My Favorite School Supply

I discovered the greatest tip this week from the kinder teacher across the hall! Our district still has half-day K (hopefully not for long!) and I know that an annoyance for half-day K teachers is managing all of the name tags needed for the AM session, then PM session. I walked into Mrs. F's room one day and saw that she had used SHARPIE markers to write the names directly on the tables! It looked really neat (blue names for AM kids, pink names for PM kids) on the dark laminate tables; it reminded me of the black dry-erase boards cafes use with brightly-colored markers. (Sorry I didn't take a picture, but I would have felt strange snapping pictures in her room!)

Anyways, after getting over my shock at *gasp* marker on the tables, Mrs. F explained that they were called Sharpie oil-based paint pens and that the ink comes off easily with rubbing alcohol. Not to mention they come in a ton of cool colors and the ink is water-proof, fade-proof, and basically small-child proof.

In my class, I give each student a number (1-6 at each table), which is useful for a variety of things ("number sixes, get the colored pencils for your table! Number threes, get books for your team!"). I think this is originally a GLAD thing.  Anyways, I had stuck those garage-sale dots with their numbers on their name tags. 

As you can imagine, those dots didn't last long. The kids kept pick, pick, picking at them. Or spilled their water on them. Or somehow made them magically disappear. I was tired of replacing them, then having to change them when I moved kiddos to new seats. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head and I ran to Mrs. F's room to borrow one of her paint pens. Voila, problem solved! And the kids were excited to find these numbers the next day. 

Now I'm hooked on my new favorite school supply. :)

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