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I spent about 80$, but I think I bought for the whole class. I mean 4 boxes of crayons, 48 pencils, 24 glue sticks!!! Come on maybe parents would be better at sending stuff in if the list was not so huge!!!! Also the school had the nerve to put do NOT label with students name on the list. YEAH right!!!
The trend, in elementary school, is to pool resources. That way everyone has what they need when they need it. They ask for more than one student will use to make up for the students who can't or forget to contribute.
I wish I could do this on the high school level. Last year, I went through about 24 boxes of Kleenex, 6 LARGE bottles of hand sanitizer, over 300 pencils, Two refill size bottles of hand soap (plus the half dozen nice ones I bought and put in the room at Christmas that the kids LOVED0), about a dozen rolls of paper towels, Three containers of Lysol wipes, about 20 reams of paper more than the school supplies for me, and a couple of dozen colored Expo markers.
Note: A really nice, thoughful and relatively cheap Christmas gift for a teacher is a ream of paper wrapped in white paper the student decorates tied up with a bow tied around a colored Expomarker. You can buy half a box of paper for around $30 on sale and a pack of Expo markers on sale for $12 and make up 10 teacher gifts wtih two markers to spare. Scented hand scanitizers and hand soaps are good too if the class has sinks.
The trend, in elementary school, is to pool resources. That way everyone has what they need when they need it. They ask for more than one student will use to make up for the students who can't or forget to contribute.
I wish I could do this on the high school level. Last year, I went through about 24 boxes of Kleenex, 6 LARGE bottles of hand sanitizer, over 300 pencils, Two refill size bottles of hand soap (plus the half dozen nice ones I bought and put in the room at Christmas that the kids LOVED0), about a dozen rolls of paper towels, Three containers of Lysol wipes, about 20 reams of paper more than the school supplies for me, and a couple of dozen colored Expo markers.
Note: A really nice, thoughful and relatively cheap Christmas gift for a teacher is a ream of paper wrapped in white paper the student decorates tied up with a bow tied around a colored Expomarker. You can buy half a box of paper for around $30 on sale and a pack of Expo markers on sale for $12 and make up 10 teacher gifts wtih two markers to spare. Scented hand scanitizers and hand soaps are good too if the class has sinks.
See, our teachers didn't provide those things. You forgot a pencil? Borrow one from someone else.
I'm a teacher. That's what makes me mad. I know hand sanitizer, soap and paper towels are provided by the school free in every classroom. Every room has a sink/water fountain in it. We are also provided disinfectant for free, so why can't the teacher spray the desks with the free disinfectant, and then wipe the desk with the free paper towels?? I don't mind helping out the kids who are less fortunate. I think it would be more effective if there was a smaller supply list. Just ask the parents who are able to send in extra stuff if they could afford it. I think some parents become overwhelmed looking at the list and send nothing because they can't afford it all. Also there will be no copy paper as a gift because it's on his supply list. Guess what else is provided by the school??? PAPER!!!!!!
The trend, in elementary school, is to pool resources. That way everyone has what they need when they need it. They ask for more than one student will use to make up for the students who can't or forget to contribute.
I wish I could do this on the high school level. Last year, I went through about 24 boxes of Kleenex, 6 LARGE bottles of hand sanitizer, over 300 pencils, Two refill size bottles of hand soap (plus the half dozen nice ones I bought and put in the room at Christmas that the kids LOVED0), about a dozen rolls of paper towels, Three containers of Lysol wipes, about 20 reams of paper more than the school supplies for me, and a couple of dozen colored Expo markers.
Note: A really nice, thoughful and relatively cheap Christmas gift for a teacher is a ream of paper wrapped in white paper the student decorates tied up with a bow tied around a colored Expomarker. You can buy half a box of paper for around $30 on sale and a pack of Expo markers on sale for $12 and make up 10 teacher gifts wtih two markers to spare. Scented hand scanitizers and hand soaps are good too if the class has sinks.
I think it's crazy that you go through about 300 pencils. I wouldn't give them any pencils. No pencil then borrow one or sit there doing nothing and get a zero. Then I would send the parent a letter and tell them to send pencils. I'm not an endless school supply store.
I don't know if other teachers do this or if it's allowed but my friend is a first grade teacher and she keeps a lot of supplies in the class and makes the students pay for it if they forget a pencil or notebook . She'll charge like 5 or 10 cents for a pencil and 25 cents for a notebook. All the money goes into a container and then the next school year she uses that money again to buy supplies.
I teach prek so we get most of the basics but during August I always buy hand sanitizer, poster boards and pipe cleaners to make portfolios, glue sticks and glue bottles (get them really cheap at walmart) colored pencils, a pack of single subject notebooks to use as journals, a pad of notes to send home, stickers, and some jumbo pencils. It probably all comes out to about $25.
Oooh, school supplies! We homeschool, so I'm only buying for my own kids. We probably spent about $20 this year for notebooks and pencils and glue and crayons and markers. We actually have quite a stockpile from previous years, but I just LOVE school supply shopping, so sometimes I can't help myself.
I also spent about $100 on various curriculum items... I was able to get some things for free, and some things I still had from last year (or, in my daughter's case, leftover from when my son was at her level).
I have no idea what's on the school supply lists for the elementary school near us, but reading this, I wonder if I'd have spent more on supplies if the kids went to school!
