When I left the classroom, I got rid of almost everything. I left a bunch in my classroom, but I made sure to have the chemistry teachers pick through it. (I wasn’t leaving behind half filled notebooks – trust me, I hate that as much as you do!)
A few items came home with me, but not many. At the time, I truly believed I was done teaching. Now, every once in a while, I think about what I’d do if someone handed me the keys to a chemistry classroom tomorrow. Back to school season makes me very nostalgic!
I’d basically be starting from scratch, so I think about what KELSEY would need to get started again. It may surprise you, as the self proclaimed Glitter Queen, but it’s not a fancy classroom theme, color-coordinated bins, or a giant Amazon haul. The internet can make it seem like you need thousands of dollars’ worth of supplies before students ever walk through the door. The truth is, you don’t.
Most of the expensive classroom necessities should come from your science department or your school budget. As teachers, we shouldn’t feel pressured to furnish our classrooms out of our own pockets. If I had to start over tomorrow, these are the ten things I’d make sure were in my classroom on Day 1.
1. A Complete Chemistry Curriculum
This one probably isn’t a surprise. The biggest source of stress for me wasn’t decorating my room or finding the perfect storage containers. It was figuring out what I was teaching tomorrow. Teaching now, versus being 23 years old means my life is very different. Every minute spent in the school building where I’m unpaid is stealing time from my family. I assure you, I wouldn’t be planning after the bell!
A complete curriculum gives you a roadmap for the entire year. Instead of spending every evening hunting down worksheets from five different websites, you can spend your time actually helping students learn.
Of course, I’d use the curriculum I created because it’s exactly what I wished I’d had during my own early years in the classroom. But regardless of which curriculum you choose, I’d recommend finding one cohesive resource rather than piecing together hundreds of unrelated activities. It’s a nightmare, and you do so much of it off the clock.
2. A Lab Manual (and the Supplies to Go With It)
Chemistry without labs just isn’t chemistry. The good news is that beakers, chemicals, goggles, and other lab supplies should almost always come from your department budget, not your personal wallet. What I would personally want to have ready on day one is a well-organized lab manual with labs that fit the sequence of my curriculum. That way I’m not scrambling to reinvent experiments the night before. I’d be making sure my science department had everything I needed!
3. A Teacher Emergency Kit
This might be the least glamorous item on the list, but it might also be the most important.
Mine would include:
- Hairbrush & ponytails
- Mouthwash
- Lip balm
- Headache medicine
- Deodorant
- Chocolate (for those days)
- Extra phone charger
- Phone numbers of all the important people I may need to call if my phone died, my husband, babysitter/daycare etc.
- A complete change of clothes
Let’s be honest… chemistry teachers have a higher chance than most of needing a backup outfit after a lab accident. Hopefully you’ll never need it, but you’ll be really glad it’s there if you do.
4. Student Whiteboards and Dry-Erase Markers
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I love student whiteboards. They’re one of the fastest ways to check understanding, and high school kids still fall for the gimmick.
Instead of asking, “Does everyone get it?” (and getting a room full of nodding heads), every student has to commit to an answer.
They’re perfect for:
- Predicting products
- Balancing equations
- Lewis structures
- Dimensional analysis
- Quick review games (my favorite way to use them!)
They’re inexpensive (based on how long they should last), reusable, and one of the highest-impact classroom purchases you can make. Your school should be willing to pay for these. Maybe it’s “too expensive” for your classroom, but you can share it with the whole department and “sign them out.” That’s definitely more annoying, but it’ll keep you from coming out of pocket.
5. Colored Pencils
Not because chemistry needs to be colorful. Because color helps students organize information.
We used colored pencils constantly for:
- Particle diagrams
- Bohr models
- Electron movement
- Periodic trends
- Highlighting important information in notes
Students naturally use color to organize ideas, and chemistry has plenty of abstract concepts that become easier to understand with visual representations. Plus I have a lot of color by number activities that I’ve purchased from TPT over the years. I love them for “chill” days that I find we need sometime in chemistry, or even for sub plans. I’ve link the Crayola Classpack, but at BTS time, it honestly might be cheaper to get 30 packs of colored pencils instead. Watch the prices!
6. A Personal Laminator
I’m very much on team: print it once, laminate once, use it for 10 years. Your school may have a laminator, but they are usually very thin. I like the sturdiness that comes with a personal laminator. It absolutely means coming out of pocket and the sheets can get expensive! But to me, it’s worth it. It’s something that I do while watching Netflix at home in my jammies, so it doesn’t feel like it takes up any time. I laminate things like:
- Task cards
- Gallery walks
- Classroom signs
- Reference materials
7. A Giant Box of Red Pens
I know some schools have moved away from them (I assume green or purple will eventually be the “naughty” color) but I still love using one color for peer grading.
