Are you getting ready to go back to school? Many educators in the U.S. just finished teaching only a few weeks ago but in some places, teachers go back to school at the end of July. If you have started thinking about what you'll need to get your classroom ready for the beginning of the school year, it's a good thing Amazon Prime Day is happening July 16 – 17, 2024.
This blog post tells you how to get ready for it and offers links to materials and supplies you'll probably want to have in your classroom. Each link is to a general page on Amazon that shows all kinds of items in that product category. Products are for both teacher and student use.
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| Some of the items available on Amazon; graphic created by The ESL Nexus |
(Please note that the links below are affiliate links. That means I make a small commission if you purchase anything after clicking on them but it's at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!)
Getting Ready for Amazon Prime Day
Signing Up
To take advantage of Prime Day deals, you need an Amazon Prime account. Just sign up here to get a free 30-day trial. After that, you can pay monthly or yearly. If for some reason you don't want to continue after your free trial ends, just cancel and you won't be charged.
5 Benefits of Amazon Prime
Click on the green links for more info.
* Free shipping on items you purchase – regardless of the price of the item.
* Prime Video – watch some movies and TV shows for free or which aren't available anywhere else.
* Kindle Unlimited – read books from Amazon's online library, including books not available elsewhere.
* Audible Premium Plus – listen to audiobooks for the first 3 months for free.
* Amazon Music – get your first 5 months free.
How to Shop on Amazon Prime Day
Actually, there are 2 days so I don't know why it's called Amazon Prime Day. Unless it's because the first time they did it, it was just for 1 day.
Anyway, after you've signed up, you'll want to go to the webpage where all the deals are listed. There, you can scroll down the page and through the categories to find what you're looking for. But if you're only interested in Back to School supplies, you can find lots of ideas in the section below.
It's helpful to create a wish list where you can put in one place everything you're interested in. In case you've never created a wish list before, when you find something you want, you'll see a small box that says "Add to Wish List" under the section at the right of your screen with the info about buying an item. Click the "Add to Wish List" button, then click the plus sign to create a list and click the yellow button to actually make it, and lastly, tap the name of your list to add the item you're looking at to that list. Repeat with all the other things you're thinking of buying.
Before and during Prime Day, you can refer to this list to see if the price has changed on any of your selections. If a price has decreased, then you should probably buy it quickly because you never know when the cost might go up or if the item will sell out and become unavailable.
Back to School Supplies for Teachers
To save you some time, below are 12 categories of Back to School supplies. Instead of specific items, each link takes you to the first of several webpages offering products in that category. This way, you can choose the items that will work best for your own teaching situation. Just click on the green links to go to those webpages.
* Flip Charts
Write lesson objectives, vocabulary lists, timelines, and word webs and mind maps you display to your students, or have students use them for work they display to their classmates.
* Expo Markers
These are perfect for writing on whiteboards.
* Other Markers
Use these for posters and flip charts you make or give them to students to use in their projects.
* Notebooks
Give notebooks to your students for their classwork and homework. They can use 1 notebook for taking notes and doing writing tasks in class. Students can use a different notebook for vocabulary work so they can keep it all in the same place and easily refer back to it.
* Pocket Folders
Help students stay organized with folders! Give each student 2 folders: 1 for class work that stays in school and 1 for homework so it never gets misplaced. You can let students choose what colors they want or give the same color to everyone for their classwork and a different color for their homework. If you teach multiple subjects, you can color-coordinate that way, with each subject getting their own color.
* Sticky Notes
Perfect for your own notes you make about your lessons and also to send home with positive news about your students' work. Students can use them to take notes when reading novels and textbooks.
* Pens
You'll want to have a stash of these on hand to write comments on your students' work as well as write notes home to families, fill out forms, and write up lesson plans if you do them by hand.
* Pencils
It's so easy for students to lose pencils so having a supply on hand is helpful.
* Index Cards
There are so many uses for them! You can use them to label objects in your classroom for Multilingual Learners of English, create vocabulary flashcards for playing Concentration or Charades, list historical events that students have to put in order, and write questions and answers to help students prepare for tests. Students can use them to take notes for research projects, to make their own flashcards, and to create their own study guides.
* Scissors
If your students are making models or doing any kind of project, they will probably need scissors to cut things. And you'll need scissors if, for example, you've created printables that duplicate a text on the same page or you need to cut sentence strips apart.
* Glue Sticks
If you or your students are creating things, gluing pieces together may be necessary.
* Printer Paper
If your school doesn't supply you with paper, or if you run out, here are lots of options.
Good luck scoring great deals during Amazon Prime Day!