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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 12:07:06 PM
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Karaboo2
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From: Ontario, Canada
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For the classes who like keeping a reserve of extra supplies in case a student can't afford something, or the classroom runs out (such as kleenex) ... some of the schools around here ask parents to send in $1 the first week of school (instead of saying 3 boxes of kleenex, etc) and that goes into a general classroom fund ... so that way the teacher can pick up whatever is needed during the year, without it being a huge burden on the teacher or the parent.
I know that funding cuts have put the burden on parents to provide (around here, schools stopped providing crayons, etc when I was in elementary school -- 21 years ago) I do, however, wish that schools would say at the beginning of the year "this is the approximate number of each item the average student will use during the year ... please make sure your child has at least one of each at the beginning of the year, and please replace them as they are consumed" (or something to that effect). This way, kids provide only as much as they are using during the year, and there is no stockpiling needing to be done ... and no wondering at the end of the year if the parents will have all of the extra supplies they bought returned to them.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 1:01:54 PM
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MissGizmo
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If you want to wait untill the suppliers are cheaper to buy them, why not just save the money week to week. If every week you would set a side $5.00 per child for several months you would be able to buy the needed supplies for the school year. Or you could set $1.00 a week per child & save that all year long.
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Let us know if you need anything. We won't send what you need, but we will pray for it.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 4:51:10 PM
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kohls356
Posts: 361
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quote:
ORIGINAL: hoppersfan
quote:
ORIGINAL: kohls356
If someone has a cold then I will buy some kleenex but they aren't a staple in my home and I know my kids don't need to use them. So I wouldn't send in the required 3 boxes but would send in a box.
How do you know that your kids don't use them at school? You might be surprised if you were in the classroom each day.
I don't think it is too hard to figure out what is necessary and what isn't really. I know that in kindergarten or any other class for that matter that children do not need a disposable camera to learn.
As far as the kleenex it wasn't one box that was requested per child it was 5. I have three children and that means sending in 15 boxes of kleenex. It wouldn't be hardship for my family but I can see where it would for some.
One year my husband lost his job and I wasn't able to buy any more than the "essentuals" which was paper, pencils, notebooks etc. Not post it notes, construction paper, paper towels etc. I talked the teachers and explained that I would get what I could. All the teachers said not to worry about it and went to their cabinets and showed me the abundant supply of supplies they had from the year before. One teacher had enough construction paper and even told me to last several years. So I wondered why she asked for more.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 5:16:49 PM
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garsyt
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quote:
So I wondered why she asked for more.
My guess is that she didn't make out the list. That it was made out for her, by someone who had no clue what was already in the classroom. Often times teachers don't know who is in their classroom until a week or at the most two before school starts and if they waited until to send out supply lists, parents would have a hissy about not getting them sooner so they had more time to get those supplies.
I know plenty of teachers that have supply closest full of stuff but because HERE the district sends out the supply lists in the spring and the teachers don't know til the week before school starts who is in their classes, it's always prudent for me to wait on the "questionable" items til I can get a hold of the teacher at registration or that week after and ask if there are items on the list that are not absolutely necessary.
Blessings,
Garsy
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 5:44:03 PM
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GregandJenny
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From: Near Seattle Washington
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quote:
know that in kindergarten or any other class for that matter that children do not need a disposable camera to learn.
I would agree, however if the teacher has a project planned and your child or a child gets left out, people can't be upset and blame the school.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 5:46:41 PM
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sisrev
Posts: 886
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I know one teacher who always had so many boxes of Kleenex left at the end of the year that she literally never had to buy any for her home. Another case of a centralized list that didn't always make sense.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 7:10:28 PM
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artemis
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GregandJenny
quote:
know that in kindergarten or any other class for that matter that children do not need a disposable camera to learn.
I would agree, however if the teacher has a project planned and your child or a child gets left out, people can't be upset and blame the school.
Your child won't get left out... he/she will use the supplies brought by other people  Just like everyone gets to use the kleenex, whether they brought them or not.
But for the most part, I really don't think the lack of supplies is a money issue. If a family truely can't afford supplies, they can always contact the school or the teacher and they will work something out. I got a note from a mother this week stating that she wouldn't get paid until Friday, so her son won't have paper, pens/pencils or any other supplies until then. I don't at all mind loaning him supplies until he can get his own. And if he mom told me she would never be able to buy his supplies, I'd be fine with purchasing them myself.
