I am a special education teacher and I teach eighth-grade inclusion.  Which means I co-teach five classes with three different teachers.  Because of this, I am very rarely in my classroom and have to travel with a lot of belongings.  I thought I would share with you a glimpse into what I keep in my teacher bag and why I travel with it!

My Planner

I am obsessed with my Erin Condren teacher planner.  I use it to keep my life organized.  Since I am not the content area teacher, I don’t keep a curriculum plan in my planner because each teacher I co-teach with has it in theirs.  What I do, is I keep track of who was absent in each class, what we covered and what the homework was.  This allows me to remember what was going on to keep kids up to date with any missing work.

Pencils

I constantly have students that don’t have pencils.  Sometimes I give the same student three or four pencils in a day.  But, I decided a long time ago that this was not a battle that I was going to fight.  I will keep buying pencils and giving them out.  I prefer to find cheap, mechanical pencils.  I find the mechanical ones because my students are constantly killing time by repeatedly going to the pencil sharpener.  With mechanical pencils, there is no reason for them to need to!

I probably spend a ridiculous amount of money every year in pencils, but for the students whose parents have a hard time affording school supplies, I feel like it’s worth it.

Erasers

As is with pencils, my students never have erasers.  Or they have a great pencil but the eraser broke off.  Instead of students taking the time to leave class to go to their lockers and get themselves a new pencil or eraser; I keep a bunch in my bag so that they can get one without missing instruction time.

Glue Sticks

No matter how many glue sticks that my students start the year with, they are always out by Christmas.  I seriously wonder sometimes how it happens!  I always keep a few handy because two of the teachers I work with use student notebooks that they have to tape or paste things into so they are constantly needing glue sticks.

Lip Balm

You may have arrived at this point on the list and think that I’m crazy.  Well, this one is for me NOT the kids.  I would never share my lip balm with students!!!  But, being away from my classroom for so long, there are certain things that I carry with me because I need them throughout the day and I don’t want to have to run back to my office in the middle of class.  This is my favorite lip balm, although a little pricey, so I keep it safe!

 

There are a ton of other knick-knacks that I keep in my bag but these are just some of my essentials.

Also, check out:

Guiding Successful Paraprofessionals

Positive Reinforcers for Middle School Students

The Ultimate Guide to Co-Teaching eBook!

 

 

Check it Out!

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