Back to school shopping is here (arguably one of my favorite times of the year) so I asked some secondary teacher friends what their school supply “must haves” are and they had some really awesome responses.  Here are 10 school supplies some secondary teachers can’t wait to get for their classrooms.

10 school supplies secondary teachers love

1.  Kristy, from 2 Peas and a Dog always has a stock of flair pens on hand.  She said, “they make my marking load go by faster (because they are easier to write with and the colours make me happy).”

2.  Another pen recommendation comes from Dawn of Social Studies Success.  She said, “I have to have Calligraphy pens–they make anything look fancy.”  She also added “chocolate–because chocolate…”

3.  Education with DocRunning‘s must have is, “A BIG set of colored pencils (well-sharpened). We use colored pencils for everything from color-coding notes to illustrating timelines. I love to have LOTS of colored pencils ready to go from day one.”

4.  Becky’s Social Studies Center loves, “Colorful post-its. These are great for bookmarks for students and teachers, alike. I also use them to write my Do Nows and Exit Tickets onto my lesson plans so they really pop!”

5.  Kristin from Sampson’s Shoppe splurges on, “Staples better binders. They are colorful but also sturdy. The only binders I’ll use and have to buy out of pocket but I don’t care.”

6.  April from Cullom Corner shared that she loves, “buying stickers to restock my supply! Despite teaching 12th grade, I have an incentive system where my students get a cut-out star that they get to put their name on and add stickers to when they make an A on their test. These are hung around the ceiling in my room. They may be “big kids” but they are so proud of their stickers & get very competitive about how many stickers they each have. So fun to watch!”

7.  Secondary Math Shop said, “Colored printer paper is a must for me! I use it for graphic organizers, cut and paste activities, station activities and more! I find that bringing color into any activity heightens engagement and just makes it more fun!”  (this one I think I have to try myself this year!)

8.  Amber from Learned Lessons can’t start her year without, “Lead pencils!!! Fresh lead pencils make you feel like you can conquer the world and never have a dull point!”

9.  Leah Cleary makes a beeline for, “Post It transparent page tabs–multi-colored. We use them to separate units in interactive notebooks. They don’t fall off!”

10.  And from myself, Stephanie’s History Store, I think my new favorite classroom supply is a date stamper.  I’m looking forward to a year with no discussions about when assignments were turned in and why x-amount of late points were taken off.

What is your favorite, or must have, classroom item?  I’d love to read about it in the comments!

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