Do you have a friend or family member who is a teacher? This is the time of year when some are reporting for preplanning week or are getting a head start on prepping their classrooms for the upcoming year. If you have some extra time, ask if you can help move furniture, decorate or set-up learning activities/stations. Show them some love by picking up extra school supplies, tissues and disinfecting wipes on your next shopping trip. Unscented hand lotion, baby wipes, cotton swabs, individually wrapped peppermints and a big tub of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) would also be greatly appreciated for the classroom. Gift cards to the teacher’s favorite coffee shop, bookstore, Amazon, Wal-Mart or Target will be also be put to good use.

If you sew, offer to make classroom curtains, the black roll-up curtain (if required) to cover windows by the door, floor pillows for the reading nook, bookmarks, pocket tissue holders, fabric bins, tote bags, seat sacks or even a jelly roll rug. If your teacher friend teaches primary grades (PK-2), how about a set or two of alphabet letters? A pack and a half of charm squares, some batting and a set of 4″ bulletin board letters, plus your sewing machine, will make a fun, tactile learning tool for primary grade learners. Pinking shears, optional!

Personal items for the teacher to sew would be zipper pouches, padded tablet/ipad storage pouch, notebook/journal cover, personalized tote bag, coffee cup sleeves, covers for their “teacher” chair, etc.

Teachers in my local school district reported for teacher preplanning this morning. Traffic was heavier than usual this morning and it took me a minute to remember why. Can you believe school starts next Monday? Hard to believe my last official pre-planning week was in 2021. That seems like another lifetime ago.

I still buy school supplies every year – for use in quilting/sewing activities and for prizes to give out as part of the R.E.A.D. program. It’s the perfect time to stock up on glue sticks, school glue, Sharpie markers, composition notebooks, plus all the small items like stickers, bookmarks, erasers, fancy pencils and cute sharpeners the kids love. For three semesters, I taught storybook arts & crafts at a local homeschool consortium. (I definitely spent some money on school supplies!) Last spring, I stepped away from it to pursue more therapy dog opportunities with Sadie and to teach sewing classes at the SQTM. It was definitely the right move for us.

I spent about $25.00 on school supplies this weekend. Nowhere near the several hundred dollars I used to spend at the beginning of the school year when I was still working full-time! It’s enough to supply prizes for my public library and school based READ programs through fall break.