Getting these at back to school will run you just a few dollars, but it’s AMAZING to use in class. It saves you time on grading. Students become less self conscious the more you do it. (It overall reduces stakes in your classwork and helps ensure students care about LEARNING more than they care about the grade.)
When everyone is using the same color, it’s easy to tell what students corrected during class and what they originally wrote. I’d probably buy a box of 50 and never think about red pens again for several years.
8. The “Blue Meanie” Pencil Sharpener
Every teacher has that one oddly specific classroom tool they swear by. Mine is the Blue Meanie X-ACTO pencil sharpener. It sharpens colored pencils beautifully, lasts forever, and somehow survives middle and high school students. I loved my so much it was one of the few things that came home with me. I’d probably bring mine back and buy a new one for my house. Mine has sharpened colored pencils with no problem. A few pens have even made it in there…
9. Composition Books and Glue Sticks
Interactive notebooks completely changed how I organized my chemistry class. Students weren’t juggling loose papers all year. Instead, they built their own reference book one lesson at a time.
Composition books are inexpensive, durable, and stay together much better than spiral notebooks. #teamcompositionbook
And yes…you’re going to need a lot of glue sticks. Ideally, your school would pay for this. If you have a student supply list, I’d require each student to have 8-10 glue sticks for the year.
10. Good Office Tools
These aren’t exciting purchases. I’m sure your school will give you a stapler and hole punch, but if I didn’t have the “good stuff” I’d probably spring for it myself. It just saves me the frustration, and should hold up for a few years
I’d immediately buy:
- A sturdy Swingline hole punch
- A heavy duty Swingline stapler in a bright, easy to find color
- A quality paper trimmer (I have a plastic guillotine trimmer, but I’d love to upgrade to a wood one)
- Scissors (chain them to the desk 😅)
- A notebook or notepad to keep my “these would have been on a post it and would have fallen on the floor, collected dust, lost their stickiness, and I forgot what it said” notes
- Colored pens for grading, I prefer InkJoy Gels. They’re expensive, but they’re my gift to myself every BTS season
Bonus Items
Paper Storage
If my classroom budget allowed for a few extras, I’d also pick up the paper sized sterilite drawers. (You can usually get these cheap at Walmart or Target at BTS Season). I love these for organizing my Pass Back papers by class. You need some way to organize these papers. Binder clips work pretty well. If I was keeping my budget really tight, I’d just use the lids to copy paper boxes. They work just fine, you can wrap them in pretty paper, or paint them to jazz them up a bit too. I’m sure the art teacher can spare an ounce or two of acrylic paint.
Rainbow Photo Storage Boxes
If you use task cards, card sorts, or other small activities, these storage boxes are amazing. Usually you can get them at Michael’s with a teacher coupon, or get them on sale. Don’t pay $40 for them. They’re not worth more than $20.
Everything stays organized, students can grab what they need quickly, and cleanup becomes much easier. I saved mine and keep my garden seeds in them now.
A Keurig or Electric Kettle
I’ve used the kettle plenty of time to warm up water for a quick demo in chemistry. I also use it for making myself a cup of tea or instant coffee. There are even times I will bring in styrofoam cups and hot cocoa packets for my students. It’s nice to have!
I have my Keurig leftover from my teaching days. It’s been collecting dust. In my area, there’s about 50 of them on FB Marketplace, so it’ll just sit in my closet a bit longer, until somebody I know is looking for one. But if I went back to teaching, you can bet I’d stick that thing in my classroom for a 2PM pick me up!
I also like to keep a REAL mug in my room, dish soap, and a Teacher Only Food Safe Sponge for keeping my mug clean. If you’re a tea, coffee, or cocoa drinker, if you have the space, you can keep your Teacher Appreciation gifted mugs in your classroom without cluttering your kitchen at home. Plus your students like to see their gifts actually being used!
What Isn’t on My List
You may have noticed what’s missing.
- Flexible seating
- “Aesthetic” classroom décor (keep me away from sad beige, bring on the COLOR!)
- Custom bulletin boards (I like handwritten formulas stapled to the board, similar to giant reference table)
- Designer teacher carts (unless you move around the building, that’s a different story)
- LED lights (though I did string leftover Christmas lights in the classroom I had with no windows to make it a bit homier)
None of those things make students better at chemistry. If those things bring you joy and fit within your budget, that’s wonderful! But don’t feel like you need them before you’re “ready” to teach.
I’d rather have a solid curriculum, engaging labs, organized materials, and a classroom that runs smoothly than the prettiest room on Instagram. The best chemistry classrooms aren’t remembered because they looked perfect. They’re remembered because students learned, asked questions, made mistakes, and discovered that chemistry was actually pretty fun.
And thankfully, that doesn’t require nearly as much stuff as the internet sometimes makes us believe.
