Here are a few tips on how to make your classroom or home teaching area the perfect environment for teaching and learning.

Clean up, Clean up

If you’re beginning the year at school, get your classroom the cleanest it’s ever been. Even if you’re teaching from home, these time-saving tips will help you have your teaching area sparkling and sanitized in no time.

A good old-fashioned scrubbing is always a good place to start. Fill a bucket with hot water and 1 teaspoon of powdered laundry detergent. Grab a microfiber cloth and wipe down walls, baseboards and any other surfaces that need attention. If you’re at school, use sanitizing wipes to clean all shared surfaces such as desks and tables as well as any frequently touched objects such as doorknobs and chairs. If you’re at home, having sanitizing wipes close to your desk or table makes for easy clean up and helps keep the germs away.

Floors are last. Sweeping stirs up dust, so vacuum or use a Swiffer instead. Once that’s finished, give the floors a good once-over with a spin mop. To help prevent the spread of germs in your classroom or home teaching area this year, set a daily cleaning schedule and keep sanitizing wipes and spray close at hand.

Cleaning supplies: Lysol, bleach, Windex, Swiffer, sanitizing wipes, detergent, microfiber cloths, bucket

Make it your own

Put your own personal stamp on your classroom with arts and crafts projects. If you’re teaching from home, you can bring some of that classroom energy and creativity to your teaching space with DIY wall decorations. From poster board and glue sticks to stickers and stencils, we’ve got all the supplies you need to bring any teaching space to life. Start with one of these easy projects to get your creative juices flowing.

Out Of This World Bulletin Board

Goal Board

Craft Supplies: poster board, glue sticks, stickers, markers, construction paper, glitter paper

Get Organized

Whether you’re teaching at school or from your home, a well-organized space makes it easier for you to teach and for students to learn, so make sure you’ve got a place for everything and everything in its place.

Start with your desk. Folders in different colors make it easier to keep up with important papers. Pencil boxes aren’t just for pencils. Use them to hold paper clips, sticky notes, binder clips and other office supplies. Plastic bins with lids are the perfect place to store craft materials, extra books, bulletin board decorations and extra classroom supplies. Keep frequently read favorites in easy reach with baskets of various sizes. If you’re teaching at school, personalized folders for each student can help keep your class organized and on task. If you’re teaching from home, staying organized can eliminate clutter and help you separate work and living spaces.

Organization Supplies: Plastic bins, plastic baskets, pencil boxes, folders

Stock Up

Whether you're teaching at school or from home, making sure you have all your essential supplies on hand means fewer interruptions and more time fr learning. Stock up on frequently used items like dry erase markers, pens, pencils, sticky notes, highlighters and chalk so you can easily grab what you need and keep going.

Classroom Supplies: Dry erase markers, pens, pencils, sticky notes, highlighters, chalk

Whether it’s at school or at home, a teaching area that is clean, decorated, organized and well-stocked lets the most important thing in the room shine – and that’s you! At Dollar General, we appreciate teachers and everything you do, so we wish you a wonderful school year. And as a token of our appreciation, we have a 20% OFF discount just for teachers. Simply show your school ID at checkout.

This school year, you can save even more with our $5 OFF $15 and $5 off $25 DG Digital Coupons. Save on everything you need to start the year off right with DG Digital Coupons. Sign up today by clicking here or just visit the digital coupons gallery on the DG App.