We have a lot of schools participate in a Secret Santa gift exchange and our department highlighted eight tech related items that would make good (and inexpensive) tech gifts for our classrooms:
1. Earbuds - We request students bring in their own headphones and earbuds but inevitably we have a few students who "forget" or never had them in the first place. A set of 10 loaner earbud would make an outstanding tech gift for any teacher. You can pair them with numbered sandwich baggies and a box of alcohol swabs to make the gift complete.
2. Batteries - Nothing is worse then having a class set of calculators that go dead when students need them the most. An emergency container of AA batteries in a small plastic container would be appreciated by most teachers.
3. Selfie Stick - I used to have a selfie stick in the classroom in order to get a better group shot of projects, students working, or field trip photos. This ensured my school social media posts looked good (and didn't accidentally cut anyone out). Since I often used those pictures for our year book page it was well worth the (very inexpensive) investment.
4. Goo Gone - No matter how hard I try to police it inevitably a student manages to get stickers or tape on their district issued device. At the end of the year those devices have to be turned in cleaned of any stickers, or labels, so a bottle of Goo Gone is a great purchase.
5. Computer Mouses - Our students use track pads on their devices which make it awkward when doing detailed work. I liked having a few computer mouses on hand to loan out as needed.
6. Panel/Whiteboard Cleaning Kit - Our district recently had an interactive whiteboard refresh and our new panels have to be cleaned a certain way. A panel or whiteboard cleaning kit would make a useful and inexpensive gift for any teacher.
7. Stylus - Much like the computer mouses mentioned in tip #5 stylus also make for a good classroom "loaner" item. Many of them come in larger packs so you could get enough for each student.
8. Bluetooth Speakers - External speakers retail for quite a bit of money but at some dollar stores you can find them for as little as $8. They are handy to have in the classroom to play music or hear timer alarms from your phone.
Always remember, if you can't find what you are looking for in your local dollar stores don't forget to check out their online inventory. Many sites will allow you to ship to local stores for pick up so you don't have to pay shipping and handling.
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