The Summer Stash: Summer 2017

Hello, beautiful teacher friends! I hope everyone is making the most of these amazing summer days! Somehow-I'm not exactly sure how-my summer is drawing to an end. :( It really flew by this year. I've been gone for the last couple of weeks to conferences and on family vacation (hence the lack of blog updates!) and now it's almost time to head back to reality. And my classroom, which I haven't set foot in since May 31st. (That changes tomorrow...I am hoping to get it all put together in just a day...we'll see if that actually manages to happen!)

I'm popping in today to share some of the things I've picked up this summer and stashed for the upcoming school year. We all do this, right? Start stocking up on things when the goodies start to appear in Target and Hobby Lobby and Michaels and then squirrel them away until we can get in our classrooms? I think it's a universal teacher trait.

This summer I have been good...very, very good. Mostly because our house is on the market and I can't have random piles of teacher stuff hanging out in my office. (That has been the case in summers past for sure!) I have gotten a few things here and there but for the most part I've kept them in the trunk of my car! These were the first things I picked up:


These tubs are giant. I got them at Michael's. I think they are actually beverage containers, but the colors are perfect for my room. I will put them to good use at Open House to hold supplies and then after that we'll see what use I find for them! Speaking of Micheal's...I saw on Instagram that they have more things out now...I'm going to have to go by there to check it out. They also have some amazing planners! I bought this one with a 50% off coupon last month and I am OBSESSED with it:

It has nice monthly spreads as well as weekly layouts...plus handy pockets in the back for storing extra stuff. The brand is Recollections. It is similar to the Happy Planner, which is what I actually went in there to get. I may have spent an embarrassingly long time in the planner aisle going back and forth between all of the options. Ultimately I went with this one because I liked the design of the pages and many of the Happy Planner "extras" will work with this one, too (not insert pages, but pretty much anything else-stickers, etc.). With the coupon I only paid $15...for a year's worth of organization I think that's money well spent!

Here is the majority of my summer stash. See, I told you I've been very good this summer...


Most of this came from Target. I was able to score all of those neon book bins and couldn't believe it. (I even left some one the shelf for the next person, believe it or not!) I also found that cute little easel (which will be put to use at Open House) plus the glitter apple banner and the plan book. I also had to get one of the Mo Willems stuffed animals at Kohl's. I went in there yesterday for something completely unrelated (new pillows, actually) and got completely sidetracked by the Kohl's Cares for Kids display. I only bought Elephant because Little Miss picked him out, but at the last minute threw two of the books in my cart, too. I am still thinking about the rest of the crew (Piggie, Pigeon, Duckling)...I may have to go back over there sometime this week to round them up.

One last picture...this is actually a stash of freebies I got yesterday!


One of the big grocery chains in my area is Kroger. They do a supplies giveaway for teachers every year and it's always awesome! It's stuff we teachers actually need: construction paper, paper towels, soap, sanitizer, tape, bandages, Kleenex, dry erase markers and copy paper. I appreciate it so very much...This stash of goodies usually helps me in that first wave of cleaning when I get back to school to set up my room. So awesome!

That's it! I have barely one trunkload of stuff to take to school tomorrow, which is pretty great for me. I do have an Amazon order coming at the end of the week with some books and Play-Doh...that might be content for another post! (So excited about some new books I've found to add to my back to school reading repertoire!)

What have YOU found while out and about this summer? Anything fun to share?

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