Anyone else get annoyed.. (School Supplies)

[richmond282]

I too have a classroom and I am allways out a couple hundred dollars to just get started (highlighters, post it notes, pens, pencils).

To this teacher: I hope you keep receipts for this stuff. It's tax deductible, you know.

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

Speaking as someone who erases a lot (!) the pink ones work, and almost all others (except gum) suck. I find that even some of the erasers on the pencils stink.

Yeah, the ones I got are called Black Pearls (bought 2 more today for use at home). They are the same brand and everything as the regular pink ones made by Pearl but are latex free and and pvc free or something and are black for my son who is totally into Camp Rock right now

 

[gaelic grace]

To this teacher: I hope you keep receipts for this stuff. It's tax deductible, you know.

Being able to deduct from your expenses is nice- although you can do it for only a small amount but many people forget that young teachers often don't itemize so this isn't a benefit for them. Many teachers right out of school aren't going to own a home or have the other possible deductions to allow you to use this benefit.

 

[princessmom29]

To this teacher: I hope you keep receipts for this stuff. It's tax deductible, you know.

Only $250 I spend at least double that in a year in my classroom!

 

[princessmom29]

I am not a teacher. However, I have volunteered in my daughters' classroom at least once a week since they started school. (They start 3rd grade next week.) More than half of those days I was at school ALL day. So while I am not a teacher, I have observed enough to form an opinion -- even if you find it "insane".

What IS insane is that you had to teach classes with 28+ kids in the primary grades! In California our class sizes cannot exceed 20 students through 3rd grade.

I am trying to understand the logic in taking the time to pass out 28+ crayons and pick them up again. Is that really that much less time consuming than each student reaching into their desk? For those that lost/broke/ate the crayons -- keep an extras supply in the classroom. If a student doesn't have the required color they go get it themselves while the other students are getting their crayons out and getting started. I fail to see how that can be more disruptive to the lesson than having to distribute and collect all the crayons every time they need them.

This is how it was done in my daughters' 2nd grade classroom and it went very smoothly. It was the same with scissors, markers, glue sticks, and colored pencils. There was a box of extras for those who didn't have them, and those that did could get started on their work.

Unfortunately this is reality for most school systems, at least in my part of the world, and we have to deal with what we are given. Most k students in our schools couldn't handle getting up to get a missing crayon b/c eveyone would then be wandering aimlessly. Especally at the beginning of school. Most of these children have never been to school and have no idea of classroom ediquette. Classes are too big and we do not have resources we need. In a prefect world we would all have small classes and all parents would care about all the students not just their chlid and no one would think they are better than anyone else, but that is not what we deal with daily. Asking parents to bring in supplies for their kids does absolutely no good when a parent simply doesn't care, or thinks that it is the school system's responsibility to provide a free education. Legally as a teacher i can't punish/ give no credit to a child who has no suplies except for those who have not paid for a lost book and cannot get a new one to do their assignment. My sister teaches K and I teach high school. When she started school her class of 22 had 4 bottles of glue, six pairs of scissors and 2 full boxes of new crayons. They had 2 rolls of paper towels and a box of tissues. This is all the parents brought. She is a first year teacher with NO money from the school district. What is she supposed to do here. She doesn't get paid untill the end of Sept. b/c we operate on a monthly pay system so is she supposed to by supplies with her own money that she doesn't have yet??? This is why teachers put extra stuff on their supply lists. So your child doesn't end up in this situation. I bought some supplies for this class and so did my mom. We don't even teach these kids and we are providing their stuff b/c we care!!! Please give the teachers who are trying to do the best for your children a little help and send an extra box of crayons/ glue stick and don't worry about what brand of crayons your kid is using. It is much more important that they have a caring involved teacher and are taught charity and social responsibility at home. Is it right that these kids parents didn't bring supplies? no. Is it fair to punish the children for their parent's actions? no it is fair to punish the teacher? no. Please be compassionate and help!!!!

 

[TwinsinCA]

If it could cause too much disruption at the K level to get their own crayon, then how about they raise their hand and the teacher gives it to them? Handing out a few STILL has to be preferable than handing out ALL.

