I got the kids' school supply lists today....

[pirateofthecarolinas]

and both my DS12 and DD10 said, "Mom we never use half of the stuff they tell you to buy!" I know this is true. I saw what came home on the last day of school, never used. When I taught, I never requested anything that wasn't used. Now, entire grade levels give a list and some of the teachers won't use what another one requires. I find this frustrating and wasteful!

Lori

 

[Evil Queen]

Get the "basics", ask teacher in the first couple of days, what they really need. If teacher says all, buy it, what's not used, donate to a teacher who could use it at the end of the school year.

 

[Free4Life11]

The lists seem to grow each year. One year my sister's list said "three boxes of 64-count Crayola crayons" with Crayola in bold lettering...why do they need 192 crayons per child??

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

One of the nurses I know had the best one I've seen yet- a Polaroid camera

WTH?!

Needless to say, she didn't buy it.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

come on over to the Budget Board -- we've got a thread going that is amazing about how much is spent on school supplies. Sorry - I don't know how to post a link - It's called :how much does your kids school supplies cost? Over 80 people have responded and offered thoughts......

 

[msmickminn]

When my kids had school lists...(they're high school now), I used to buy just the basics and then I told them to let me know IF they need the other items on the list.
Frequently I only replaced the paper/pencils/crayons/glue and maybe a spiral notebook or two.
I also wrote the teacher and asked her specifically what she might need for her room, if there were kids with limited means, and to let me know how I could help throughout the year.
Having 30 kids bringing boxes of kleenex/paper towels/hand wipes on the first day seemed a little over the top.

 

[flipturngirl]

Sometimes big things go into the community and one teacher will get the things. At my school they wanted us to bring in Blank VHS the days before dvds and we did but we never used them. I think it is kind of stupid how the teachers do that..but oh well.


ETA:

The thing that bugs me the most is.. kleenex us as students need them and only half of them bring them and they run out in the middle of the year right before allergy season. You have to get up in the middle of class and miss part of the lesson to go the bathroom.

 

[RadioNate]

what kills me about ours is all the specifics. Brand names, colors, etc. A Papermate, Pink Pearl Eraser. Can't be a white eraser, gotta be pink. Gotta have 2 ply paper towels..

this year our PTA put together boxes of the supplies. So for $42 I got all the stuff required and I didn't have to shop for it.

 

[golfgal]

I also buy what they have used in the past and forget the extras (usually watercolor paints and a few odd things like that). I always sent in extra kleenex boxes though. We haven't gotten a list for the kids' new schools yet so we will see what we have to buy. I know DS14 will need an expensive graphing calculator so right there we are at about $100 or so. I do know they sell those at the school and they engrave the kids' names on them right then and there.

 

[minkydog]

Here is Christian's list from the 6th grade teacher:

erasable pens
sharpened pencils
2" ringbinder
sharp scissors
highlighters
markers
a paper-back book to read


We were advised to come to 6th grade orientation on a certain date and meet the teachers and he could practice opening his locker
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Christian is severely mentally handicapped. Not only does he not read and write, he wouldn't know what to do with a locker if it fell on him.and I'm sure not giving him some pointy scissors

I can't wait to hear what band instrument they've signed him up for.

 

[mylilnikita]

My DD7"s school gave us the list at the end of the year for the fall. It includes: 2 # 2 Pencils each day, one red/ black pen, scissors, clipboard, crayons, handheld calculator, 1 spiral notebook, 6 packs of wide ruled paper to be for classroom use, ruler, zippered pencil bag, 1 ream of copy paper, 6 pocket folder with clasps, 4 folders without clasps, 2-4 glue or glue sticks, 2 high lighters, erasers, hand sanitizer, 2 boxes of kleenex, 3by 5 cards, 2 small pencil sharpeners, colored pencils. All for the 3rd grade. And the list gets longer and more expensive into the older grades.
My neighbor is going to pay for private church school for her kindergarten DD and has to pay 300.00 for school supplies, WTH?

 

[paigevz]

My son's list is really reasonable, but I saw some lists from some other schools in those holders at the front of walmart/Target and some are ridiculous. Copy paper, Inkjet ink, both large and small Sharpies, staplers...............for elementary kids! I think some schools aren't budgeting at all for supplies and letting the kids bring them all.

On brand names, I did begin asking specifically for Fiskars scissors in Pre-K, because some of those cheapo brands won't even cut.........very frustrating for the just learning little ones. Other than that, I've never cared what brand the kids bring.

Although, it is inconvenient when we have markers listed and the kids bring "jewel colors" or "neon colors".........then when we're doing something, they'll come up saying "I don't have a red" and sure enough, they'll have pink, but not red. Then they have to borrow a red...........I guess this is why some teachers get so specific. I just ask everyone if Jimmy can borrow a red, and there are always 3 or 4 that jump up to hand Jimmy a red.

Oh, and we ask for one box of kleenex per child and that's the one thing we hardly ever get! We are constantly having to buy Kleenex ourselves, it runs out by October, because only a few kids bring it. Then the mother who sent it is mad when we're out, and I don't blame her! My son's list wants 3 per child.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Maddy is going into kindergarten this year....and here's what we had to buy.