I do, however, get rather irritated when a student tells me they can't affor a spiral, so I give them one of mine and two weeks later they show up with a new spiral because they didn't like the color I gave them 
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 10:10:38 PM
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ladyingrace1979
Posts: 357
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From: Fresno CA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: artemis
quote:
ORIGINAL: GregandJenny
quote:
know that in kindergarten or any other class for that matter that children do not need a disposable camera to learn.
I would agree, however if the teacher has a project planned and your child or a child gets left out, people can't be upset and blame the school.
Your child won't get left out... he/she will use the supplies brought by other people Just like everyone gets to use the kleenex, whether they brought them or not.
But for the most part, I really don't think the lack of supplies is a money issue. If a family truely can't afford supplies, they can always contact the school or the teacher and they will work something out. I got a note from a mother this week stating that she wouldn't get paid until Friday, so her son won't have paper, pens/pencils or any other supplies until then. I don't at all mind loaning him supplies until he can get his own. And if he mom told me she would never be able to buy his supplies, I'd be fine with purchasing them myself.
I do, however, get rather irritated when a student tells me they can't affor a spiral, so I give them one of mine and two weeks later they show up with a new spiral because they didn't like the color I gave them
I can't blame you for being frustrated, but I would have checked with the parent to see if the freebe was truly needed. The kid might just have not asked his or her parents and didn't want to get into trouble for not having their supplies.
Kim Q
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/3/2008 11:19:19 PM
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hoppersfan
Posts: 960
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GregandJenny
quote:
know that in kindergarten or any other class for that matter that children do not need a disposable camera to learn.
I would agree, however if the teacher has a project planned and your child or a child gets left out, people can't be upset and blame the school.
That's exactly right. And, I can pretty much guarantee you that even though the teacher would not leave the child out, if he/she did the child's parents would have a fit.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/4/2008 7:48:11 AM
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mapachito13
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The office supply stores, Target and Wal-Mart this year had great discounts on many of the small but necessary items my kids needed for school. They had packs of pens, pencils, highlighter, compasses, protractors, small calculators, rulers, notepads, etc. for just a buck. I had bought the majority of the stuff the prior month at the regular pricing and now wish I had waited for the sales! 
Save up prior but wait for the "Back to School sales" to buy! This can make your hard earned dollars worth more!
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"I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility."-David Walker, fmr comptroller general of the US
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/4/2008 10:21:06 AM
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garsyt
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I guess I can see at the very least asking for an explanation regarding the disposable camera - especially at the early elementary level. Is it going to be used so the teacher can take photos of the kids doing various activities or what - exactly what is it being used for and are there alternatives? I know our elementary school has 2 digital cameras available for teacher use and then these photos can be printed right at school or taken to the store for printing or even E-mailed to parents. Now I could see sending in a disposable camera for my kindergartener IF I was assured of getting all those photos of my child back, but if they are going to be used to take pictures of classroom things and used to make labels or whatever - the more economical way to go is digital. Depending on the situation, I'd even be the one to volunteer to come in and take those "labeling" photos and make the labels too, I'd even use my own camera for that one.
A camera is one of those things that I would question at the elementary level. Here at the middle school level the Art teacher does ask for the kids, during their photography and collage units have access to some sort of 35 mm camera for several days and that those photos the kids take be developed or printed by a specific date. But that is stated right in her back to school paperwork at the beginning of the school year.