I would love to hear more about your sister's situation. Did she have a supply list and only two students brought the complete list while a few others brought some things on it? Was she not allowed to ask for items at all and this is just the random stuff people donated? I find that hard to believe since this is a case when they provide nothing. What about pencils and paper?

It really is unfortunate that your sister had no way to force parents to provide their children's supplies. Didn't someone in this thread say they could withhold recess until supplies were in? I didn't think it was illegal to punish for that reason. Perhaps it varies by state.

Say you assign some special project but the parents refuse to buy the materials for it? Then what? No supplies -- the work can't get done. If you can't withhold credit for lack of supplies -- what do you do?

Here's another scenario: I have heard several mentions of the dreaded expensive scientific calculator. What happens when you have a child taking a class where this is required and the parents flat out refuse to provide it? Are other students expected to share? Does the teacher provide one? Or does their grade suffer without it? I guess I find it hard to believe that you cannot have grades affected by lack of supplies.

I say give parents a week or two to get the supplies in (provided you had the list a few weeks before the start of school -- unlike our district!). If they do not provide the items or provide only some they are sent a bill for the rest. If they don't pay it, send them to collections. If they qualify for free lunch then an exception can be made - but otherwise they are on the hook for the supplies. I suppose there are legal reasons that will never happen, but there has to be SOME WAY to make the parents provide for their own kids!

 

[nancy drew]

I am not a teacher. However, I have volunteered in my daughters' classroom at least once a week since they started school. (They start 3rd grade next week.) More than half of those days I was at school ALL day. So while I am not a teacher, I have observed enough to form an opinion -- even if you find it "insane".

What IS insane is that you had to teach classes with 28+ kids in the primary grades! In California our class sizes cannot exceed 20 students through 3rd grade.

I am trying to understand the logic in taking the time to pass out 28+ crayons and pick them up again. Is that really that much less time consuming than each student reaching into their desk? For those that lost/broke/ate the crayons -- keep an extras supply in the classroom. If a student doesn't have the required color they go get it themselves while the other students are getting their crayons out and getting started. I fail to see how that can be more disruptive to the lesson than having to distribute and collect all the crayons every time they need them.

This is how it was done in my daughters' 2nd grade classroom and it went very smoothly. It was the same with scissors, markers, glue sticks, and colored pencils. There was a box of extras for those who didn't have them, and those that did could get started on their work.

The number of kids in a classroom is insane. And they like to pretend that they have "assistants" to "help" the teachers, but those assistants float between classes and are almost useless.

The way I handled passing out 28+ crayons was to have a member of each table group assigned as "supply manager" (it varied by day or week, cant recall). That person would go to the supply cabinet and get their tables supplies and pass them out. Now that I think about it, I did let the kids keep their names on their scissors and glue, and when a student moved tables their supplies moved too. I seriously tried it other ways, and even with weekly desk clean-outs, when I let each student keep things in their desks we would spend 10 minutes waiting for Johnny to find his scissors (ours were not the "lift the top" desks, they just had a big hole so plenty of stuff got lost) and even if I told them to keep things inside their pencil boxes, they didn't always listen. And when I was giving a test or something, and I said "Take out your red crayon" and 5 kids couldn't find them, so I said "Go to the crayon bin and find one" it took far too long, and they would socialize back there, and it ate up valuable time. So I made generic bags of crayons, each with the same colors (all "extra" colors went into a bin in the back of the room, along with extras of all colors) and put the bags in a cubby for each table group. So if we needed crayons, the supply manager got the "crayon bin" which had bags for each student at their table. Having a supply manager, who got supplies for 4-6 kids, honestly made things a breeze. Plus it gave each child a turn at managing their "team" and observing other managers to learn from them. Kids learn a lot from their peers. Same deal for scissors and glue, which I now recall was labeled for each student. They would hand out scissors and glue to each student as needed.

The really pretty glittery pencils tear up my pencil sharpener, so I no longer allow them. If a child brings it, I tell them to take that one home and use it to do homework with. Some of the character pencils also tear up my sharpener, and some don't. It depends on how thick the paint/plastic coating is on the pencils. I tried letting kids keep a small pencil sharpener in their supply box to sharpen these, but it ended up just leaving a mess of shavings on the desks & floor.