This talk is reminding me of an incident that happened when my oldest was in 3rd grade. I of course bought well more pencils than required and she went off to school w/ probably a case of pencils the 1st day of school that would normally last an entire school year for 1 kid. She has always been good about reminding me if she is starting to run low on supplies and in my talkings w/ the teachers I always ask if they need anything and I'll get it. Well one day a few months after school had started she got in the car and started crying. ???????? Seems that her teacher had gotten onto her as she had loaned out one of her "2" pencils earlier in the day and now her pencil lead had broken while she was doing work. She asked to sharpen it and got told "no" that is if she got up to sharpen it she would get a "mark". So she sat there and did NOTHING. I asked where all of these 100's of pencils were that I had sent to school and she said the teacher had taken them up. Okay, so, get one. Not so easy it seems. They take them all up and they give them each TWO pencils. They ask them at the beginning of the school day to have their two pencils and that is it for the day. Someone had lost theirs or something so she loaned them one. Then her remaining pencil broke the lead off. They are not allowed to get one from the teachers stash that is furnished by the parents except in the mornings. In my conversation w/ the teacher I explained that what she did was totally unacceptable. I made sure my child had more than ample school supplies and usually furnished others w/ needed supplies including THE TEACHER! The child HAD the supplies but the teacher had confiscated them. I also did not like the choices she was given, do nothing and get a zero or get up and sharpen her pencil and get a mark. As far as I was concerned she should have gotten up and sharpened her pencil and I'd deal w/ the mark. She DID have her supplies, she HAD made sure they were usable at the beginning of the day but pencil leads DO BREAK . Funny thing is the electronic pencil sharpener in the room was furnished by ME! LOL!!! (it was on the teachers "wish list"). I told the teacher that I would be buying my daughter an ENTIRE box of pencils AGAIN and she would be keeping them ON HER herself. After all, one of the items she had to have was a pencil bag and they had to carry it with them all day.
So I do have a problem with teachers taking up ALL supplies. Especially if we make sure our children have ample supplies but they are not given access to them.
Oh, and I did ask the teacher and my child if there had been a problem w/ too many kids needing to get up to sharpen pencils, other disruptions, if they were taking a test, etc. and that is why she was told no. According to even the teacher that had not been the case. She just didn't want the kids up out of their seats period. Personally, we found out later that this particular teacher cried at school a lot and ended up leaving at the Christmas break. She had given birth just 6 weeks before school started.
I spent about $20 this year - most of the items on the list were things that we could use over (like binders). All through the year, I hit the clearance bins. Target in particular, cleans out their stocks pretty fast in preparation for the next seasonal display. When they do, they place all of the leftover items on a back wall under a clearance sign. Kmart will often do that as well. I also go through the kid's supplies at the end of the year and put back whatever is still usable (such as pencils and personal pencil sharpeners).
Last fall, I picked up scissors for 28 cents and Crayola markers for 48 cents a 10 pack on a Target sales wall. I stocked up. I also picked up a practically brand new portfolio at Goodwill for a buck. It was leather and from Office Depot originally. I picked up extra pencils and paper to donate to the classroom.
What I find most interesting is the fact that it used to be that schools factored the expense of supplies in the budget. Now it's expected to provide all sorts of items.
My biggest pet peeve are the cheaply made pencils that dull electric sharpeners almost instantly and possess erasers that do nothing but smudge and tear the incredibly thin recycled paper. Also, I'm not a fan of dollar store markers that work once before they dry up. Not much of a bargain there for me.
At any rate, with a little preparation, school supplies don't have to break the bank.
See, our teachers didn't provide those things. You forgot a pencil? Borrow one from someone else.
If I did that, nothing would get done. Sadly, some parents think kids should be excused from work if they miss something for reasons like this. It's easier to give them a pencil. I'd love to charge a quarter for them but they usually don't have a quarter either.
I need some butt ugly pencils they'd be embarassed to use. Maybe ones that smell like garbage or something.
Some teachers take a shoe in trade but that's just gross.
I'm going to try charging this year. I picked up a bunch of notebooks for a nickel each and I'll stockpile pencils when I find them cheap. I've toyed with going the other way and selling novelty pencils (the kind that change colors when you hold them) to pay for the stuff I use in the classroom. I found a source for about $0.30 a pencil. I could probably sell them for a dollar and selling a gross would pay for the supplies I use during the year. This is sad. I need a side business to pay for classroom supplies. I should have stayed with the other charter school that made an offer last year. They were going to give me $200 to spend on room supplies.
If I did that, nothing would get done. Sadly, some parents think kids should be excused from work if they miss something for reasons like this. It's easier to give them a pencil. I'd love to charge a quarter for them but they usually don't have a quarter either.
I need some butt ugly pencils they'd be embarassed to use. Maybe ones that smell like garbage or something.
Some teachers take a shoe in trade but that's just gross.
Hmmmm...maybe something that smelled like BO - made by "Acne Express" would work...
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We homeschool, so I'm only buying for my own kids. We probably spent about $20 this year for notebooks and pencils and glue and crayons and markers. We actually have quite a stockpile from previous years, but I just LOVE school supply shopping, so sometimes I can't help myself. 
. Funny thing is the electronic pencil sharpener in the room was furnished by ME! LOL!!! (it was on the teachers "wish list"). I told the teacher that I would be buying my daughter an ENTIRE box of pencils AGAIN and she would be keeping them ON HER herself. After all, one of the items she had to have was a pencil bag and they had to carry it with them all day. 
Maybe ones that smell like garbage or something. 
