Some new resources

I try not to spend a lot of money on resources. As a TTOC I don't know what grade level or subject area I will eventually end up in, so I try not to spend a lot of money on resources, but today at the BCTF New Teachers Conference there were some items I had to have.

At Artel's table, I bought some new smelly stickers. Smelly stickers are "My thing" I love them and give them out, usually in students agenda books, when I go into TTOC. Students love them and I often hear from their classroom teachers how much they love my smelly stickers. I am stocked up for after Spring Break with some cool new scents such as banana, bubblegum, apple, popcorn, blueberry, peach, tutti frutti and even DIRT!!

Barefoot Books had a table and I got a new book with cd Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".

This book is amazing. It has a c.d. done by Fred Penner and the book explores how children from Mali, Europe, India and China do their morning routines. It's a great way to explore other cultures, morning routines, and music. They had some other great books, but again, on a TTOC budget I probably over spent... but there were a lot of free resources I got too... but I will get to that.

Lastly, bought yoga pretzel cards. I am so excited to use these in the classroom as well as at home.

My daughter loves yoga and as a TTOC I have done chair aerobics with classes, but think these fun yoga cards will be very useful. I am also ways looking for new DPA activities that I can do when I go in for a day with a new class.

Speaking of DPA acticvities, Action Schools BC was there and had a ton of amazing resources. This is the bag, books and bean bags they gave me:

They also did a workshop and everyone got an amazing kit with even more resources. I plan to book them for TTOCs in my local. Everyone gets a bag of stuff and leaves with a ton of ideas to use in the classroom - it is so great for TTOCs. I can't wait!

Some other free resources I got include:

From BC Art Teachers' Association - Collections of Lesson Ideas in spiral bound books.

From the BC Socials Studies Teachers' Association - a large map, a ton of handouts and lesson plan ideas.

From FAST (Fighting Antisemitism Together) - 'Choose Your Voice' Teacher's Guide and dvd

From Parks Canada - a number of resources and pamphlets for field trips and class games and projects.


From Poetry in Voice - 'Recitation Contest' Teacher's Guide with some absolutely amazing lesson plans and examples as well as details on preparing for the poetry competition. I strongly encourage you to check out their website: Poetry in Voice.

From CPF (Canadian Parents for French) - posters and pamphlets, which I especially enjoyed as my daughter is in French Immersion.

From the BCSCA (BC School Counsellors' Association) - stress relief squeeze "hearts" and 'Friends for Life' workbooks which I have used before and absolutely love using with students.

There was a lot more but I don't recall which tables and I don't have the items close enough at the moment to look through but a usb flash drive, pens, pencils, and a lot of lesson plan one-pagers. So useful!

I honestly hope more new teachers and TTOCs consider going to the BCTF New Teachers' Conference again next year - It was absolutely amazing!

Read more about the conference here.