School Supply chuckle

[Tinijocaro]

My dd11 had Mrs. Smith for 2nd grade. DD is now a 6th grader. Our neighbor who currently has Mrs. Smith just told us that they are using the hand sanitizer that DD brought in 4 years ago-it has her name on it. These teachers must have a HUGE stockpile of certain items on the school supply lists! I thought it was funny.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I wish we had that problem in our school. Teachers and paras have to start buying sanitizer, paper, pencils, etc around December.

 

[daisyduck123]

I teach 1st grade & I NEVER have leftovers at the end of the year. We tend to run out somewhere between Xmas & Valentine's Day & send a letter home to each family asking for more donations.

 

[MM27]

I wish I had that problem. I buy my own tissues, hand sanitizer and clorox wipes.

 

[taylor1293]

I wish I had that problem. I buy my own tissues, hand sanitizer and clorox wipes.

I buy all my own too. Well, I did get one box of tissues this year.

OP that is funny! More than likely, it got lost behind/in something and she found it this school year.

 

[crazee4mickey]

Had something similar to this happen when I was an E.A.

I was working in the one teacher's class when I noticed the kleenex box had my son's name on it, in my writing and with my drawings as I tried to decorate it for him--he had never been in this teacher's class but was in his wife's class 5 years earlier!

 

[lajones81]

My dd11 had Mrs. Smith for 2nd grade. DD is now a 6th grader. Our neighbor who currently has Mrs. Smith just told us that they are using the hand sanitizer that DD brought in 4 years ago-it has her name on it. These teachers must have a HUGE stockpile of certain items on the school supply lists! I thought it was funny.

Each year is hit or miss with the kids. This year, I had a student use an entire box of Kleenex in one day! He had a terrible cold!

At the end the school year, I take all unused school supplies and donate them to our local domestic violence shelter. I enjoy cleaning out the shelves and helping provide free supplies to other women in need.

 

[MoniqueU]

Does hand sanitizer stay good that long?

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

This is exactly why I disregard the school supply list every year. I always talk to the teachers personally and ask them what they need. I would rather send in 20 boxes of tissues that the teacher doesn't have to buy herself than send in one box of tissues and 1 hand sanitizer that may sit on the shelf. I also check with them throughout the year to let them know that I'm willing to send something...our teachers are always appreciative. IMO, there's no reason a teacher should have to buy these things..it takes a village people....and it's ridiculous how little teachers are compensated for their overwhelming job.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

LOL, if only I had more parents like you! I have easily blown over $500 personal money on my classroom. A big chunk of that was last night, trying to find sensory things for my more aggressive students to help them calm down.

I had this school supply issue this year. I teach self contained sped. At Meet the Teacher Night, I still had not had access to my curriculum so I had no idea what my students needed. The families just purchased the supplies for their child's grade. The problem is, I don't teach the same curriculum. So my kids have things like highlighters that we probably will never use in my classroom.

 

[IDoDis]

Sometimes I have a few extra notebooks at the end of the year that students brought earlier in the year. Their name would be written on the cover, but they didn't want to keep the notebook and gave it to me. I just hang onto these notebooks and eventually, I get a student with the same name to give the notebook to. I remember one notebook that had the name "Jesse" on it. I had it in my cabinet for about 8 years until the next Jesse came around. I hate wasting things, especially trees.

 

[golfgal]

I wish I had that problem. I buy my own tissues, hand sanitizer and clorox wipes.

I buy all my own too. Well, I did get one box of tissues this year.

OP that is funny! More than likely, it got lost behind/in something and she found it this school year.

That is really sad. I remember one year going into the twin's class and the teacher was putting away the boxes of kleenex. There were at least 30 boxes. They were all gone by the end of the year though. I ALWAYS send in extra kleenex!!

 

[golfgal]

LOL, if only I had more parents like you! I have easily blown over $500 personal money on my classroom. A big chunk of that was last night, trying to find sensory things for my more aggressive students to help them calm down.

I had this school supply issue this year. I teach self contained sped. At Meet the Teacher Night, I still had not had access to my curriculum so I had no idea what my students needed. The families just purchased the supplies for their child's grade. The problem is, I don't teach the same curriculum. So my kids have things like highlighters that we probably will never use in my classroom.

