Staples pencil boxes

Ok, so about the staples pencil boxes...I bought 8 of them instead of the 25 I could've purchased. I really don't think they're that great at all...very poor quality even. If you went to the sale, did you buy the pencil boxes? Are you using them for something special or just to give kids that didn't bring a pencil box? I guess I'm just going to give them to kids that for whatever reason didn't bring a pencil box.

 

I am putting them in my treasure box. I figure for .01- they can be cheapy. Hopefully the pencils aren't! Anyone sharpened any yet?

 

I did buy them, I have 30. I will use them to replace the carboard boxes that came with my school catalog order of colored pencils, those things fell apart the first time I opened them. So they will be in the kids group supplies bucket. I will use quite a few to oraganize my pens etc in my drawers so I don't have a huge mess. I will have a few for students that need them. But since I am using them for what I am I think the quality will be good enough.

 

Same here. I'm going to buy a bunch of those and the pencil sharpeners and putting them in my student store. Yeah, I thought those were cheap looking, so I didn't get any. I'm going back tomorrow to get a whole bunch.

 

LOL! Funny you should mention that. I sharpened one with one of the sharpeners I bought. It sharpened nicely. I guess that's a good sign. They are definitely better than the dollar store pencils I bought.

 

Good idea! Hmm! Maybe I'll have to go back and buy more now!

 

We are all addicted to these sales throughly now, you know that don't you?????

Where do we go for a 1cent and 10 cent sale interventions?

 

I don't pay attention to how a pencil sharpens although we did have a few last year that were worthless. I pay atten to the erasers. Are they any good?

I only bought 4 pencil boxes. I bought 2 for my older kids and 2 for my baby (almost 4). It kept him quiet.

I might get more and donate the them to the school positive reward store. Who knows.

 

Some teachers on one of my yahoo groups mentioned they were going to use the pencil cases for stations/center materials.....so now I'm trying to think outside of the box. What are some creative ways we could use these???

Rumor also had it that Target had pocket charts for a dollar....anyone seen this??

 

*Gasp* I didn't see ANY pocket charts at Target but that doesn't mean there weren't any.

 

It is supposed to be in the front section. Most stores do not have them out yet- will be put out once what they already has clears out. I believe those items will go 75% off tomorrow- have my fingers crossed, which will leave space for the good stuff (the teacher items!!!)

I wish I had thought of the center idea. Guess I can keep the ones I bought instead of putting them in the treasure box. They could hold flash cards too (smaller ones), or cards for pocket charts. Perhaps vocabulary cards too (if you put them on index cards. Could also hold smaller manipulatives like dice and/or game pieces.

 

I will use at least one of them to keep my erasers in. I didn't buy any pencil sharpeners or pencils though. I don't allow those types of sharpeners in the room. Too messy. I will wait until the papermate pencils go on sale at Wal-Mart.

 

Our target had summer $1 on 50% clearance today. But it was all pretty empty so I'll keep going back to see what they add. They were just starting to put out some teacher things- name tages and stickers.

Today I bought:
all the staples sale stuff- $6 with $3.29 rebate= less than $3
buy 1 get 1 free mechanical pencil pkgs (48 total) @Office Max= $6
2 kids books, 2 puzzles, bucket & shovel, and 24 reward pencils @ Target= $4.50

Plus yesterday I went to the mall, got 2 pairs of pants, regularly $50 each for $10 and $15, and $20 worth of bath & body works stuff for $6

I am the queen shopper!

 

I bought the pencil boxes and plan to give them to my students to use as "wallets" for the money they earn for good behavior and doing class jobs. I figured for one cent, they were worth it!

 

I may go for it because I am having my students store items away from others this year (on the cubby shelf) to prevent theft. (Ick, I know, theft in fourth grade. :-| )

So... what is going to happen with the Target sale? Sounds exciting! I haven't ventured over there yet.

 

Of the two Targets near me, only one had teacher stuff out, but this was back on Thursday. But I got 4 pocket charts for $1 each. They are more like scheduling charts and come in like 5 different colors.

 

How big are these pocket/scheduling charts? For a dollar?! Wow!

My Target today only had things like flashcards and workbooks (for young, young students).

 

Maybe today to conquer boredom, I'll venture to Target. One is 5-10 minutes away, the next is about 20 minutes away, and a really nice one is about 30 minutes away with a toll road. Yet that's the Super Target and the one that's most likely to have things out.

 

Let's not forget they were 1 cent each!! I think they are cute- sturdy for the long haul? banging around, abuse? no...but in a center or to organize colored pencils and the like I say BRING 'EM ON!!

 

I bought 25 of the pencil boxes and filled each one with 16 pencils (I bought 50 pkgs) I am going to label each box with a student's name and place all the pencil boxes in a special bucket. When it is time for cursive handwriting pratice the students will have a good pencil to use. I plan on buying more pencils this week so I can keep refilling the boxes. The student may also take a pencil if they can't find one when it's test or quiz time.

