Dollar Store Treasures- You have my heart...

You know those stores that you shop at so much that they start to know you by name, profession, coffee order etc? Well I have a few of those. The first being Dunkin Donuts. Although my heart will always belong to Starbucks because they were there for me during college when I was writing my thesis, Dunkin Donuts is filling that void because there isn't a regular Starbucks here in Dover, DE. Whomp- Whomp.

Every morning I get large black coffee and an egg white flatbread sandwich....every. morning. It started out just as a quick breakfast when I was running late, but now it is every. morning. It's ridiculous. They now know me by name, know I'm a teacher, know the license plate of my car (which is kind of strange and led to a conversation at the drive through window), they know I'm running late if I get to DD any later than 6:20am, and they definitely know my order. They also know that my order will change to iced coffee once it warms up outside.  This weekend I am going to try and make an "at home" version of the flatbread because this routine is getting expensive! You wonder why I crank out so many clipart sets to sell! 

The other store where they know me by name is....the Dollar Store. There is a Dollar Store right around the corner from me and it's deadly to my wallet. I'm sure many teachers can relate. However, when I see all the dollar treasures that I find, I forget about that :)

I made a trip to the Dollar Store a couple weeks ago and hit a jackpot (in my mind) and just never got around to taking pictures to share. So here they are! Prepare to get excited :)

These little sparkle clusters were in the gift wrapping section but the lime green and blue are PERFECT for my room! They are flat on the bottom so I am going to staple them to the corners of a bulletin board because I think they are ADORABLE! Nothing like a little lime green and blue sparkle in life :)

They come in packs of two for a dollar :)

My next exciting find was some bins. Hello, my name is Krista, and I have a bin problem. I really do. But let's be honest, teachers need bins! It's the only thing that will keep everything I buy at the Dollar Store organized! Although I have cut back on the amount of bins I buy (the reason being that I have most of everything I own already in a bin), I found these green bins and had to pick them up!

They are a great size because they are very wide and deep. They would make great turn-in bins because they don't scrunch the sides of papers, they are wide enough for notebooks and plenty of room to have a whole stack of them in there. Also, they are going to be great for putting out center materials because I can fit a manilla envelop in there and then any extra playing pieces of manipulatives that go along with the activity. Have I justified buying these yet? :) They are sturdy too- some Dollar Bins are pretty thin and can crack- not these babies!

I have saved the best for last....and if you have already discovered these and I am just late to the game, please don't crush my excitement :) I found the most precious little finger trackers for beginning readers....

Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I just about died when I saw them (it was icing on the cake that they were green and blue which matched my classroom haha) My finger is huge compared to a kindergartener or first graders, so I could only get it on the tip of my finger. How perfect to have them finger track while they read and make the eyeballs "LOOK" at the words! Even though I know my third graders won't be using these, the first grade teacher inside me from last year couldn't pass them up, so I bought enough for a reading group of firsties....

They come in a bag like this:

There are SOOO many ways I could use these suckers! I love that they are called "finger spies" because then I could do a quick phonics game in small groups, too. To review vowels sounds or word chunks I could say, "I spy a word on this page that has a short "e" sound" and the kiddos would have to use their little finger spies to find and point to a word. They could also do this in partner pairs. I was also thinking they would be great for story retells, mini theaters, mini lessons on dialogue between characters....have I justified this purchase? haha 

I have many more things to blog about but I'll try and divide it up into posts so this isn't a marathon post like I sometimes do. I'll leave you with a few ink drawings of the clipart I'll be working on this weekend....I am finishing up a Police Squad Kids set and "hopping" right on to my easter/spring sets. I just can't get enough of this little bunny critter!