Teacher Aprons

Ever since I started teaching primary languages in 2009 I have taught in a different room every session.  I've tried several different ways of storing and carrying round my belongings, in particular my stationery.  In February last year I caught a discussion in a Facebook group about teacher aprons, and investigated!

I made one (the grey and green one at the bottom of this picture) and tried it out at my schools, and was immediately sold on the idea - why hadn't I tried this before?!  They are a very handy way of carrying around your stationery and other small pieces of equipment and always having them to hand.

Since the new regulations came in, I have been mindful of cross-contamination between my schools.  Therefore I've made two new ones so that I have one for each school.

I use them to carry around a pen (4 coloured Bic), pencil, rubber, pencil sharpener, board markers, glue stick, scissors, sticky notes, marking stampers, my whistle, USB, a small bottle of hand sanitiser and, last but not least, my ID on the keyring.

If you're interested in making your own, I used this pattern.

What will be in your pencil case?

Good afternoon from the US of A, where I have just been to Super Target to buy groceries.  Because of the time of year, there is also a large Back to School section in said hypermarket, which, of course, I had to have a look round.  There were various local families there with their stationery lists, gathering supplies for the coming school year.

I picked up this school supply shopping list, which, as you can see, is in Spanish.  Our students would find this interesting to look at.  They could use their bilingual dictionaries to find out what the American children have to have for school.  Most of these things are provided for UK students by their schools.  There is also an interesting cultural angle.  Why is a shopping list in the USA printed in Spanish as well as English?