Also, don't most of your schools get donated supplies for children in need? Local churches always collect supplies & donate to our school. Also, we have "Stuff the Bus" around here at local Walmart & other stores. Shoppers in Walmart (who are willing) buy extra supplies to donate. Then those supplies are donated to area schools.

Yesterday, I was in Dollar General and they are collecting donated boxes of cereal, cereal bars, poptarts, etc for needy kids breakfast. DG will forward donated items to the local food bank to be distributed. Everywhere I look lately people are collecting things.

I taught at a Charter School, and we had nada for extra supplies. Nothing. I taught very poor families, most of whom qualified for free breakfast and lunch, many of whom wouldn't pick up their sick kids from school because they were too drunk or high (or worse yet, they DID pick up their sick kids when they were drunk or high). We had zero donations. Everything we needed came from our $100 class budget (for the year) or our own pockets. We were rationed paper for the month for copies, too. So if we wanted to make more copies, we had to buy the paper.

And yeah, I went through so many blessed pencil sharpeners. And pencil sharpening was "social hour" so I had to pool all of the pencils, and have students sharpen the pool after school as they waited for their buses (they waited in the classroom, have I mentioned these kids hardly left the room for 9 hours a day?) so each table group had a supply of sharpened pencils every day. If a child broke a pencil, s/he would go to the supply cubby for their table, stick the broken one in the cup and pick up a new one. Honestly, it was a well-oiled machine I ran.

A few people did, myself included.

I'm not "allowed" to send in those $0.22 boxes of crayons. We MUST send in the washables at an odd number over $2.50 a box, and we MUST send in 14 boxes of them. That alone is over $35. That doesn't count the 8 bottles of large glue (also NOT on sale) or the 15 glue sticks, an expensive brand that is NOT on sale that is REQUIRED. Have you checked the price of packages (not singles) dry erase markers--which the required brand is (again) NOT on sales--that I am REQUIRED to send in 3 packages of? Those 3 reams of printer paper is $15. Then there are the pencils that if my child uses one every two days should still have left overs of, and the 8 folders, and the three 3-ring binders (that are $5 each). And the several packages of 150 count baby wipes. And the 5 boxes of Kleenex that must be anti-bacterial (which, really, I would do anyhow). Then there is the $18 notebooks, yes $18, special notebooks that I must supply two of. I haven't even gotten through half the list.

Do you understand why I would want my unused supplies back? They aren't even being used and I could send them in the next year. Plus, that much money is ridiculous on elementary school supplies. Wouldn't you be annoyed? Come to think of it, maybe the teachers should be spending their own money on them so they can figure out that it shouldn't be required!! There are 25 kids in each class. So, each class has 375 glue sticks at their disposal each year. Is that necessary?

OK just to clarify, when I talked about my own classroom supply lists, I asked for 1 of each supply. Maybe 2 glue sticks. And 1 or 2 packages of pencils (which were pooled). But 14 of anything??? NO!!!!!!! Seriously, that is out of control.

The baby wipes were essential. You really do need a ton of those if you want to have a remotely hygienic room. But I can see how it seems excessive on top of everything else. My kids ate breakfast and lunch at their desks every day, so we used wipes to clean up after that. And I had the kids do a wipe down every Friday on the whole room, plus if we did any art projects we would use the wipes to clean up. I think we asked for 2 boxes in the fall, and sent out a note asking "anyone who can spare a box or two of wipes, we would really appreciate it" and probably included a few other things, too. I think one year I made a checklist for each child and checked off what they needed as far as refills at Winter break. The wipes, though, those really helped.

exactly! My son went school supply shopping with me to get excited about school.The first thing he ran to was a High School Musical folder. I told him it wasn't on the list, but we could get it and use it at home for his coloring sheets and stuff that he does at home. He was happy enough. I can understand in the classroom, when in the younger grades, a specified color for the folder for organization. BUT, I don't see anything against High School Musical pencils (which we bought and are sending with his name on them in his pencil box along with a million yellow ones LOL). I just don't understand how bringing in a cute eraser as opposed to the pink fat erasers is going to cause an issue. My son picked out the black erasers made by the people who make the pink ones. They are latex free and pvc free or something like that? lol. But he liked the black ones. Anyways, I think there needs to be a little room for freedom of expression - at least with pencils LOL

As someone else said, some of those cute erasers just make a mess . When you are using standardized tests, those messes are not OK. I hate tests, personally, but they seem to be part of most schools. Its best to have an eraser that will really work. But you have a great solution on the folder. Seriously, there is a great time and place for all of the fun supplies.