As to saving up over a few months or even the year for the school supplies. In this economy - with job layoffs and life - sometimes the last thing on a parents mind, say in January, is "how are we going to pay for back to school things in August?" Lots and lots of working families will save for college, they will have a household savings but sometimes LIFE takes a bite out of those savings really quickly and often at the most inopportune times. For example - roughly 40 folks were laid off from my hubby's place of employment for 2+ months this past summer. INCLUDING my husband. That left us with our savings back up and a measly $350 a week from unemployment which got all messed up in paperwork and we ended up waiting nearly 5 weeks for that FIRST check. We had roughly 2 months of savings in our bank at that time. Then hubby gets sick and ends up in the hospital. No insurance, not even state health care because he hadn't been without work long enough. So now on top of everything else we have medical bills into the $1000's of dollars. So savings shot, gas and food prices going up and a hubby in the hospital. The last thing on my mind was "oh wait - I need to be putting a little aside out of this measly unemployment check to buy school supplies, when it barely covers the mortgage and car payment." The economy sucks right now. It is getting harder and harder for the middle class to make ends meet and for the working poor, which my family qualifies as, it's literally pay check to pay check. In January many are often more worried about paying their utility bills and keeping the heat on and August is the furthest thing from their minds. So the idea of saving is great - it does however get trumped by life a lot of the time. I couldn't even begin to thing about school supplies until July when my hubby went back to work, and we were caught up a bit on our bills.
And in my opinion - the parents that do give a hoot about their child's education WILL make sure that their kids at least have the basic supplies - but they also have the right and the responsibility to question the reasoning behind some of those not so traditional supplies and they have the responsibility to question why so many Kleenex's when there is already a cabinet full and why is a camera needed for kindergarten and is this going to be community property or just for my child's use. Parents also have the right and responsibility to make sure that they communicate with the teachers openly and not hide financial hardships. If there truly is a need - many schools have ways of working out those problems.
quote:
In my opinion, there's no good excuse for parents not providing the necessary supplies to get their children through their school year. There's lots of excuses, but no good reason. - This is where opinions differ. A teacher or another parent or some administrator somewhere will think that something is a necessity - when there are alternatives or a parent simply questions that perceived need.
A few years ago when my eldest dd was in kindergarten I was told that we needed to purchase for her a "specific paint shirt" that could only be found at this one store and that the students needed it for their art classes to cover up their school clothing during messy art projects. This specific paint shirt only cost a few dollars but I personally thought it was one of those items that someone dreamed up as necessary when a simple old pullover t-shirt would do the same job. So I questioned the teacher about it, and I questioned the art teacher about it, asking if there were alternatives. And neither one of them had thought about that at all. So we worked it out that an old t-shirt of mine for my dd would be fine and a week into school the teacher sent home notes stating that if the children did not have the specific paint shirts yet that any old, oversized t-shirt would be fine. What ticks me tho is that we never got that t-shirt back. I even painted on it to personalize it for my dd and to this day 4 years later - it is likely still in an art room cabinet at that school, being used my someone else. If I buy something durable like paint shirts, or scissors, or calculator and I take the time to label them for my kids I EXPECT to get them back. I'm NOT buying things to supply the next year's class.
Blessings,
Garsy
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My Blog: www.moredayslikethisplease.wordpress.com
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/4/2008 4:17:31 PM
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mapachito13
Posts: 2498
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Life happens while we're making our plans. 
_____________________________
Peace Sells....But Who's Buying!
"I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility."-David Walker, fmr comptroller general of the US
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/5/2008 7:25:34 AM
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daboysj
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In my school district, funds were cut. Teachers have been given no money from the county to buy items for their classrooms. We had to ask for some items that you would normally not think about as school supplies. Like paper plates and paper bags. But, we will use most of these items for differnt art projects during the year.
Also, I know teachers who have taken items from students and requested the parents come to school to pick them up. They never came. One teacher still has a Nintendo DS in her closet after 1 year.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/5/2008 12:58:05 PM
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thisistheday
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For a high schooler, I wouldn't mind my child bringing in Kleenex to say the homeroom teacher, but not one for every class.
We have only one office supply store in our usual shopping area, and that is 30+ miles away. The time hubby stopped there after work (he works nearby) to get the super good deals they were out of everything. So that doesn't always work out. I don't have too much problem with our lists. I do wish the school would provide the dry erase markers since they replaced the chalk boards. Last year my son's teacher sent home extra hand sanitizer with anyone who would bring in more Kleenex partway through the year. I'm not sure they used the note cards either, and I wonder what they do with the ziploc bags in the older grades.
Dee
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/5/2008 2:27:48 PM
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ladyingrace1979
Posts: 357
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From: Fresno CA
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As to saving up over a few months or even the year for the school supplies. In this economy - with job layoffs and life - sometimes the last thing on a parents mind, say in January, is "how are we going to pay for back to school things in August?" Lots and lots of working families will save for college, they will have a household savings but sometimes LIFE takes a bite out of those savings really quickly and often at the most inopportune times.