 

Sigh... I went first thing this morning to get those, and they were out already! I wanted to get a whole bunch for my student store. Oh well. I got a TON of pencil sharpners, though, for my student store.

 

Wal-Mart usually has pencil boxes exactly the same type as the Staples ones. I didn't see the quality of the Staples ones, because they were all out at my store. If you usually wait till after school starts, you can buy the Wal-mart ones for $.25 a piece. I bought some a couple of years ago and am still using the same ones still. The quality is very good with the Wal-mart ones.

 

I think the quality is fine. I might have them use them to store vocab or spelling words on small cards. My Staples had boxes and boxes of file folders and pencil cases.

 

Yay!! I just went back and they had more!! I just got 30 for my student store!

 

I saw pocket charts for $10 at target but not $1. I was VERY disappointed.

 

Up in the very front in the dollar section? Perhaps you were looking in the wrong place. They do have pocket charts in the school supply section for that price, but they are different. Like it says above, the 1.00 ones are kind of like the scheduling pocket charts. HTH you

 

Two ideas.

You can make them homework kits for students to check out if they don't have supplies needed for homework or a home project: pencil, highlighter, crayons, gluestick, scissors

You can make them toolboxes reading workshop for students to hold post its, wikki stix, highlighter, word frame, pointer, etc. for independent reading, or they can bring with them for guided reading.

 

You all have great ideas for these. Czacza, you are right, they were only 1 cent, I just wondered what I was going to do with them. Thanks for all the suggestions/ideas.

 

How are you buying so many of these pencil boxs, pencils, and sharpeners? Aren't they only a limit of three per customer? How much are they above 3?

 

Umm, Terrence, we are brining friends, family, going to more than one store, going in more than once, and taking advantage that some of the stores are allowing teachers 15 items per trip.

 

I went to Target today and got the pocket charts they are 26 in X 16 in; I plan to use them for Vocabulary, I think they are definietly worth it for a dollar.

Target also had grade books and planning books in the $1 area; the planning books are not that great (unless you only plan for one subject) but the grade book is good. They also had workbooks, stickers, name tags, stickers, hall passes, other odds and ends.

 

My staples said that they had been given a memo from corporate saying teachers had a limit of 15 instead of 3. All three staples I went to in Nashville said the same thing.

 

I am jealous. The staples that I went to only allowed me 3 pencil boxes, 3 packages of pencils, 3 glues, ten folders, and 3 pencil sharpeners. I did have my husband and son buy a few items. The closest Staples is over 35 minutes away and with the price of gas is not worth the trip there unless I have other errands. But I did call all of my teacher friends.

 

Went back to Staples today to get more of the pencils (they sharpen really well) and the folders. Today they didn't set a limit. She just rang them up 15 at a time. I think it was due to the fact that I was in early (before 8) and they weren't that busy. Could have also had something to do with the fact that the manager wasn't hanging over the registers.

Now go back to wal-mart and get a couple of more cases of the notebooks for center journals and I think I am actually finished. Can't believe I am done a week and a half before Pre-planning starts (July 20).

 

The staples closet to my house said there was no such corporate memo and no one should have been doing that. I just went to the one the next town over and got the 15 there....while my son, nephew and friend got their 3 each!

 

My staples didn't seem to have a limit. I also used 2 of my $3 off coupons (from bringing in ink cartridges) which was great.

 

That's a good idea. I was just going to give them envelopes for their wallets, but I like this idea much better. I only got 3 pencil boxes since that was all my Staples had left. I'm going to go to some more Staples tomorrow. There are like 5 Staples within 15 miles of my house!

 

WWWWaaaaahhhhh! I want a Staples in my town!!!!
LOL
Okay, so I don't have a Staples here. That's okay. My hubby had to make a trip from here to south of Houston, and there just happens to be a Staples store right off of the road as he goes down there and as he comes back. He went in today and spent I think $6. They were out of some things, and he had to abide by the limits, but that's not a problem to me. He's going to do it again tomorrow on his way home, too! Gotta love helpful hubbies!

 

Our town's Staples has a limit of 15 for teachers while the next town over has grouches who told me their limit for us is 9.

What's funny is that the cashier there asked me when I purchased the .1 folders- "How many do you have- 20?"

"No, I have 15," I answered, thinking Heck, she'd let me get away with 20??? Let me grab 5!!!!.

"Okay," she responded gleefully.

She continued ringing up a few items until she got to the pencil sharpeners. She immediately FROWNED and grumbled, "Our store has a limit of 9. You must let me take the other 6."

Make up your mind!!!

By the way, I think both stores are out of the pencil boxes. I never saw them.

 

Our Staples had them VERY briefly on Tuesday. I happened to be in the store when they were unpacking the newly arrived boxes, so I snatched 30. Today, they were all out again. BUT, they did make the other pencil boxes that were .99 only .01. So, I got 30 of those too!!!