My kids are self proclaimed junk lovers. If it’s squishy, colorful, and might look like it belongs in the trash, they only see treasure. It’s no wonder that Five Below is one of their favorite stores…it’s a glorified junk shop. Lucky us, we have two in close proximity to our house and the girls, especially Adi, begs for quick trips just to take a look around.

Last week, we held two grade level meetings where our OT, Kelly, helped teams look at writing with a lens on handwriting. This partnership has been new for me this year and I am loving all that I am learning from Kelly about supporting students with executive functioning, emotional regulation, and fine motor skills (I’ve got this language down because I’ve actually used a lot of what I’m learning for a few grad school projects!). During the grade levels, we studied student work to get a better understanding at how students were using writing lines (Stay tuned for more about that in next week’s 3/25 TWT post!). As we studied, reflected, and developed next steps, Kelly also talked about the importance of using short and fat writing tools in our primary grades. I pulled out some dry erase markers Kelly had recommended and I’d been testing out in my coaching work. The teacher’s eyes lit up and they immediately began inquiring about where they could get similar tools.

This is where my frequent visits to Five Below comes back into this piece…While Kelly shared that the markers could be found on Amazon, I had recently seen them at Five Below. “I’ll grab everyone a pack this weekend!” I volunteered as the conversation turned to talking about all the junk you can find at Five Below.

That’s how I found myself visiting both Five Belows near our house on this beautifully sunny Saturday. The first Five Below had reorganized their store completely and I couldn’t find the markers anywhere. But, upon entering the second location, I was relieved to see that everything was right where it had been the last time I was there. I grabbed four packages of markers and then spotted the cutest mini highlighters. “Those could be fun in small groups too,” I thought. I grabbed a few packages and then snapped photos to send to Dawn and Ashley, also fans of short and fat writing tools. “Does anyone need anything?” I asked.

Dawn engaged right away and our quick text exchange ended with me adding ten sets of both types of writing tools to my haul, a set for each of kindergarten and first grade teachers, along with a few extras. “Flair matters…right??? Guaranteed they will be appreciated and used!” Dawn texted referencing our work with Mary Ehrenworth years ago (you can read more about that here). Dawn is right. Sometimes, a little flair goes a long way in making our work more interesting and fun.

Perhaps that’s the allure of Five Below for my kids. Maybe the fidgets and slime they crave is what post-it notes and mini highlighters do for me. I guess we can all find a little magic and joy at Five Below.