tell me what a low income kindergarten class teacher need for her class? any ideas?

[Grumpy's Gal]

we know a very special young lady (friend of the family) who just started teaching kindergarten at a very low income school. We want to send her a surprise gift box for her class -- so not a gift card.

Can you tell me some ideas of what a low income kindergarten class may need?

I know there are some teachers out there who can give me some ideas. Thank you.

 

[mom2val]

)

 

[crisi]

For her.... Kleenex, Paper Towels, Antiseptic wipes (the teachers at my school use them to wipe down desks).

For them...Sheets of stickers, art supplies, school supplies, books, games.

 

[afeld111781]

it seems most schools have gone to dry erase boards for everything and my daughters teacher always mentioned dry erase markers everytime i asked what she needed.

 

[mom2princesss]

Our DDs teacher requested:

Kleenex, hand sanitizer, antibac wipes, construction paper, crayons, markers, stickers, glue sticks, pencils, playdoh, treasure box items(small toys, stickers, colorful pencils, small candies, etc). Honestly, for treasure box, I usually go to McDonalds and buy the set of whatever happy meal toy they have right then(you can buy the toys for $1.99 each) and donate them.

 

[disney*mom*82]

All great ideas. And a great thing for you to do for her. DH and I are both teachers and getting your room started the first year or two can be a lot OOP and if you dont have it, it can be frustrating.

Some more ideas:

Items for prizes (small toys from kids meals, little trinkets, tatoos, stickers, etc) Being in a low income area, prizes can be great for the kids.

Snack items. (goldfish, crackers, pretzels, fruit snacks, dried fruit, cereal) When I was working in a K room, the kids got a snack everyday, parents were suppose to send in items, but didnt always. Not to mention, kids do get sent to school hungry or need a little extra snack before they go home.

crayons, scissors, paint, paper, play-doh, glue, pencils, kleenex, velcro, velcro dots, glue dots, reward certificates for students, old shirts for painting smocks, paint brushes, classroom toys/games, puzzles,

 

[lovintennessee]

The school my kids attend allows parents to make a donation into the teacher account. For example, I go into the office and tell them that I want to deposit money into Mrs. ____ account. Every month a truck comes to the school full of supplies that the teacher can buy. I like to do this so the teacher can pick out what she needs.

Not sure if the school she teaches at does this but you can always ask.

 

[Piper]

A lot depends on the school. When our school was new, we had very little. Fortunately I had been teaching for years and already had a lot of my own books and manipulatives.

I would suggest:
books,
wooden puzzles,
floor puzzles,
buttons, keys, spools, bottle caps, bread tags (these last items can be counted, sorted, used for patterns, and order by size)
dress up clothes (I used size 12 girls and boys dresses and suit coats--that way they weren't too big, but big enough to seem "grown up")
a set of different scrap booking punches for the art center (develops fine motor skills and the kids love them)
a set of different scrapping scissors
small scraps of fabric, lace, ribbons to make collages
alphabet macaroni and/or different shapes of macaroni
nuts and bolts of different sizes to sort and practice fine motor skills
different kinds of beans

My students loved using the "real" things. I had my mother's button box and they loved sorting and looking at the buttons as much as I did as a child. I went to some hardware stores and got the keys they has made mistakes on. I spray painted one side of a couple of bags of lima beans and used those for counting and for lots of math things. I used lots of different kinds of beans in the pouring table (problem solving--why did that bean go through the funnel and that one got stuck? as well as fine motor)

This may not be what you were expecting, but all that money spent a little at a time counts up! It is great that you want to help.

 

[taylor3297]

Copy paper, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, wide ruled notebook paper, dry erase makers (if she has a white board) or chalk, sticky notes, kleenex, paper towels, crayons, washable markers, gallon and sandwich size baggies, hand sanitizer, and clorox wipes.

 

[Mom23Disneybelievers]

crayons, glue sticks, hand wipes, clorox wipes, gallon sized ziplock bags, paper cups, dry erase markers, stickers, colored paper. magnifying glasses, books

 

[momplus3]

If you are not sure what she needs. how about a Staples gift card? Staples gives teachers discounts on supplies sometimes and has a rewards card they can use.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Snack items. (goldfish, crackers, pretzels, fruit snacks, dried fruit, cereal) When I was working in a K room, the kids got a snack everyday, parents were suppose to send in items, but didnt always. Not to mention, kids do get sent to school hungry or need a little extra snack before they go home.

I would have never in a million years thought about food! I don't have any experience with kindergarten, low income or otherwise, and it's been so long since my kids were in Kindergarten! I will jot that on my list.....

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

If you are not sure what she needs. how about a Staples gift card? Staples gives teachers discounts on supplies sometimes and has a rewards card they can use.

It's a lovely thought but she's in a rural area and there's no staples store for hundreds of miles and also, I want to send her a big surprise box full of things -- not a gift card. I want her to receive this huge box in the mail and I hope she has fun opening it and knowing it's all for her class!! She herself even has very little and this is her first year teaching with nothing to start out with. She didn't have to take the job with the low income school but she did.........and she is going to be WONDERFUL at it! I just want to give her a nice surprise and a little help.

 

[crisi]

If you have friends who are crafty, you could send another box at Christmas with craft scraps. Bits of fabric, yarn, buttons, beads, tissue paper, wrapping paper - all that "stuff" that collects. And if you do a general call, getting boxes (shoe boxes, cereal boxes, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls) is useful too. For a couple of years, boxes of craft scraps would probably be appreciated (I think that over time teachers of younger grades collect enough of this not to want it, but the first few years of "if I HAD beads, I could...." that sort of thing is helpful.)

 

[squirrel]

You can probably get some of these items for free or for very little $:

wallpaper samples, paint chip samples (Mickey Heads for matching game), carpet samples (for circle time), old cards (front for art time), ribbon, etc.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

you guys are awesome to give me ideas. I really appreciate it!

I'm thinking I may ship a box every few months -- or maybe each new season.

Keep posting ideas as I'm making a list!

 

[flateacher]

If you have a true dollar store close it would be a great place to get a lot of the things mentioned here. Our school season started already so the deals on crayons etc are over (.25 a pack is what I live for!)...

The dollar store also has seasonal classroom decorations. Like fall leaves to put each students name on, desk name tags, birthday certificates to give the kids etc. They also have kindergarden paper (the large grey paper with the big lines on it). She could probably use a lot of that. They also have large classroom calendars that she can easily change every month or sentence strip holders...

Basically go to the Dollar Store and go to the teacher/school supply aisle - there is TONS of stuff! (At least ours has all of this stuff.)

 

[taylor3297]

Some gently used or new books would be good too. That way she could begin a library for her class.

 

[Cindy B]

I teach in a 100% free lunch inner city school. I will say anything and everything you can think of..

the kids come with no supplies, yes none. I would say little scissors, glue sticks, construction paper, bulletin board supplies (borders and or punch out letters) Pencils, an electronic timer, stamper pad/fun stamps, name badges, etc.

 

[amyy]

How thoughtful of you!!

I suggest throwing in a roll of postage stamps. I have used my own to mail stuff to parents and to mail a card, bill etc using the mailbox at school.

You have received tons of great ideas. You really can't go wrong as everything is needed. Here are a few that are more centered towards her.

*sewing kit (seems you can never have enough if you misplace them like I do)

*umbrella (I use one to go home one a rainy day and forget to bring it back. An extra umbrella was at the top of my list this year)

*a variety of cards she might want to give to co-workers when they have a baby, birthday, death etc. I keep several in my desk.

*3 ring binders Those are so expensive!!

books, books, books

chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

batteries-seems something always need them and they are pricey