#70Days Classroom Decor and Bargain Hunting

Yesterday I found this piece of material half price at Hancock Fabrics.  The material will make a skirt for the back of my "science" teacher desk - the side that faces the students.  I decided to use the colors in this fabric throughout the room.

Decorating a newly assigned classroom can be expensive so I am bargain hunting.  I have plenty of black and white options for my room to fill in as needed.  (That's all packed in boxes at school waiting to be moved to the new space!).

Today I shopped Goodwill and found organizers at awesome prices.  All three of the organizers below cost less than $10.  I plan to use the single flat organizer on my desk.  The others will be on the back countertop where I'll store supplies.

Then at Hobby Lobby the summer decor is 80% off ... and I found this cute little metal flower ... I like the metal arts ... and this one has the right colors!  It was less than $2.  (The basket was a $1 at  Goodwill).

And last - I found an outdoor scene that I want to use as a my faux window.  I had a 40% off coupon to bring its cost under $10.  I plan to use hooks on either side, with a small dowel rod, and just a little bit of curtain cloth on each side to simulate a window.

All of the above purchases (minus the cloth) were less than $25 ... not a bad bargain hunting morning.


But then we stopped by Half Price Books ... I didn't intend to buy anything ... ha ha!
I splurged on Numberland ... a book of number facts about our world. For example, did you know that the average eyelash lasts five months? That 400 quarter-pound hamburgers can be made out of one cow? Or that the average human will grow 590 miles of hair in their lifetime? The facts are grouped by topic ... and it's just a fun set of numbers!  No really good reason to buy this book - other than to add a little number fun into quizzes and games!

And then I bought Algebra Teacher's Activities Kit ... a little more than I normally

spend at HPB but I had a 30% off coupon - so the book fell under $10.  It is a "workbook" of sorts - lots of practice activities but with a different spin on them.  For example, on multiplying a polynomial by a monomial, a problem is given with a missing monomial. Students have to find the missing monomial, and match the answer with the. answers in the answer bank.  The answers spell out a sentence about the distributive property.  So the activity is not an "activity" ... the title of the book is misleading in that way.  Had I bought it without seeing it I would have been disappointed.  Instead I was glad to get a set of worksheets for sub days, extra practice, and tutoring to support students ... and provide a bit of twist to the thinking.

Just one more bargain to mention ... I don't have a color printer at home or at school (another reason to "like" black/white design for the classroom!).  So I want to print my "growth mindset" and "grit" quotes in color - just on 8.5 x 11 paper - but extra heavy paper so they will look good on our board.  I found a place on line ... "Best Value Copy" ... looks like I can get 50 sheets printed in color, on 120 lb paper ... for about $20 ... but get this ... they have a coupon for new customers ... for free printing!  My weekend plan is to put all the quotes in one pdf file ... then price it out again with the coupon.  (The printing itself is super inexpensive $.10, but the shipping is pricey ... which is why the estimate right now is at $20).

Do you bargain shop for school?  Where do you find the best items?