Please explain school supply requirements

[LoserMomma]

Yes, and I can afford the brand names without any difficulty and am happy to buy them, but not all parents are blessed like we are....I just feel badly for the people who are trying to put dinner on the table who are then asked to pay twice as much for the same thing. Seems wrong.

 

[minkydog]

Are the crayons being used to create works of art the school will raise for fundraising? Because otherwise I don't see where crayon quality is a big deal.

It's a big deal to the children. You get what you pay for. Crayola brand crayons are much less waxy and the colors are true. When kids are sharing a big bucket of crayons NOBODY wants to use the waxy ones because they don't color right.

 

[Southernmiss]

Yes, and I can afford the brand names without any difficulty and am happy to buy them, but not all parents are blessed like we are....I just feel badly for the people who are trying to put dinner on the table who are then asked to pay twice as much for the same thing. Seems wrong.

Yes, but buying the better quality up front can save money in the long run, especially when you have to continually replace inferior products.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Yes, and I can afford the brand names without any difficulty and am happy to buy them, but not all parents are blessed like we are....I just feel badly for the people who are trying to put dinner on the table who are then asked to pay twice as much for the same thing. Seems wrong.

In this case, though, they aren't the same thing. The Roseart crayons last a small fraction of the time because of the breaking thing.

As a teacher and a solo parent, I understand about budgeting. At the same time, if you're packing lunches (e.g. above a certain income level), and buying a new lunch box every year, I'm going to guess that you can afford the extra couple of bucks for the 2 items where I name a brand -- Fiskar scissors, and Crayola crayons. If you really can't afford it, then I'm happy to buy them myself rather than have your child deal with substandard materials.

I should note that I do recognize that there are teachers who lazily write "kleenex" and "purell" and "Clorox wipes" when those are examples of materials where, in my opinion, the brand name is not worth more than whatever is on sale.

 

[LoserMomma]

In this case, though, they aren't the same thing. The Roseart crayons last a small fraction of the time because of the breaking thing.

As a teacher and a solo parent, I understand about budgeting. At the same time, if you're packing lunches (e.g. above a certain income level), and buying a new lunch box every year, I'm going to guess that you can afford the extra couple of bucks for the 2 items where I name a brand -- Fiskar scissors, and Crayola crayons. If you really can't afford it, then I'm happy to buy them myself rather than have your child deal with substandard materials.

I should note that I do recognize that there are teachers who lazily write "kleenex" and "purell" and "Clorox wipes" when those are examples of materials where, in my opinion, the brand name is not worth more than whatever is on sale.

Actually, I pack lunches because my son has food allergies and the school lunches could kill him, but as I said above, I can afford the name brands without a problem. Not everyone can. It gets very expensive and there are pockets of poverty even in affluent areas...especially in this economy. By asking for the name brands, there are some children who are put into a very difficult situation.

 

[tiggger1]

here is the list for my kids school. You have the option of buying it yourself or buying into the supply fundraiser...

4th grade-$30 if you bought it in the fundraiser
1 box #2 24 pencils (Oriole)
1 pkg 3x5 lined index cards
3 pkgs of 3x3 sticky notes
1 composition notebooks 3 rolls of Scotch tape
1 Crayola crayons 24 pk
1 box Crayola markers 10/ct (asst. colors)
1 pkg Crayola colored pencils 12/ct
2 highlighters
2 lg.erasers latex free
1 clip board
1 pencil sharpener with chamber
2 glue sticks
1 pair Fiskar sharp point scissors
binder
loose leaf paper

Kindergarten $20 if you bought it in the fundraiser

10 glue sticks
2 pkg of crayola 24 pk crayons
2 sheets of 500 copy paper
1 pk 12 washable crayola markers
2 pkg mr clean magic erasers
1 pkg of expo dry erase markers black

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

I just buy the stuff, for my own kids, there is no "community pile". If there was, however, I don't think I'd choke on supplying 36 pencils and 10 glue sticks. If this makes it easie to make sure all the kids have the right supplies, fine.

Making some kid feel the shame for not having parents that will buy them the supplies isn't on my list of things to do.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Actually, I pack lunches because my son has food allergies and the school lunches could kill him, but as I said above, I can afford the name brands without a problem. Not everyone can. It gets very expensive and there are pockets of poverty even in affluent areas...especially in this economy. By asking for the name brands, there are some children who are put into a very difficult situation.

Bringing in Roseart when the list says "crayola" is not a "very difficult" situation. I'll quietly make the substitute, and your child will never know the difference. Specifying the brand, however, does mean that in my very diverse school I'll like have 3 or 4 students where I need to substitute, rather than a whole class.

I will stand by what I said that I'd rather send mychild to school with lunch in last year's lunch box, or a hand me down, than with Roseart crayons because they really truly do suck.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

OMG...not last year's lunch box....ANYTHING BUT THAT, except of course, last years backpack...

