The Giving Tree.

The Giving Tree.

Aug 31

Well I’m mostly done.  I jetted in this morning for a couple of hours to do some last minute setup tasks and came to the conclusion that I will truly never be ‘done’ so I came home and decided to try and enjoy the long weekend before we hit the ground running next week.

One of the last things I put up today was my ‘Giving Tree’.  I’ve always been a firm believer in sharing group supplies.  I remember being a child and being envious of others ‘fancy’ supplies.  I want my room to feel like more than a community… I want my group to feel like a family.  You share most of the necessary supplies needed for living with your family and so I’ve always shared supplies in my classroom.

I provide most of the supplies myself using whatever school budget I can or searching for those super crazy penny sales in August.  I do always have parents who wonder what to buy for their child or just want to help out.  This year, instead of just typing a ‘Wish List’ – I took a cue from my friend Jamie (another kindergarten teacher friend who came in for an entire day to help me sort and setup) and decided to make a Giving Tree.

Not a super crafty person, I just free cut the tree and leaves and then printed labels with those items I know we’ll be going through tons of all year (tissues, hand sanitizer, glue sticks, and Ziploc bags mostly).

Maybe because I am so craft challenged, but I was so pleased with my little Giving Tree.  I used a small piece of clear tape to affix the leaves so little hands can pick a leaf with their parents.  I’m really tired of setting up and really ready to get down to the business of getting to know my new sprouts and starting the year.