! Rather than passing out tissues, go to the dollar store and buy packages of black socks. At the end of each school year, take them home and throw them in your washing machine. Good as new and better for the environment! Place one marker in each sock to make passing out and cleaning up go more quickly!
4. Extra paper – in the age of computers, kids never have their own paper and sometimes you just want them to write.
5. Highlighters – good for color coding notes and highlighting vocabulary in readings
6. A jumbo box of colored pencils. Colored pencils are way better than markers because they don’t dry out. Students are terrible at putting caps on markers, but sharpening a pencil is easy. And it also makes it a lot harder for them to draw on each other. =)
7. A heavy duty pencil sharpener and extra pencils. You’ll get in the habit of picking up pencils from the floor each night. Put them in a jar for students, but keep some extra in your desk. You’ll be amazed how fast they disappear.
8. A box of page protectors – These are amazing for creating interactive games that you can use over and over again with students. Just photocopy one class set and –Voila!–
9. Costume pieces: The day after Halloween, go to a pop-up costume shop and buy some ridiculous wigs on clearance. If you can also find some animal ears or fun hats, buy those too. These can be a lot of fun for storytelling!
9. Books – A free reading library is a great addition to a Spanish or world language classroom! The biggest question is always “what books should I purchase?” I recommend buying a starter pack from Fluency Matters and building slowly from there. You can read more about how to implement an FVR library here.
10. Posters – Think of your room as a living dictionary and resource for your students! Everything that goes on the wall should be something that they can use to further their ability to speak and use the language. I use this set of posters every single day with my students to teach circumlocution. It helps both me and the students speak more Spanish!
11. Food – This one is controversial and you have to make sure you’re not going to get in trouble, but I always keep snacks in my desk for students. Nobody can learn when they are hungry. I kept nut-free granola bars, individually wrapped packages of goldfish, and clementines. I didn’t publicize that the food was there, but after a while I could see who needed it and found a covert way to get it to them. And after a while, this little act of kindness helped them to trust me enough to share more about their lives with me. Food can be a powerful connector.
What supplies to buy for yourself
- Food – less controversial when it’s for yourself, but totally necessary! There will be days when you can’t leave your room for lunch, so be prepared!
- A heavy duty water bottle – stay hydrated! But remember your bathroom breaks are limited…#teacherproblems
- Binder clips – they hold up better than paper clips when you have a large stack of photocopies.
- Manila folders – I store all of my games and reusable copies in file cabinets in manila folders. I staple the sides together so smaller pieces don’t fall out.
- Your own school supplies – You’ll want your own tape, stapler, pens, pencils, notecards, sharpies, and markers. I put student supplies in one area of the room and my supplies on my desk. This isn’t just because of germs, but student supplies tend to disappear, so I want my own. I actually put a piece of neon-colored duct tape on all my teacher supplies so students know they are off limits.
- An accordion folder: This is how I transport work to and from school. Each class has a section. It’s the best way for me to stay organized.
- Emergency sub plans: Almost every principal will ask you to turn in some emergency sub plans. There is a very high guarantee that my sub will not speak Spanish, so I always leave cultural activities that don’t require the sub to do anything!
- A document camera: If you have extra money from your department, I highly recommend a document camera. While most everything I do in my classroom is digital and on slides or Google Docs, I love putting answer keys under the camera, covering them with a piece of paper and slowly revealing answers as we go over them. I also use my document camera to project stories or novels we are reading without having to scan the pages, which saves so much time. Lastly, if we are doing hands-on games, such as puzzles, I will demonstrate how to play under the camera so everyone can see.
- Memberships: This is another purchase if you have extra money.
- EdPuzzle: Allows you to take any YouTube video and add questions throughout. Great for self-grading assessments and extra listening practice.
- SeñorWooly.com: An amazing resource with songs in Spanish and a wealth of engaging activities. This is also an amazing activity for sub plans.
- GimKit: Another very fun game, but there is value in the paid version.
- Kahoot: The paid membership lets you see student data. I have used the unpaid version very successfully just for fun.
- Screencastify: This was a purchase I made during the Pandemic to make recordings for my students.
Where to buy supplies for your classroom
The Dollar Store is great for organizational bins, decorations, and prizes, but don’t make it your one-stop-shop. In my experience, none of the writing utensils and art supplies from the Dollar Store hold up. You’re much better off spending a few dollars more at an office supply store for things like pens, pencils, and other general supplies.
Look for sales! Target, Walmart, and all the office supply stores will have back to school sales starting in July and often offer teacher discounts. Also check with your school if they can provide you with a tax exempt letter and carry it with you at all times!
Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so you don’t have to purchase everything before the start of the year! Be sure to ask your mentor or boss if the school reimburses or provides you with any money for your classroom before you go crazy buying stuff!