The problem is that if you wait to give out your supply list at the start of the school year there is nothing left on the shelves at the stores. Our kids needed School Glue for science (high school). They got that list at open house a week before school started. We went to 5 different stores before we found even ONE bottle of glue. EVERYTHING was gone.

 

[linda0706]

I love what my DD's Kindergarten teacher did. At "Meet the Teacher" night she had a board w/ sticky notes on it. Each sticky note had a supply such as kleenex, paper towels, pencils, hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, etc. If you were so inclined, you could take one of the sticky notes & write your name on a list. You were agreeing to help supply that item throughout the year.

Throughout the school year, any time the teacher was short on that particular item, she would send an email to the person whose name was on the list.

 

[golfgal]

I love what my DD's Kindergarten teacher did. At "Meet the Teacher" night she had a board w/ sticky notes on it. Each sticky note had a supply such as kleenex, paper towels, pencils, hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, etc. If you were so inclined, you could take one of the sticky notes & write your name on a list. You were agreeing to help supply that item throughout the year.

Throughout the school year, any time the teacher was short on that particular item, she would send an email to the person whose name was on the list.

Our kids' old school did that too. It is really sad that they need to do that but at least the teacher isn't using her own money so some kid can blow their nose 100 times/day.

 

[sbell111]

My dd11 had Mrs. Smith for 2nd grade. DD is now a 6th grader. Our neighbor who currently has Mrs. Smith just told us that they are using the hand sanitizer that DD brought in 4 years ago-it has her name on it. These teachers must have a HUGE stockpile of certain items on the school supply lists! I thought it was funny.

Another option is that they have run through any hand sanitizer they had left over from the last three years. The fact that such old materials are being used may suggest that they currently have very few materials 'stockpiled'.

They likely do not use the FIFO method.

 

[sbell111]

Does hand sanitizer stay good that long?

Probably not.

The bottle of Purel that's been sitting on my desk for the last couple of months claims to expire next December.

 

[3boymthr]

I don't mind buying things for my kid to go to school, especially if they are going to use it, but I have a couple of pet peeves - when they specify brand and its the most expensive brand there is "One 32 oz refill bottle of SoftSoap brand liquid hand soap" okay, why can't I send in store brand which costs less than half the money?

My second pet peeve - when the school turns down a donation that could save the parents and teachers money: one of the mother's at school offered to donate 20 cases, not boxes, cases, of kleenex and they wouldn't accept it because it had the name of her company on it and it might be seen as pushing a company's products on the kids; she works for a pharmacuetical company (pfizer, bayer or the like I can't remember which) - and it was the company's name not one of their drugs - how is that going to be marketing to kids . She even offered to put labels over the company name on each box and they still wouldn't accept. .

 

[Normangirls]

When DD9 was in first grade, her teacher sent home a note, telling parents that she had run out of a few items. A few days later she had to send home another note, telling us we had sent her more than enough, and couldn't figure out where to store it all!

I know a lot of teachers may not have such a good response, but I (and apparently others) love the chance to step up when I know it is needed.

 

[barkley]

just a suggestion for current teachers-consider asking the managers at any stores you shop at if they will consider setting aside 'holiday' themed items you might need when they go on clearance.

i get phenominal deals on normal day to day items like paper products (including tissue), hand sanitizer and even school supplies (pencils, erasers, notebooks) that have been marketed for different holidays but fail to sell. they end up going on clearance racks for 75% off which can be a huge savings over what you pay for the identical items without the snowflakes or jack-o-lanterns or bunnies printed on them.

when i worked for social services we used to get this stuff donated to us when it did'nt sell, so i would imagine if a teacher asked a store manager to set aside any of the types of products they need for them to purchase at whatever rate they will be clearing it out at rather than putting it on the clearance rack they might be quite willing.

my kids tease me that they are the only ones who end up with halloween zip lock baggies in the lunch come spring, but when i can buy them for a tenth of what i would pay for regular zip locks i'm not going to pass up the bargain.