 

[nancy drew]

Unfortunately this is reality for most school systems, at least in my part of the world, and we have to deal with what we are given. Most k students in our schools couldn't handle getting up to get a missing crayon b/c eveyone would then be wandering aimlessly. Especally at the beginning of school. Most of these children have never been to school and have no idea of classroom ediquette. Classes are too big and we do not have resources we need. In a prefect world we would all have small classes and all parents would care about all the students not just their chlid and no one would think they are better than anyone else, but that is not what we deal with daily. Asking parents to bring in supplies for their kids does absolutely no good when a parent simply doesn't care, or thinks that it is the school system's responsibility to provide a free education. Legally as a teacher i can't punish/ give no credit to a child who has no suplies except for those who have not paid for a lost book and cannot get a new one to do their assignment. My sister teaches K and I teach high school. When she started school her class of 22 had 4 bottles of glue, six pairs of scissors and 2 full boxes of new crayons. They had 2 rolls of paper towels and a box of tissues. This is all the parents brought. She is a first year teacher with NO money from the school district. What is she supposed to do here. She doesn't get paid untill the end of Sept. b/c we operate on a monthly pay system so is she supposed to by supplies with her own money that she doesn't have yet??? This is why teachers put extra stuff on their supply lists. So your child doesn't end up in this situation. I bought some supplies for this class and so did my mom. We don't even teach these kids and we are providing their stuff b/c we care!!! Please give the teachers who are trying to do the best for your children a little help and send an extra box of crayons/ glue stick and don't worry about what brand of crayons your kid is using. It is much more important that they have a caring involved teacher and are taught charity and social responsibility at home. Is it right that these kids parents didn't bring supplies? no. Is it fair to punish the children for their parent's actions? no it is fair to punish the teacher? no. Please be compassionate and help!!!!

Exactly. And when 90% of the class work involves directions such as "Color the words that begin with "b" blue" etc., you can't really let a child with no crayons just sit and pick his nose and fail, can you? That child needs a blue crayon. He shouldn't fail because his parents can't/won't buy crayons, should he? I don't think any principal would advise that.

 

[noodleknitter]

Yeah, the ones I got are called Black Pearls (bought 2 more today for use at home). They are the same brand and everything as the regular pink ones made by Pearl but are latex free and and pvc free or something and are black for my son who is totally into Camp Rock right now

I had no clue they came in other colors. I guess I am a creature of habit!

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

Yeah, they only come in black or pink (the pearl brand anyways) and it works just like a pearl except it doesn't have the allergens like latex. They work just the same. just a different shape and color to tell them apart.

 

[Minnie_me]

To this teacher: I hope you keep receipts for this stuff. It's tax deductible, you know.

We can only claim $250 per year. I spend about 10 times that!

 

[In a hurry]

We can only claim $250 per year. I spend about 10 times that!

Only 10x's?

I wish parents would go with the flow a bit. Most of my friends do our best to keep our lists reasonable. If my kids ever come home with a list I feel to be ridiculous, I just wouldn't send the stuff in, and I'd let the teacher know why. (I'll listen to their reasoning before I do that, though!)

I've got 3rd grade this year, and I expect them to keep track of their own stuff. 1st graders are pooled, because it is such an important time. I need every available second to teach them their basics. I"ve never had a parent complain to me. Of course, maybe they were ragging about it on the internet!

 

[perkinsrose]

Exactly. And when 90% of the class work involves directions such as "Color the words that begin with "b" blue" etc., you can't really let a child with no crayons just sit and pick his nose and fail, can you? That child needs a blue crayon. He shouldn't fail because his parents can't/won't buy crayons, should he? I don't think any principal would advise that.

It would really concern me (as a parent /teacher) to hear that 90% of classwork is teacher directed / worksheet driven! Aren't most kindergartens aware of developmentally appropriate practices now adays?