Amen! We are struggling some months just to put food on the table. So I guess that makes me a terrible parent because I didn't send my kids teachers kleenex.
Kim Q
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/5/2008 7:51:09 PM
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hoppersfan
Posts: 960
Joined: 6/27/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ladyingrace1979
We are struggling some months just to put food on the table. So I guess that makes me a terrible parent because I didn't send my kids teachers kleenex.
Kim Q
No, it doesn't make you a terrible parent, and I don't think anyone on here said anything like that. This conversation is going in circles.
Do you ever go to the movies? Buy a movie? Buy a book? Go out to eat? Go to an amusement park? Go to the zoo? When you feel that something is important, you generally find a way to pay for it. For some parents, providing their child's school supplies is not high up there on their priority lists, and you get all kinds of excuses as to why they can't get those supplies in. Sometimes those excuses are legitimate, and sometimes they're not. In any case, someone else gets to pick up the slack because whether or not you as a parent provide your child's supplies, he/she still has to have them to get through the day.
And, I'm not talking about disposable cameras, by the way. I use a digital camera for our projects, and I ALWAYS pay for the prints myself. I have never, nor would I ever dream of asking a parent to pay for that. It's something I do to give the parents something to keep to remember their child's first year of school. I enjoy doing that.
This is what I asked for on my supply list:
pencils
crayons
scissors
glue sticks
Kleenex
Gym Shoes (can be used, but must be clean so they won't scratch the floor)
4 folders
4 Tennis balls (school requirement-to be placed on the kids' chairs)
Some type of table cleaner
Germ-X
If you don't have to buy the gym shoes, you could get these things for under $12.00 total. I don't think anyone can complain about that. And, before someone jumps on me over the table cleaner on the list, I use that to clean the tables every day after snack is over. 5-year old children can be quite messy, and I don't complain about cleaning up after the kids, so I hope their parents don't complain about sending 1 bottle of cleaner a YEAR. 
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/5/2008 9:20:11 PM
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garsyt
Posts: 2232
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Hoppers - I understand the why for the table cleaner - and if a parent were to ask I would hope you would be greeted with a positive attitude when you explained the need. But I also think MOST parents will supply the basics - and would willing provide some of these things that we perceive as over the top such as disposable cameras, table cleaners, baby wipes, or specific paint shirts only found at one place and if teachers would be willing to negotiate on some things like specific brand folders, binders, certain count numbers of crayons (sometimes 24 count boxes are cheaper and easier to find then 8 count boxes), I think we would have a lot fewer frustrations on both sides of the school supply issues. (How's that for a big time run-on sentence!  )
quote:
In any case, someone else gets to pick up the slack because whether or not you as a parent provide your child's supplies, he/she still has to have them to get through the day. But 5 boxes of tissues? No child I know goes through 5 boxes of tissues, by themselves in a years time. Does one teacher really need 20 containers of table cleaner? 20 cans of shaving cream? 12 folders? 12 folders for 3rd grade? Do the kids REALLY need those specific paint shirts? Will my child not be able to complete the same activities with a simple oversized t-shirt as a paint shirt?
I don't think any of us are complaining about the things like pencils, paper, glue, and crayons. It's the excess, the things that we, as parents outside of the realm of classroom education and teachers, don't understand the reason behind and often times there is NO explanation for these things we don't understand. And we can't get answers because we can't reach the teachers over the summer months, and even if we could it's likely we don't know which teacher in the school building will be our child's teacher because those lists aren't made out til right before school starts, and by then we are already expected to have most of the supplies purchased already. 
and Hopper - I'm not saying you are like this as a teacher - not at all. But it seems several of us have come across some teachers or school districts that make you wonder if they have a practical bone in their bodies. Of course then you have parents that just don't give a hoot to even bother supplying the basics, and forget forever the fun stuff like shaving cream and cameras.
Blessings,
Garsy
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My Blog: www.moredayslikethisplease.wordpress.com
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/5/2008 11:27:20 PM
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uponeagleswings
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This is a very interesting discussion to me.
