Fantastic Freebies for Your Classroom!!

I just love freebies! Today, I'm going to share one way that I've gotten some great, high quality freebies for my classroom.

You know those envelopes you get in your school mailbox from Highlights Magazine with the little yellow slips of paper that they want you to send home with your students? DO THIS! DON'T trash them! I have gotten magnets, pointers, stickers, notepads, sticky notes, FREE subscriptions to Highlights...but my all time favorite was the pack of reading highlighters that I got for FREE, simply by sending home those yellow slips of paper, and getting them back with a parent's signature.

Do whatever you have to do to get those slips back. I put a big X where the parent needs to sign, and I tell my kids that I don't care if their parents order or not, just bring that paper back with a signature! I share the free magazine with my students, then put it on my bookshelf with the others, so they can peruse it at their leisure. I also show them all the freebies I've gotten, because previous students have done exactly what I'm asking them to do! To ensure that the slip is seen by parents, I attach it to the top of the papers that I send home to get signed. I have also (on occasion) told my students that if they bring it back signed, they can use it as a homework pass.

I almost always get them all, or mostly all, back signed. Some even sign up for a subscription. If three parents sign up, you get additional freebies! You can enter all of your information online as well, so it's easy-peasy to do! It does take a little time (that we have so much of) but believe me, it is worth it.

Back to those highlighters I mentioned earlier. They are awesome. I'm a big fan of color. I'm a big fan of novelty. The brain loves both, and this thing combines them! I bring them out with much fanfare at the beginning of the year. We talk about how we must not bend them, so they will last. They have lasted two years so far. They don't go home. Students can make their own for home use by cutting a strip of those colorful transparent binder dividers that you can find at any office supply store. I love these because they allow students to focus on the line that we are reading. It keeps them engaged in the text, and helps them to not skip lines when they are reading. They love using them, and they don't let me forget to bring them out. I even have to go down the roll, so each child has a turn passing them out!

And no, the magazine did not contact me to blog about this, or offer me any additional freebies. I'm a new blogger; they don't even know who I am. ;-) But if they were to see this, I would welcome any and all freebies they had to offer! ;-) I'm easy like that.