Walmart puts the 16 pack of crayons on sale every year for $1. So I always buy a few and send them in.

 

[mikkiwikki]

I misunderstood you. You complained about specific items and "items my child won't use". I didn't realize that you were complaining about quanitity. To me those are two different things.

Right my child won't use binder #2-9

I don't have a problem with a parent buying a portion of the list, if that's what they can afford. As a teacher, I'd rather parents buy a portion of each item, then skip items altogether, as it gives me more time to figure out how to make up the difference.

This is good to hear. Although I disagree slightly with your sentiment..when you said..."what you can afford". In my mind...Just because someone has more money - does not mean they should subsidize others. Call me pragmatic. I have a child that willrequire more funds to support him long term than other parents. I'll be socking my money aside for him thank you, not to support parents that cannot purchase basic supplies for their kids.

I'm still curious how you expect schools to enforce the rules that would require a parent to bring items.

Good point. Actually this was an interesting thing to ponder...and I discussed it with my spouse. I really feel for the schools. Our Schools are our nations most precious asset. I DO as a parent support them in every way that I can...Its a complex issue, and I wonder why more schools dont have a Procurement office that can get the best price on items..instead of class by class purchasing things...I would think that you really wouldnt get bulk benefits from purchasing in that way...

I enjoyed this conversation and it was enlightening...and I hope you did not take issue with my passion on the topic. I think its an important topic otherwise i would have not pondered it for this long.

 

[torinsmom]

I just spent about 90 bucks on school supplies for my two kids today (and another 90 for backpacks and lunchboxes). We still need to get a few more things which we will buy on line (like a calculator for my fifth grader). It's a lot of money, but then again, I also bought extra because I know my son will destroy his folders and such so I've anticipated the need for extras.

Our school lists are long, but I will admit that when the kids came home at the end of last year, every page in every spiral notebook was filled. They work hard in school and I think it's a good investment to make in them. Yes, some of the stuff goes in a kitty (and that ticked me off at first) but the kids end up sharing anyway.

I do wonder at the requests for brand names instead of generic....is there REALLY a difference between crayola ($1.17 a box) and Rosecraft ($.51 a box)?

I just bought Crayola crayons at Walmart for 50 cents a pack. RoseArt crayons were 25 cents. The Crayola crayons are definitely better and last longer. In markers, the RoseArt is the same quality from my experience. Colored pencils, Crayola is better. Whatever you do, don't buy the junk from the Dollar Tree. The markers do not last a week and the crayons are all waxy. And don't get me started on the cheap pencils with the broken lead inside; that is really frustrating and tears up our pencil sharpeners. I stick all the cheap stuff somewhere and we use the good stuff until it runs out. I usually end up buying markers and crayons twice a year.

Do people really buy new backpacks and lunchboxes every year? My son used a backpack until it wore out and we got solid color lunchboxes he used for at least 2 years.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

OMG...not last year's lunch box....ANYTHING BUT THAT, except of course, last years backpack...

Walmart puts the 16 pack of crayons on sale every year for $1. So I always buy a few and send them in.

I have a backwards family dynamic, my kid is the cheap one! He and I had an argument because he thinks that reusing the backpack I bought him at Target 6 years ago is a great plan, and I think that when the holes are big enough that not only do pencils fall out, the pencil case does too it might be time to invest in a new one.

 

[LBIJim]

I do wonder at the requests for brand names instead of generic....is there REALLY a difference between crayola ($1.17 a box) and Rosecraft ($.51 a box)?

Oh, my, YES!! The cheaper crayons will get the job done, but there's a noticable difference in quality.

I don't remember having supply lists with such large quantities for myself nor my daughters. Yeah, perhaps they used 72 pencils during the course of the year, but we bought as needed. No way we'd send that amount in on the first day.

And any crazy request for like 8 different colored binders or notebooks for different subjects would have been ignored.

Jim

 

[LoserMomma]

I don't know about you all, but the backpacks in our house are holding themselves together by two threads by the end of the school year. Duct tape has been known to get us through the last month or so.

The lunch boxes just get gross....

 

[torinsmom]

I guess it depends on the quality of the backpack. My son is rough on things, but he used his JanSport bag for 3 years before a zipper finally broke. I ran the lunchboxes through the dishwasher when they got gross, but cleaned them in soap and water every week, so I didn't have to do that much.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I don't know about you all, but the backpacks in our house are holding themselves together by two threads by the end of the school year. Duct tape has been known to get us through the last month or so.

The lunch boxes just get gross....

Backpacks are like crayons, the cheap ones just don't last!

 

[clm10308]

I have worked at schools where communal supplies were the norm. both my kids have attended public schools like that where it was not unusual for me to spend $30-$40 per kids. Supplies for the private school abs the charter school where more than that.

