Confessions of a Bag Lady

Being the daughter and granddaughter of two teachers I grew up accustomed to seeing these two lovely ladies sporting the bag lady look.  Don't get me wrong, my mother and grandma are two beautiful women, inside and out, but they'd arrive home weighed down by bags of picture books, papers needed to be graded, lesson plans, beautiful pieces of personalized artwork made by 4-year-olds, remnants of a half-eaten lunch....sound familiar?  Earlier this year, I realized that I too had become a bag lady.  Can we say, yikes!?!?

So, with a fresh new year starting, I figured it was time to clean up my act.  I decided to reorganize my teacher bag and am loving the results! 

First up is my Erin Condren teacher planner and my CCSS flip book.  These both go with me EVERYWHERE! I love how my planner includes my assignment log for students, monthly calendars, and has left space for me to personalize it with lists and log-ins for my class.  The flip book was given to me by my district to use and I love it! All of the standards, vocab, lesson and literature suggestions are all at my fingertips. Winning!

I'm so fortunate to work for a district that invests in technology AND supports teacher use.  On the bottom of this pile is the district iPad in my precious Vera Bradley case.  I seriously cannot get enough of the Folkloric print! The black camera bag also holds the district's camera.  Can you spot my old lady reading glasses? These eyes ain't what they used to be. Sigh.

I also have a serious addiction to buying adorable looking journals and notebooks.  Both of these came from Target and hold my many to do lists and brainstorming ideas.  I love how this one is a collection of different sized note paper.

I was tired of the papers I was grading at home or reading getting wrinkled or bent inside of my bag.  So, I now use this large plastic pocket envelope to store any papers going home with me for the evening.  Inside of the envelope I also slipped a few sheets of some general stickers, should I need one while grading at home.

I was also tired of digging in the bottom of my bag for a paper clip or a pen...UGH! I dug out a small plastic box (it's actually a photo box from Michael's) to store a few pens, Sharpies, highlighters, paper & binder clips, sticky-notes, and a glue stick.  Have you seen Pip-Squeaks by Crayola?? These are new to me and I'm LOVING them! I'm a sucker for anything tiny or min-size! I loving having this mega color pack for grading, doodling, and creating.  These collections allow me to have an array of supplies without cluttering up my bag. 

Ahhhh....it looks so much better! 

Now, keep in mind, I still have a lunch bag, a computer bag, and my purse.  I guess I'm still a bag lady after all, at least I'm a less haggard looking one than before!

What kinds of things do you store in your teacher bag?