Teaching Supplies

Teaching Supplies

Teachers know that the classroom itself can be a teaching tool. Bulletin boards, posters, and creative displays can inspire and educate students of all grades to do a good job. Students can be reminded of important skills, concepts, and classroom rules or be presented with seasonal cheer and motivational encouragements.

Teachers' classroom supply needs will vary according to students' ages, grades, and family situations as well as the requirements of the course, but most school classrooms will need some important basic supplies.

• Writing tools: Pens and pencils are only the beginning of a school supply list. Teachers may need plenty of board markers in a variety of colors for labeling, drawing, or "table talk" activities, crayons and colored pencils for elementary school classrooms, art courses, or bulletin board displays.
• Storage: Particularly at the elementary grades, teachers often need plastic bins, boxes for pencils, file folder boxes or cabinets, or containers for board markers, paint, chalk, or art tools.
• Learning Center Manipulatives: Manipulatives can include individual chalkboards or whiteboards, cutout words for language reinforcement, plastic clocks, pretend money, or reproducible worksheets.
• Colored Paper and Borders: Colored paper and borders are must-have school supplies for teacher bulletin boards, especially boards that change to reflect seasons or major holidays.

Many schools value exposure to a variety of cultures to increase students' understanding of the world they live in and to celebrate the history and heritage of a diverse student population.

• Bulletin boards: Some school bulletin board ideas to celebrate students' cultures include adding pictures, drawings, and artifacts to represent holidays as diverse as Valentine's Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Diwali.
• Classroom libraries: Many cultures can be recognized in a school or classroom library with a well-stocked bookshelf and reading area with age-appropriate books in a variety of languages or from different cultural traditions.
• Learning centers: School learning areas with hands-on manipulatives, pictures, articles, and games from cultures across the world can teach students a great deal about life in other countries.

More than just decor, great bulletin board ideas for all grades are ones that support achievement and communicate information.

• Back-to-School Bulletin Board: Some creative bulletin board ideas for a "back-to-school" board of important classroom information can go beyond posting the rules, schedule, and information and can include students' pictures or drawings of themselves.
• Important Concepts Bulletin Board: Science, math, language arts, and other core classes have key concepts students need to remember. Helpful bulletin board ideas to help students learn and retain these core principles could include adding posters, colorful artifacts, or pictures of important innovators to the display.