I blame you. All of you! The bloggers who shared the best idea that I just had to run to the store and buy everything before it sold out. Because you know if you wait even an hour places like the Target Dollar Spot WILL sell out and you will spend hours looking at that great blog post thinking of what could have been....
I swear I never had a shopping problem until I discovered Pinterest and then found teacher blogging as a result. I actually despised shopping as a child. I would put up a fuss if I had to spend even more than 10 minutes in the store. Now I could spend hours in any store taking any item and thinking of a million ways I could use it in the classroom. It has become quite a problem. Just ask any family member or friend. They are /this/ close to sending me to shopaholics anonymous!
So of course when I read THIS post by Reagan, and THIS post by Kim, what do you think that I did? Well of course I got in the car and booked it to my local Walmart and Dollar store. Did I walk out there empty handed? Is that even physically possible? I can't even walk out without an empty cart if I was paid a million dollars to do so! Did I stop with just what they had shared on their blogs? Absolutely not! I kept piling it in the cart! Here are the gems that I found.
*NOTE: I am not responsible for any shopaholic tendencies that result from seeing these pictures... =)
First up, Walmart. Now I used to be solely a Target shopper. That was before Walmart got smart and started stocking up on items for teachers to use because we all know teachers are the best shoppers!
First up, I just HAD to have the ten frame bunnies that Reagan ranted about. They are just the most perfect thing ever for Spring math centers! I had to pick up one in each color because I'm bad like that.
Then I knew I couldn't pass up the adorable buckets or animal Eggs for 97 cents. I grabbed one in every design. See a trend appearing here? I have a problem! Instead of just getting one design I HAVE to get every last one.
Then I grabbed just about every other nicknack they had: tic tac toe games (each design), frog jumpers (every color), stretchy bunnies, a set of bunny tongs (to sort pompoms), foam stickers, a sticker book, spring stamps, plastic dishes, table scatter, magnet drawing board, and a ladybug magnifying glass.
I'm telling you they have it all! The best part about Walmart is it is not as many people have re-discovered the gems that Walmart has to offer. Where the Dollar Spot at Target sells out so fast, Walmart's items stick around for a while. I'm going to head back after Easter to buy more once it goes on clearance but I have to buy it ahead of time just in case they sell out. You better "hop" to it and go grab some springy items for the classroom!
Before heading in for the day, (did I mention it was torrential down pouring when I went shopping - nothing stops a hard core shopaholic) I stopped at the Dollar Tree. I went in with a list of 6 items. I couldn't find 2 of them and still clearly walked out with a whole lot more!
I got a nice mix of Easter, Spring and general merchandise items here. Gotta change it up you know. I grabbed these little cones with words of praise that I plan on putting on tables that do the best work of the day as a little positive reinforcement. I also grabbed the dry erase board photo frames to practice writing CVC words. Then I grabbed some flower flyswatters because I couldn't find the cute Splat ones that Greg found HERE at Walmart. The lady said we aren't getting those in until May because apparently we don't have as many flies as Tennessee currently.
Then I got more Easter eggs. I think I have a serious problem with buying Easter eggs. They used to just have the plain colored ones when I was a child. Forget that! Now they are going crazy with the most fun designs now. I am a sucker and buy into them all! I grabbed some race car, carrot, and bunny ones. I love them all! I think I could host an Easter egg hunt for the entire country with all the ones I have bought this year!
Lastly, I got roped into all the little trinkets they had. I bought 2 different types of foam stickers, table scatter, Easter circle cut out shapes to use to identify words, bunny cupcake toppers to use to point to each word when reading, and pompoms to sort with the bunny tongs from Walmart.
Let's just re-state for the record I am not even full time in the classroom. I won't even be full time student teaching in the Spring next year. These goodies probably won't go to use for at least 2 years yet I still can't pass them up. I am going to need to rent a storage locker to store all these things pretty soon! You bloggers need to stop being so awesome and sharing the best ideas! Hopefully I won't have anything to share on Shopping Sunday this week because I did all my shopping already however if you know me, I can't stay away from the deals so I probably will be scouring the aisles to share more with you!
Please leave me some love in the comments and let me know I am not the lone shopaholic in the group. There has to be more of you like me right?
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