At the district where I taught (1st grade, but this was district and maybe state policy) we weren't allowed to require the parents to send in ANYTHING- not so much as a pencil. We had community supplies that were distributed out to each kid. We could request donations, and some parents did donate supplies. Because our school was Title 1, we received supplies and used them to put together homework boxes that we sent HOME with our kids so that we knew that at least at the beginning of the year they had pencils and scissors to do their homework.
I could see a teacher going through 20 cans of shaving cream or table cleaner in a year. Cleaning 30 desks every day takes a noticeable amount of cleaner (and paper towels). Same with hand sanitizer- my kids went straight from PE to lunch and each got a squirt of hand sanitizer since they didn't have a chance to wash their hands. 30 little squirts of sanitizer each day adds up.
Same with snacks- we did classroom snacks (not individual) and I bought them for a while, but then I had to ask parents to donate what they could- we didn't have snack very often.
We also had a copy limit each month. If we made more than x amount of copies, we were locked out of the machine until the end of the month. The limit number may sound like a lot, but I was xeroxing easy readers (part of our reading curriculum) for my kids to take home so that they could practice reading at home.
I know part of the reason that teachers specifically request Crayola supplies is that they really do hold up better (and wash out more easily) than other brands.
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Stacy The Story "A violet is not an impaired daisy."
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/6/2008 10:51:30 AM
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hoppersfan
Posts: 960
Joined: 6/27/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: garsyt
Does one teacher really need 20 containers of table cleaner?
Garsy
The answer to this is no. One teacher generally needs twice that much to last throughout the year. Cleaning up after so many little ones day after day takes a lot of cleaner.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/6/2008 10:56:26 AM
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hoppersfan
Posts: 960
Joined: 6/27/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: uponeagleswings
I know part of the reason that teachers specifically request Crayola supplies is that they really do hold up better (and wash out more easily) than other brands.
You are exactly right. As far as pencils go, I prefer that my kids bring in the plain brown Papermate pencils. These pencils are inexpensive, and they actually function the way they are made to. Those little character pencils are very cute (and expensive), but they do NOT work very well.
As far as the discussion about the paint shirts goes, I have always asked that my kids bring in an old, large t-shirt for messy days. I see no need in all of the kids having a specific type of art t-shirt.
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/6/2008 12:06:43 PM
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garsyt
Posts: 2232
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quote:
Those little character pencils are very cute (and expensive), but they do NOT work very well.
I detest those character pencils - for me they are a WASTE of my money. I don't buy them, yet we always end up with a lot of them in the house anyway.
quote:
As far as the discussion about the paint shirts goes, I have always asked that my kids bring in an old, large t-shirt for messy days. I see no need in all of the kids having a specific type of art t-shirt. But see this is just the point I'm trying to make. This specific teacher wanted this specific paint shirt and hadn't even considered an alternative. She admitted to me at the end of the year that she didn't think it would be a hardship for anyone in "Our district" (since we are considered a "rich" district) or that it would be a problem for parents to get to the store to get one. I think it was more that she hadn't thought of possible alternatives. Another example was the heavy duty plastic folders that my daughter's 2nd grade teachers had on the list. They asked for a specific brand with NO prongs. They were practically impossible to find and, as far as I know, NEVER on sale. I managed to dig some up and a couple of them had the prongs but knowing the teacher the way I do I knew it wouldn't be a problem. But they weren't an easy find, and I KNOW of other parents that gave up and bought the cheaper ones.
I think a lot of these issues would be solved if A.) there was more communication between parents and teachers, B.) if parents were able and willing to contact their child's teacher over the summer months, C.) if some teachers would be okay with alternatives, D.) If individual teachers or even all the teachers at a specific school and grade were allowed to distribute their own lists and not be required to submit to the overall districts whims, E.) If all parties involved were able to supply and find required supplies easily, and F.) if some of these non-traditional items were explained and parents were given a good practical reason for them.
Oh and I totally understand the crayola thing. That's all I buy around here. They just work so much better.
Blessings,
Garsy
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My Blog: www.moredayslikethisplease.wordpress.com
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RE: School supplies - What really is necessary? - 9/6/2008 12:13:39 PM
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zoebob
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I only buy crayola for my kids too. However, I did pick up some off brand that was a penny a box for hte after school program I run since it's not school.
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