I can't believe it's that time of year again! Summer is halfway over, and I'm starting to see people share their Amazon class wish lists for the upcoming school year. We've got until almost the end of August before we head back to the classroom, but our sales tax free holiday weekend is coming up in a couple of weeks, so it makes sense.

And let's be honest -- I haven't just been ignoring school the past few weeks. I mean, I've tried my best, but I'm still not used to so much uninterrupted time off. It is only my second school summer, after all, and my first full summer off in years. Last summer was only about a month for me, remember? I started my certification course and had pre-planning both in July.

Anyway, I'll be moving to 8th grade this school year teaching writing and grammar, which isn't a big change but it will narrow my focus. I'll also be teaching more students. So I've been looking for solutions to some of the problems I'm anticipating as well as some challenges I've had the last two years, and I've created an ongoing Amazon wish list for school-related stuff.

This post will focus on the top 10 things I need and/or want for this upcoming school year. You can see my full class wish list here. If you would like to help in a different way, I have set up a TPT Class Fund. Contributions to that will help me purchase instructional materials for my classroom.

Hanging File Rolling Cart + Hanging Files - I'll be teaching every student this coming year, so my writing folder storage system needs a bit of an upgrade. This rolling cart is perfect! Not only will it easily hold the additional folders I'll need this year, but I can easily move it over to my desk whenever I'm going through folders for feedback. I'm not going to lie -- that's been the only downside to the folders the last two years. I'll also need new - and more - hanging file folders.

Scrabble Letters - I want a more fun word wall this year, and I absolutely love Scrabble. It'll be like creating a crossword puzzle which definitely appeals to my creative side.

Electric Pencil/Color Pencil Sharpener - My electric pencil sharpener limped through the last nine weeks of the school year, so I'll definitely need a new one for this year. I like this one because it has an automatic stop feature once a pencil is sharpened and is supposed to work for colored pencils.

Giant Magnetic Dry Erase Notebook Paper - This will be good for modeling what I expect out of students when writing.

Class Set of Colored Pencils - I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory, but I like to make writing as fun as possible and will definitely need some class art supplies. I've tried doing individual packs of 12, but they get all mixed up and eventually all dumped into a bucket anyway. This set should also, hopefully, mean that if every student needs a red, they'll have one and not argue over passing one back and forth.

35 Ready-To-Go Ways to Publish Student Writing - In the spirit of making writing as fun as possible, I think this book full of ideas will come in handy.

Broom + Dustpan - Would you believe I never bought a full-size broom and dustpan for my classroom? I always borrowed my neighbor's, but we won't be in the same school this coming year, and my mom will be too far down the hall for easily borrowing hers, so I've got to have my own this year.