16 glue sticks
24 #2 pencils
3 24 count Crayola crayon boxes
1 EMPTY jar of Play-Doh
1 pencil box
1 eraser
1 ream of copy paper
1 box of tissues
5 folders with prongs and pockets
1 box of baby wipes
1 box of brown paper bags
1 box of resealable Ziploc gallon bags
1 box of washable Crayola markers
1 blunt pair of scissors

Now, what makes this even MORE interesting is only the *girls* in the class have to being tons of glue. I have no idea why.

Also, each teacher will be giving the parents a list of things she ALSO wants when they do meet the teacher. Oh, did I tell you meet the teacher is at YOUR HOUSE? Since when did THIS start happening??? Her K teacher is coming here Friday morning. Huh.

 

[paigevz]

See, that's what I'm talking about. It's like so many don't bring, that I guess these schools are combatting that by just making the list ridiculously long so they can "share out" with those who don't buy.

We ask the churches to help us with supplies each year, so those who don't buy get the basics from there.

Oh, and as someone pointed out, if anyone comes to me and says they can't get it all, I will highlight for them the most important things to have now, and what can come later (but we don't put extra on our list, so they will need it all eventually).

My dh came home one day and said the lady in his office said she heard on TV to go to the dumpsters on the last day of school and get supplies for next year, as the teachers throw out everything they don't use. I was flabbergasted..........we use it all and buy more ourselves. I can't believe anyone has that much extra to throw out brand new stuff.

 

[LadyyRedd]

At work we do a school supply drive every year. I was looking at this year's list and one of the items boggled my mind as to why they need it:

Post-it Notes.

Does anyone have a kid that uses Post-it Notes in school?

I don't remember ever sitting in school thinking "Gee, I sure could use a Post-it Note right now."

Kimya

 

[paigevz]

Actually, yeah, we use post-it notes. You can use them to come up with a synonym for a word in a book and cover the word used. You can use them for changing word order in a sentence or building sentences. You can use them for graphing. But the biggie we are using them for is this business model for success that has been adapted to schools........the Malcolm Baldrige model. We are to have issue bins so if the kids have questions or problems they can put up post-it notes and the teacher addresses it at certain times of day. WE also are to evaluate lessons by having the kids put post its on a positive side and negative side of a chart. Some kids use post-its for their personal goal charts called PDSAs (Plan Do Study Review).

Of course, our school uses its budget money to buy them........we don't ask the kids to bring them in.

 

[aprilgail2]

Post-it Notes.

Does anyone have a kid that uses Post-it Notes in school?

I don't remember ever sitting in school thinking "Gee, I sure could use a Post-it Note right now."

Kimya

We need those too! Along with all this other junk t ostart 2nd grade...
5 Marble Notebooks
50 sharpened pencils
2 large boxes of crayons
2 voxes of colored pencils
2 boxes of colored markers
4 pocket folders
scissors
4 bottles of glue
6 glue sticks
4 large erasers
homework pad
2 boxes of tissues
smock
pencil sharpener with dome
4 packs of index cards
index card box
2 dry erase markers-different colors
bottle of Hand sanitizer
box of baby wipes
box of gallon size ziplock bags
3 pack of highlighters
2 packs of post it notes
check for 3.75 to scholastic news
ruler
pocket dictionary
compass
and that is it for this year.....last year they wanted 100 pencils and 12 glue sticks! And everything has to have your kids name on it so I buy the pencils already printed with her name and I use the p-touch lable maker for marking all the rest.

 

[Cindy B]

Here is Christian's list from the 6th grade teacher:


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Christian is severely mentally handicapped. Not only does he not read and write, he wouldn't know what to do with a locker if it fell on him.and I'm sure not giving him some pointy scissors

I can't wait to hear what band instrument they've signed him up for.

I've worked with mentally handicapped middle schoolers in similiar situations as your son.

For lockers, these students have cubbies built into thier special accomodation classrooms. In other instances, Some students use a padlock instead of a combo lock. Some use a combo lock with letters instead of numbers.

My son has a handicapped student in his band class this summer. The students mother has printed specific scales /notes for him on cards with a findgering chart. The parent stays with the child during the band camp and helps him.

I'm just letting you know it is possible!

 

[Cindy B]

At work we do a school supply drive every year. I was looking at this year's list and one of the items boggled my mind as to why they need it:

Post-it Notes.

Does anyone have a kid that uses Post-it Notes in school?

I don't remember ever sitting in school thinking "Gee, I sure could use a Post-it Note right now."

Kimya

My kids use post its in literature studies. They use them for synonyms, Text to text, Text to Self and Text to World references... they also use them for conversation starters and examples of alliteration, etc...

 

[mytwotinks]

last year for the 2nd grade my dd was supposed to have 6 different colored plastic pocket folders. Well, I looked everywhere and do you know that they only come in 5 colors? So I bought 2 red and told the teacher that I would keep looking. She says "don't worry about it, we aren't even going to use those. I didn't help make the list."

So basically, one out of 6 teachers decided that she was going to do who knows what with these 6 folders so they just have the other 90 kids get them too. I was ticked!

They also had to have 4 different colored composition notedbooks. You know the ones that only come in black! One of these my dd made into a phone book, one was for drawing pics of trolls and I think that she used one for writing her name about 20 times. What a waste of money and effort that it took to find these obscure items!