 

[perkinsrose]

If it could cause too much disruption at the K level to get their own crayon, then how about they raise their hand and the teacher gives it to them? Handing out a few STILL has to be preferable than handing out ALL.

I would love to hear more about your sister's situation. Did she have a supply list and only two students brought the complete list while a few others brought some things on it? Was she not allowed to ask for items at all and this is just the random stuff people donated? I find that hard to believe since this is a case when they provide nothing. What about pencils and paper?

It really is unfortunate that your sister had no way to force parents to provide their children's supplies. Didn't someone in this thread say they could withhold recess until supplies were in? I didn't think it was illegal to punish for that reason. Perhaps it varies by state.

Say you assign some special project but the parents refuse to buy the materials for it? Then what? No supplies -- the work can't get done. If you can't withhold credit for lack of supplies -- what do you do?

Here's another scenario: I have heard several mentions of the dreaded expensive scientific calculator. What happens when you have a child taking a class where this is required and the parents flat out refuse to provide it? Are other students expected to share? Does the teacher provide one? Or does their grade suffer without it? I guess I find it hard to believe that you cannot have grades affected by lack of supplies.

I say give parents a week or two to get the supplies in (provided you had the list a few weeks before the start of school -- unlike our district!). If they do not provide the items or provide only some they are sent a bill for the rest. If they don't pay it, send them to collections. If they qualify for free lunch then an exception can be made - but otherwise they are on the hook for the supplies. I suppose there are legal reasons that will never happen, but there has to be SOME WAY to make the parents provide for their own kids!

Albeit over 15 years ago, i took precalculus in highschool. Parent were given the chance to purchase/order scientific calculators which i was fortunate my parents could afford. (i think the one i had was about $75). Teacher also had a supply for those that didn't buy one. Many students didn't have one and there always seemed to be enough to go around in the classroom supply. This was a middle-income community.

 

[Minnie_me]

Exactly. And when 90% of the class work involves directions such as "Color the words that begin with "b" blue" etc., you can't really let a child with no crayons just sit and pick his nose and fail, can you? That child needs a blue crayon. He shouldn't fail because his parents can't/won't buy crayons, should he? I don't think any principal would advise that.

Yikes - - 90%!??! Not in our Kindergarten classrooms! Our kids are actively involved in literacy centers for a huge chunk of the day. Not doing meaningless worksheets.

 

[carj]

Yikes - - 90%!??! Not in our Kindergarten classrooms! Our kids are actively involved in literacy centers for a huge chunk of the day. Not doing meaningless worksheets.

Maybe she meant 90% of the seatwork. I don't know any Kindergarten where 90% of the day is spent doing worksheets.

 

[rt2dz]

That is crazy! I am a teacher, and I can't imagine where all these things are going to be stored! It is too excessive and expensive. I'm not sure how much my list costs, but I bet it is under $10. I do ask for 4 glue sticks, because we go through those like crazy, but you can get those for under a dollar. I also split the supplies. For instance, 1/3 will bring a roll of paper towels, 1/3 will bring wipes, and 1/3 will bring index cards. Everyone is asked to bring a dry erase marker because I use individual dry erase boards.

I get alot of my supplies at Big Lots. I just found a package of 8 dry erase markers (Expo) for $3.00.

And I would have absolutely no problem with what you require. But what we are required to bring, I do have a problem with. I do it, but it annoys me.

Our school has 10 classes per grade level with 25 kids each; really, no less. There is a huge supply closet, about the size of one my kid’s bedrooms, for each grade level. All supplies go in there, with a small storage area shared between two classrooms for on-hand supplies. Yes, some stuff goes in the desk. And, at the end of the year, those supply closets are still FULL. Where does it all go?

 

[princessmom29]

If it could cause too much disruption at the K level to get their own crayon, then how about they raise their hand and the teacher gives it to them? Handing out a few STILL has to be preferable than handing out ALL.

I would love to hear more about your sister's situation. Did she have a supply list and only two students brought the complete list while a few others brought some things on it? Was she not allowed to ask for items at all and this is just the random stuff people donated? I find that hard to believe since this is a case when they provide nothing. What about pencils and paper?

It really is unfortunate that your sister had no way to force parents to provide their children's supplies. Didn't someone in this thread say they could withhold recess until supplies were in? I didn't think it was illegal to punish for that reason. Perhaps it varies by state.

