Hitting the Dollar Spot

Can you believe that it is July already? I can't. In exactly 1 month, I will be headed back to begin prepping for the new school year. I've started marking things for my classroom, but am very hesitant about it. My school was looking for a new principal at the end of the school year and one was appointed last week. We had a Staff Meet N Greet last week and briefly met her. This week, she asked everyone to come in for one on one meetings. My meeting was yesterday. We discussed possible grade levels and leadership team opportunities. We are suppose to find out what grade level and team member assignments by this weekend. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will remain in Kindergarten. Last year was a rough year for me and I am looking forward to this year being better. In fact, I am determined to make it better no matter the circumstances.

I have begun thinking about my classroom for the upcoming year. Not knowing which classroom I will be in has been nerve racking. So I've started planning and marking things that I could use in any Primary grade level. Of course, I needed to pick up a few things for my classroom. You know what that means! Shopping!!! Of course, I hit up the Dollar Spot at my local Target. I have 5 Target stores near me within 25 miles. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Haha! Well, I went to the one closest to where I live and they had only unpacked flashcards. I didn't need flashcards. Grrrr! I was on a mission for supply caddies. (See my old ones have become so dirty and grimy that no matter how much I scrubbed and cleaned them it didn't help. I tossed them and was determined to get new ones this year.) Well at this store, I turned and saw the huge carts with unopened boxes. Not one employee was insight. It took everything in my not to start opening up those boxes. Plus, my husband was there and holding me back. Ha! I decided to hit up another Target 3 miles away from this one. 

I walked in and started to go down the first aisle. Nope, nothing, nada! My husband left me and started in a different aisle. Then, I hear him say "I found them." I, of course, rush over and he found the supply caddies. I was looking for green, but they didn't have any. Bummer! They did have black, white, bright pink, and bright blue. Those seem to be the colors this year, as I saw several other bins in those colors. I quickly regrouped and decided on the bright pink and black caddies. I bought all that they had at this store. I got 2 bright pink and 2 black. I continued to look around and found some sparkly pencils that my students loved last year and some apple erasers. Here are my finds:

I did end up heading to another Target and scored 2 more black caddies. Even though, they weren't the color I originally wanted, I am SUPER excited with what I got. They will definitely fit into my classroom theme this year. I have to add some ribbon and labels to the caddies. 

Have you begun preparing and buying things for your classroom? I would love to hear what you have bought.