Classroom Shopping Linky Party

So, Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files is hosting a Linky Party to showcase things we buy for our classroom.  I thought that sounded like fun, so of course, I had to go shopping!  Now, this would not be hard except for the fact that I am on vacation at my mom's house and she lives in a teeny, tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, Kentucky.  The kids and I are here for about 3 weeks.  We did have the chance to visit my family in Ohio and while we were there, we went to Target to pick up some birthday decorations for my son's party.  That's when I found these:

I thought I would use these as pencil holders on the kids' tables.  I really liked the bright colors.  I wish I could have found some with polka dots, since that's how I'm doing my room this year, but I think these will go well. 

So back in Kentucky, we went yard sale hopping today.  On our travels, I found these:

The letter tiles are actually ceramic tiles with magnets on the back.  My first thought was that I could put them on the back of my metal bookshelf and make a word making center.  When I got home, however, I discovered that the set was missing a LOT of letters.  I have the letters A-L, then a couple of p's and q's then s and t.  I love the patterns on them and the fact that each letter (that I have) includes different fonts, so I'm thinking that I can still use them at the beginning of the year as a sorting activity.  Any other ideas?

I was really excited to see Word Yahtzee.  My own children love to play Yahtzee, but I'd never seen Word Yahtzee before.  I'm not sure that my firsties can play as it is intended (with the score card and everything), but I think they'll have a lot of fun rolling the dice and seeing how many words they can make.  The best part is, I got all the letter tiles AND the Yahtzee game for only $1!!  How awesome is that?

Now, head on over to Ladybug's Teacher Files to link up and see the great deals everyone else is getting!