Say you assign some special project but the parents refuse to buy the materials for it? Then what? No supplies -- the work can't get done. If you can't withhold credit for lack of supplies -- what do you do?

Here's another scenario: I have heard several mentions of the dreaded expensive scientific calculator. What happens when you have a child taking a class where this is required and the parents flat out refuse to provide it? Are other students expected to share? Does the teacher provide one? Or does their grade suffer without it? I guess I find it hard to believe that you cannot have grades affected by lack of supplies.

I say give parents a week or two to get the supplies in (provided you had the list a few weeks before the start of school -- unlike our district!). If they do not provide the items or provide only some they are sent a bill for the rest. If they don't pay it, send them to collections. If they qualify for free lunch then an exception can be made - but otherwise they are on the hook for the supplies. I suppose there are legal reasons that will never happen, but there has to be SOME WAY to make the parents provide for their own kids!

She is a first year teacher. New hires in our school system were made on a thursday with school starting on monday. That allowed 2 working days to get ready (we spent 8 hours at her school that saturday getting her classroom ready. We supplied everything that went into it except furniture, textbooks, and bulliten borad paper. She had NOTHING not even pencils and paper) A suply list was given at orentation, but that was all that was brought by parents. This situation is why teachers ask for extra. As a new teacher coming in she didn't have last year's extras.We really cannot withold privliges b/c parents do not bring supplies and we can't bill them either. A public school has no recourse in our state for parents who don't provide supplies. expensive calculators ect. can only be required for classes not required to graduate, honors, ap ect.We are given an allocation for supplies, but it is Nov 30th before we can touch any of that money, and it is never close to enough. I teach chemistry and physics and I probably spend at least $1000 a year out of pocket so my kids can do the lab work I think they need. Our first year teachers also work 2 full months before they see a pay check b/c the system pays on a monthly basis.

It would really concern me (as a parent /teacher) to hear that 90% of classwork is teacher directed / worksheet driven! Aren't most kindergartens aware of developmentally appropriate practices now adays?

I this the poster had to mean 90% of seat work involves use of supplies. How can the child learn to write without a pencil, ect.

 

[Aristomommy]

She is a first year teacher. New hires in our school system were made on a thursday with school starting on monday. That allowed 2 working days to get ready (we spent 8 hours at her school that saturday getting her classroom ready. We supplied everything that went into it except furniture, textbooks, and bulliten borad paper. She had NOTHING not even pencils and paper) A suply list was given at orentation, but that was all that was brought by parents. This situation is why teachers ask for extra. As a new teacher coming in she didn't have last year's extras.We really cannot withold privliges b/c parents do not bring supplies and we can't bill them either. A public school has no recourse in our state for parents who don't provide supplies. expensive calculators ect. can only be required for classes not required to graduate, honors, ap ect.We are given an allocation for supplies, but it is Nov 30th before we can touch any of that money, and it is never close to enough. I teach chemistry and physics and I probably spend at least $1000 a year out of pocket so my kids can do the lab work I think they need. Our first year teachers also work 2 full months before they see a pay check b/c the system pays on a monthly basis.

How nice of you to help a first year teacher. I can't imagine having everything you need right away or even knowing what you'd need. Hopefully some of the other teachers will be helpful in sharing resources as well.

As far as requiring supplies, some schools around here hold grades until fees are paid, but this is in the higher grades. Children shouldn't be punished since its the parents who bring (or not) the supplies. I feel that in the end public school education should be free and the fees are getting higher every year. My supplies for this year were about $50 and then we have about $100 of fees for 5th grade as I learned about new fees today. I pay it without questioning the school, but I'm sure even this amount will be a hardship to those families in foreclosure or without a job.

 

[averysmom]

Albeit over 15 years ago, i took precalculus in highschool. Parent were given the chance to purchase/order scientific calculators which i was fortunate my parents could afford. (i think the one i had was about $75). Teacher also had a supply for those that didn't buy one. Many students didn't have one and there always seemed to be enough to go around in the classroom supply. This was a middle-income community.

I know that in our school, we have "extras" for kids to use in the classroom - but they can't take them home - so if there is homework, they have to borrow or come in at lunch / after school to do the work.