School supplies, merged threads (girls, semester, field, subject)

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by goodbyesnow

And those of us that have taught in nothing but Title one schools? Who do we solicit? It's ok that at tax time my receipts often total 1,000-2,000 for class supplies/materials?

If the kids show up sporting designer sneakers and cell phones/iPods then they certainly could have afforded $1 notebooks. Just takes a few days quietly watching and listening to figure out just how poor kids are.

[librarySue]

Ive never found the supply list to be more than about $10-15. I hold off on purchasing communal items until mid year when the tissue supply is used up...I figure storage space is limited in September.

Often the classroom management plan involves every child having a take home folder each week, or a particular storage bin for spelling notebooks, etc. So if the teacher asks for 3 composition books and 2 plastic folders and one 1 inch binder, I generally honor that. I only get annoyed when the stuff doesn't get used after all.

In June we go through our stuff and sort out what can be reused/set aside for fall. My oldest usually makes use of that while youngest likes to have shiny new in the fall. We can usually come to a compromise.

[raindrop101]

I have never found the school supply lists to be a problem and we have never experienced our supplies going into a community chest. I bought the best I could afford and I labeled everything. I have never had an issue with buying a different brand than suggested, though I realize that the better brands are better quality. I would be angry if I sent in top quality items and my child ended up with generic, but I have not had that problem.

I would not rely on the lists that are available at Walmart, Target, etc. They are usually too general and you end up needing additional or other items.

My daughter is in high school now, so we rarely need specific supplies, but I try to send in tissues, paper, etc. when I can. She had one teacher in middle school who gave pencils and pens to students in exchange for one of their shoes. They returned the pencils/pens and they got their shoes back. When he moved to high school last year, he did the same thing, except the ransom became the student's cell phone. He said his need to hand out supplies became non-existent. Although it was an unconventional way, the students learned to be prepared in class each day.

The most expensive item she needed was a TI calculator for math. If the students can't afford one, they can check them out in the school library for the year.

[no kudzu]

Years ago a teacher's salary was just that. Today she/he is expected to spend their own money if parents don't provide hand sanitizer, kleenex, etc. I am happy to supply such things if it will enable their teachers less stress and more energy to teach properly. it is criminal today how our teachers are under paid and little appreciated. And any parent who grouses about helping out has little understanding about education today.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

Yes. I buy everything and they use everything. My only real complaint is that some composition books come home with a lot of empty pages at the end of the year.

No. Folders, composition books, rulers, scissors, and most other items went straight into their desks. Pencils and some other items went into the pot.

I do find the amount we are required to spend excessive, but what are the alternatives? I'm not ok with the teacher spending his or her own money on that stuff. It p***** me off that my school district spends money on things I don't approve of, but I have to buy tissues and wet wipes. But we can afford the supplies, and I'm not going to have my kid be the one who doesn't have what he needs.

We spent about $140-$150 on supplies for 2 kids. We'll spend more than that on shoes and clothes. I shop consignment sales and shoe outlets. I just got a bunch of jeans at old navy for $10 each. I don't buy new stuff just to have new stuff. If last year's still fits, that's what they wear.

I live in the same area as Kibbiecat. My experience, adjusted for inflation, was similar all those years ago. Today I was in Target, and picked up a copy of my kids' old elementary school supply list.

Kindergarten:
2 boxes 24 crayons
2 pkg. wide primary color markers
48 Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils
1 bottle white Elmer's glue
2 boxes Kleenex
18 glue sticks
2 sets of watercolor paints
1 box of each ziploc bags, sandwich and gallon
1 bottle hand sanitizer
3 reams white copy paper
1 pair Fiskars scissors
Fee requested: $32.00
Covers:
Field trips
General Supplies
Craft Supples

4th Grade:
1 large box Kleenex
1 box crayons or color pencils
1 pair Fiskar heavy duty scissors
1 12" metric and inches ruler
4 spiral notebooks
4 pocket folders
84 Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils
2 Hi-liters (any color)
2 reams of white copy paper
1 roll of paper towels
1 roll of 1" masking tape
Optional:
1 hand calculator
1 ream copy paper (presumably an extra ream)
Fee requested $37.00
Covers:
Field trips
General supplies
Craft supplies
Planners
Time for Kids (I have no idea what this is)

Additional Items That Could Be Utilized Throughout the School: (For everyone)
Letter size file folders***White Out
Binder clips***Batteries (all sizes)
Thumb Tacks***Latex gloves (med and large)
Paper Towels***Scotch Brand Book Tape, 1.5" X 15 yd and 3" X 15 yd
Kleenex***

Supplies will need to be replenished mid school year.

This is a lot. I do think it's a good idea to collect the field trip money all at once, instead of having to hassle people all year long.

