Reasons the Dollar Tree is My Friend (Part 1)

Dollar store loot!

I bet you just hate the dollar store, don’t you?

Nope, me neither.

There is a Dollar Tree right across the street from my school. In fact, it is on my way home. Every day as I drive by it, I have to make a conscious decision NOT to go to the dollar store. Needless to say, I go to the dollar store A LOT. It is a treasure trove for things that I can use in my classroom!



Pool Noodles

Why are pool noodles awesome? Simple: Steady Beat Light Sabers. They are very similar to the steady beat swords featured here. For mine, I decided to go all out and use silver duct tape and electrical tape to make them look like they came from a galaxy far, far away. I use my Light Sabers to teach steady beat to 1^st graders. 3^rd-5^th graders use them as giant batons. Holding something so long in their hands helps them to use their wrists and not conduct like a crazy person.

Foam

The Dollar tree has rolls of foam! Rolls of it! They also have packets of foam. Similar packets or rolls of foam at Wal-Mart cost $5, and who knows what craft stores would charge. Why foam? Why, dear reader, because die-cut machines can cut foam. The foam is more durable than paper, and doesn’t require lamination! I went the paper-laminate-cut route for large quantities of small manipulatives once, and NEVER AGAIN. I learned my lesson! Using foam is so much easier. Students use these shapes to identify the form they hear, or create their own form.

Clinging Shelf Liner

I love this stuff more than I can tell you. A few years ago, my room made me wince with an ugly scarred table, ugly scratched brown file cabinets, and ugly large bright yellow storage boxes. Now those babies are covered, washi taped, and looking good! I used the same kind throughout the room to make it look unified.




Wash-tape

Speaking of washi tape, I found some at the dollar store. This is incredibly exciting to me, since most other places are trying to sell them for $3 a pop. The texture is a bit different, but it still comes off with no residue. Count me in! I’m using washi tape to organize my orffatorium. Each instrument has tape, and the matching mallets have the same kind of tape. Using different colors and patterns also allows me to put kids in groups more interesting than woods and metals.

Stay tuned for another post on awesome things from the dollar store and how I use them!

BONUS: I love these matched cards from the dollar store so much, I wrote an entire post about them.