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School Supplies and Sales


Today is July 21st and Walmart currently has composition books on sale for .45 (a great deal considering the cheapest I have ever been able to find them is .50).

I tend to buy what I need ahead of time - which helps if you want to pre-glue pages or reinforce the binding and edges with clear packaging tape. Once students come in with their supplies I collect a composition book to replace the stock I just purchased. Those get stored so I am ready for the next year. It is nice having the notebooks ready to go the first day of school.

If you don't want to put out that much money ahead of time I would recommend getting a few so that those students who are slow to get their supplies will have them when you get started notebooking (that is generally about 3-5 students per class in my experience).

If a child has purchased a Hannah Montana composition book or something they are really attached to I don't make it a big deal. I've only run into that problem a couple of times and they keep it and I quickly get their book up to speed.

In other sale news....KMART has Roseart brand colored pencils currently on sale THIS WEEK for .25 each (12 count). That is also a good deal. I stocked up on several packs for the classroom. Most students bring in colored pencils, per their supply list, but toward Christmas they tend to start disappearing and it is nice to have extras on hand. At our KMART the bin was not marked but it was listed in their Sunday ad. I was all prepared to point it out at checkout but they rang up correctly (they are actually listed as 4 for $1).

Business Cards - Our school does not provide business cards but they can be ordered for FREE at www.vistaprint.com. You pay shipping and handling (about $5.50 and you get 250 cards). I mention it primarily because shipping can take up to 20 days, per their website, so now would be the time to order them. I normally give my parents two cards during open house (one for them and one for anybody else who may be responsible for their child). There are a lot of cool things you can do with vista's free products. A colleague of mine put together a short slide show on her website of all the ways you can utilize Vista for the classroom (just scroll to the bottom of her page to view).

Happy school shopping!
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Elaina Weaver said…
Thanks for the good deals. I have become addicted to vistaprint this summer. I have placed more orders than I can count. It have never taken the 20 days it says it will take. I've gotten all my orders in 14 days or less.
July 21, 2009 at 10:32 AM
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