When I taught 1st grade we asked for 6 packs of crayons per kid and they were used up each year. We gave stored all the supplies and gave each kid a new pack of crayons each grading period (6 weeks). A few of the girls would keep their crayons in good condition in that amount of time, but most all the students needed a new pack. The class would go through 2-3 12packs of pencils each week. Pencils get lost, broken, taken home, and even chewed on. Depending on the activities for the week, it was not unusual for the kids to use up 6 bottles of glue in a week. Durring cold season, the class could use up 2-3 boxes of tissues a week.

As the teacher, I really don't want some poor kid to be wiping his nose on his hand or shirt all the time and spreading germs to your kid just because no one wants to send in supplies.

The problem with asking for a smaller amount of supplies and having parents replenish as the year goes on is that for a variety of reasons the needed supplies would not arrive.

At the school where my kids attend now the supply lists are actually very minimal, but still there was a parent complaining about the amount of supplies. I don't know about the younger grades here, but my son was in 4th grade last year and they did not share supplies except for hand sanitizer. Even tissues were kept in each child's desk.

I understand parents being upset about supplies that a required then not used, but $40 or even $50 over 180 or so days of school really isn't much.

 

[LoserMomma]

Backpacks are like crayons, the cheap ones just don't last!

The boy can destroy anything....that's why I know I have to buy triple supplies for him. He destroys the expensive ones just like the cheap ones.

 

[mjantz]

Jansport backpacks are totally worth it. After years of buying new ones every year with cartoon characters I got smart & bought each kid a Jansport. Both are still going strong & have been well loved.

 

[Wendy31]

I used to teach kindergarten, & following was my supply list for parents:

Our SUPPLIES –

a school box for your child’s desk supplies (should be easy to open and close)
8-10 crayons (preferably Crayola) in a snack-size zip-close bag
Fiskars metal round-tip scissors
2 large glue sticks
1 large eraser
1 small bottle of antibacterial gel (no pump)
1 travel-size pack of baby wipes
1 dry erase marker
1 watercolor paint set
1 package of construction paper
2 large manila envelopes
1 box of Kleenex
1 box of sandwich-size zip-close bags
1 box of gallon-size zip-close bags
$10.00 art fee
$1.50 pencil fee

Some NOTES about the supplies –

• The school box (containing the zip-close bag of crayons, scissors, glue sticks, eraser, and bottle of antibacterial gel), paint set, and baby wipes should fit inside your child’s desk tray. (The teacher will keep the students’ dry erase markers in the art supplies cabinet.)

• Don’t forget to label everything your child brings to school with his/her name! (Each of your child’s crayons should be labeled as well.)

• The construction paper, the manila envelopes, the box of Kleenex, and the boxes of zip-close bags do not need to be labeled.

The $1.50 pencil fee was because I bought the students' pencils. We used a special "learning to write" type pencil. We went through the pencils too, & $1.50/student in no way covered the cost of the pencils for the year. I was always very thankful, toward the end of the year, when we transitioned to regular #2 pencils!

The $10 art fee was for all the different art supplies that we'd need throughout the year - wooden dowels for milk carton birdfeeders, hangers for our ocean animal mobiles, tortillas for when we "ate the world", etc. And, like the pencil fee, $10/student did not begin to cover our art supply expenses for the year.

I asked for the crayons in a zip-close bag because a bag is much easier for a child to open & close than the crayon boxes.

We also went through the glue! During "back to school" night, I usually told the parents that their child would need more than 2 gluesticks & to go ahead & purchase more while they were on sale & send 2 to school at a time. If I were to go back to the classroom, I would probably ask for more glue on front end - because, sometimes, even though I'd send notes home, it would take awhile for parents to send in more glue for their child.

I had preprinted little "supply notes" made that I could check a box for whatever a student needed more of, & I would send the note home w/ the student when he/she needed more of a particular "personal" supply - like crayons or glue.

W/ the exception of the tissues, construction paper, & zip-close bags, the students kept their own supplies at their tables in their under-table trays.

They used their own dry erase markers for our individual white boards, but I did keep the markers in a separate container in our supply cabinet.

Construction paper was communal - I took all the packs that the students brought & separated the paper into colors.

I used the manila envelopes to send their completed work home in their take-home folders (which I bought).

In addition to their individual bottles of antibacterial gel, I had a large bottle that sat on my desk.

I used the zip-close bags for EVERYTHING - leftover snacks, individual art supplies for projects, completed art projects, etc. I never had any leftover.

Depending on the year, sometimes I had tissues left over - but not normally!

We homeschool now, &, incidentally, I just spent around $100 for our 3 kids' school supplies for this year.

Oh, & there is a noticeable difference between Crayola & other brand crayons!