My Favorite Teacher Shortcuts

I have a few tricks that make my teaching life a little easier.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Super Strength Packing Tape

This is a quick and inexpensive tool that does about a billion things in my classroom.  We are in the basement and the walls seem constantly damp.  This is the only tape I have found that sticks up anchor charts, posters and bulletin board paper until I am ready to take them down, not until they decide they want to flop off of the wall.  I also use it to "laminate" small items like cards for a memory or math game.  I just unroll the tape, place the item in the middle and fold it up.  Be sure that you leave a small border to "seal" the item in.  You can use several strips of tape if necessary.  Just trim it up and you are ready to go in a few seconds.

Colander

 

I'm sure that any kindergarten teacher knows that moment when... ACHOO!  A little one sneezes all over a box of hundreds of tiny little math manipulatives.  Yuck!  After this happened a few too many times, I brought an old colander to school.  Dump the manipulatives (or any other small toys) into the colander and wash it with a bunch of soap and hot water.  Dump them out to dry on a table overnight and you are all set!

Heavyweight Page Protectors

This is another great secret for laminating in a pinch.  I have a bunch of games printed on 8.5 x 11" cardstock that I just slip into a page protector and seal with two small pieces of tape at the top so that the sheet doesn't fall out.  Then you can just pop them in a binder for storage.  So easy!  I also use page protectors to make books when I don't have time to laminate.  See an example of a page protector "book" {here}.

What are your favorite classroom shortcuts?