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

My first year teaching where I am I had a student who never had supplies. I don't know how many pencils or how much paper I gave to her during the year. On the last day of school, as I was walking out to the parking lot to leave for the summer, I hear a car horn honking behind me. It was her, in her shiny new Jaguar, coming to the school to turn in her book because her grades were on hold. She just drove by, shoved the book at me, and drove off. I will NEVER be able to afford that car and I was handing her paper and pencils all year that I paid for????

Some people have their priorities all wrong....or maybe they have what they have because they take advantage of others.

I no longer buy things like Kleenex and hand sanitizer. I just don't have them in my room. I have rolls of scratchy paper towels supplied by the school if your nose is running that badly. When you add up everything, it's insane. While I did spend more of my own money at the charter school, there I actually had parents who pitched in. At Christmas I'd get things like bottles of hand soap for the sinks or a ream of paper decorated with a couple of white board markers tied up in ribbon. Where I am now, the school buys dish soap but not hand soap so I've taken to refilling the hand soap bottles with dish soap so the kids can wash up after labs without me having to spend money on soap for upwards of 180 kids per lab.

I miss parents buying things like hand soap. I remember one girl commenting to another that the hand soap on the sink was expensive and wondering why I bought it (I didn't, a parent had given it to me) and the other girl said "That's because she cares about us.". I didn't correct her. Unfortunately, I can't afford to go to places like Bath and Bodyworks to buy hand soap for 9 sinks and upwards of 180 students per lab. I wish I did because the kids really like that kind of stuff.

RE: the bold-I think it is a great idea for teachers to suggest that kind of stuff for Christmas gifts.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by Katiana

...

RE: the bold-I think it is a great idea for teachers to suggest that kind of stuff for Christmas gifts.

I was really surprised when I moved from the charter to an affluent district. I thought there would be MORE contributions to the classroom. Instead, contributions dropped to non existent. I have not had one parent contribute one thing to my classroom since moving to this district. They will, however, complain that I don't provide things for their kids. The kids complain too. I have had offers to bring things in for extra credit but when I tell them I don't do that, the offers go away. So we do without Kleenex, hand sanitizer and hand soap. The only pencils, pens and paper I buy are the free with rebate ones I get from Staples or the penny a pack ones when they run their special deals. I haven't seen the pencil deal yet...I hope I didn't miss it .

[maciesmom]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

I was really surprised when I moved from the charter to an affluent district. I thought there would be MORE contributions to the classroom. Instead, contributions dropped to non existent. I have not had one parent contribute one thing to my classroom since moving to this district. They will, however, complain that I don't provide things for their kids. The kids complain too. I have had offers to bring things in for extra credit but when I tell them I don't do that, the offers go away. So we do without Kleenex, hand sanitizer and hand soap. The only pencils, pens and paper I buy are the free with rebate ones I get from Staples or the penny a pack ones when they run their special deals. I haven't seen the pencil deal yet...I hope I didn't miss it .

Do you ask?

[victimofGM]

Originally Posted by Pinkmani

You need to move out of your white bred neighborhood and/or get rid of your white is right mentality. However, you might not survive, so you should probably stay just where you are. Your statement about minorities is just a generalization that you pulled out of your ass.

My black parents (who were immigrants, by the way) made sure that their kids went to private school and bought more than enough school supplies (always had leftovers). This is coming from a kid lived in a majority black neighborhood where the average income is still $65,000.

So many assumptions. Know what they say about people who make ASSumptions? My school was nearly 50% minority (black) but nearly equal number of blacks and whites were poor. The mid to late 1980s were horrible years for oil field jobs and the oil field was the biggest employer in our area back then.

[victimofGM]

Originally Posted by Starman71

Well, I have no idea where you live, so I won't be such an arrogant tool as to say what goes on in your neck of the woods but in many areas in around me, the voters are a major - and I mean major - part of the budget issue. And I have taken a stroll around my system's central office, which happens to be in the oldest building in the county. I think they got new cubicle dividers last year . Have you taken a stroll in my central office lately? No? hmmm.... Did you vote in the latest elections in my neck of the woods concerning property tax increases (NETN)? No? But... I thought you knew everything about my area...


regarding the OP's use of the word "anal"...

When your head is up your rear, 4 out of your 5 senses aren't working. Most non-teachers - at least when discussing education issues, such as curriculum, salary/benefits, budgets, etc. - really do walk around in this newly named cephalo-rectal intrusion.

Our school board building is also old, however they and school administrators take tax payer paid trips to special conventions or "education" related events that just happen to be in vacation locations. Another problem with school boards is poor budget management. In some cases, they've approved an expensive contract to a company tied to themselves via friends, family, or political donations instead of who is most qualified for the best price. These types of companies generally drag out the job to milk the taxpayers out of a small fortune, some of which is shared via re-election funds.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by maciesmom

Do you ask?

Yes. They ask how much extra credit they're getting. When I tell them none, that's how much stuff they supply for the classroom.

I did not ask in the charter school. I didn't have to.