My back-to-school list

As I sit here in my backyard on a gorgeous afternoon in which I should be enjoying, all I can think about is starting my planning.  A week from now, maybe two, I will probably be wishing I was sitting in my backyard again on a gorgeous afternoon NOT thinking about work.  I can almost guarantee that's exactly what will happen.  Enjoying the remaining time off seems so secondary right now.

So while I sit here contemplating either finishing laundry or cleaning the house, looking through a Scholar' Choice catalogue and making my list seems higher priority. Which leads to the point of my post: MY required teacher items list for the start of the new school years.  I've got five favourites, let's see if they match with yours.

1. Mr. Sketch scented markers: regardless if I have some remaining ones from the previous year, I will go out and buy a new set for the new  year.  I love the idea of new, sharp-tipped markers.  I love how they each individually smell like heaven.  I love how they feel when I write with them.
2. Weekly + Monthly Planner book:  I blame this on when I was going to elementary and highschool because they make you write in your agenda everyday on what homework you have for the night, tests coming up, etc. and literally isn't a habit you can break out of too quick.  Which is the reason why I end up buying a grown-up version every year still.  Usually about half way through the year though, I actually stop using this and end up resorting to my cellphone's calendar instead.  But for some real reason, every September, I feel like I need one of these.  I always feel like this big agenda book will keep everything organized in my life and I will always have it on hand.  However, the schedule gets full of meetings and events, it starts to get left behind either at work or at home.  Then I'll try to remind myself to bring it.  Then I'll try to remind myself to "add to it" when I get home.  Then I just forget about it. 
3. Reloaded Starbuck's card:  As much as I'm excited to be getting back to work and into a routine, getting up in the morning during the first couple of weeks isn't an issue.  However, that's only temporary because I know eventually it will be.  When it does, I like to be prepared.  I like to have a safety net for my morning fuel.  So in case I'm running late or just lazy, I'm headed to the 'bucks.. prepared.
4. New hand cream, new lip gloss:  I like to have new hand cream, simply just because.  As teachers and caregivers, we all know how much we wash our hands and how dry they can get.  Now luckily for me, they definitely don't get as dry as others, but I still like having some cream around.  Lip gloss?  Well that's for my afternoon classes.  By lunch, I definitely don't look the way I did for my morning groups.  So I feel like having a new tube of lip gloss makes me seem like I still care about how I look to my pm-ers.
5. A new pack of stickers: Especially on the first day, the best way to win to a preschooler's heart is through stickers.  You give them a sticker, it's hook, line, and sinker.  Every year I have my standard stickers that I give out on a weekly basis, but I also like to keep my sticker box diverse.  Scholar's Choice always has a good variety to choose from so every year I go pick out some new "cool" ones.  Last year I was all about cartoon owls.  This year, I think it's going to be the coloured monsters from TREND. 

So far, I only have two of the five ready.  By the end of this week, I'll be fully stocked and ready to go.

Guilt is now starting to set in as I think about the laundry again.  I guess I know what I'm doing after this post.  Enjoy your first day back teachers!