As a teacher, you likely receive a budget for classroom supplies each school year. Of course, if you’re like most teachers, the budget you’re given by your school isn’t near enough to cover all the supplies you need in your classroom. And you just love and care about your students so much that you decide to reach into your own pockets to pay for those additional supplies. Of course, by the middle of the school year (if you’re lucky), your students remind you of exactly why you can’t have nice things in your classroom.
They Forget to Put Marker Caps Back On
Those expensive, washable markers you bought to make arts and crafts more enjoyable always seem to end up mysteriously dried-out. More than likely, your students are forgetting to put the caps back on all the way after using them. For ways to upcycle old markers, check out the the pin below!
They Use Sharpies on the Dry Erase Board
Let your students make this mistake once and you’ll learn pretty quickly to keep the permanent markers far out of their reach in the future. Pro tip: you can typically remove permanent marker from a dry erase board by scribbling over it with a dry erase marker, letting it sit for several minutes, and then erasing as usual. If that doesn’t work, the pin below provides other solutions.
They Try to Sharpen Pens
Ugh. Pens in the pencil sharpener. Need we say more? This is just one of many reasons why teachers should always buy their pens in bulk. And make sure you’re only letting your students use the cheaper plastic ones. The fancy ball-point pens are for you!
They Break Every Single Crayon They Touch
It seems there’s always one or two students who are just really rough on the crayons when it comes to coloring. That brand new pack of perfectly sharpened crayons barely gets much use at all before all the best colors are broken in two. But if you look at it on the bright side, now two students can share the same color without arguing, right? Once the pieces become too small to use, reshape them into new ones!
They Inexplicably Jam the Stapler
You keep a stapler on your desk for your students’ convenience, but it seems like you’re constantly having to un-jam it. Even more frustrating is when the student who jammed the stapler doesn’t tell you and instead waits for the next student to try to use it. Interestingly enough, you don’t seem to have this problem when you use the stapler yourself.
via: Giphy
These are just a few of the most common supply-destroying scenarios that play out in classrooms across the nation every single day, so if you can relate to some (or all) of these, at least you know if you’re not alone. And in the meantime, when it comes to stocking up on more supplies without depleting your wallet, check out School Specialty.
