Teacher - Must Haves

Hello my name is Ms. L and I am addicted to coca cola!  My students know that if they think about touching my coke they are in trouble! (They also know if I come in without a coke, it could be a rough morning.) I usually drink the same one all day, but occasionaly on the "rough" days I have two. 

I still remember my 2nd grade teacher and her skinny smelly markers that she used to grade our papers, and well when I became a teacher that was one of my first purchases! I feel very teacherly when I use them. 

I also can't live without the big, thick, sharpie markers!  I didn't have a working white board, or chalkboard for most of the school year but I did have those giant pieces post it papers.  In order for my students to see the words, I used bright fun colors on the paper.  I liked using those because you can stick them up on the wall and refer to the words, information on them later on. 

Post-its are a teacher's best friend! If you disagree with me then you're crazy.  We have a reading program at my school and instead of giving my kids bookmarks which they lose, I give them stickies so they can write their pages down on it.  I also find them useful to write notes on projects, and passes. 

I have a HORRIBLE school laptop.  Half the time the internet doesn't work, if it does it tells me that the school website and the county website are blocked websites and it doesn't let me download  my fun fonts I have so I use my Mac instead.  I do feel weird bringing my Mac to school but as I like to remind my students "Neither one of us can afford to replace the laptop so move away" it seems to work.  Along with my laptop I use a remote for my power point presentations.  It makes it easier to walk around the room, and not have to have students fighting over who gets to click to the next page.  (I teach middle school and I still have those issues!)

I could not have survived this past year if it hadn't have been for my teacher friends. At the beginning of the year we had two new teachers, and eventually we had a total of four.  On my first day of school I was in my room, which was in the back of the building, with holes in the floor and the previous teacher had moved out because the heat didn't work well in the winter.  Two veteran teachers walked into my room and asked me what they could do to help me succeed at Jackson.  While I didn't need help at that point just knowing that people wanted me to succeed helped. 

I feel like there are many other must haves but it's late, and I've been busy trying to get my school stuff organized so I can take it to my new classroom tomorrow.  I had to move almost everything home since I wasn't sure if I would have a job this upcoming year.  I love books but after lugging them back to school I am not sure how I feel this week about them.