Elementary teachers - what should be labeled ahead of time (4th grade)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids go to a public school with a 3% FARMS rate and I don't see why we have to pool school supplies.

As a parent, I will follow the lead of the teacher. No teacher my children ever had, has ever instructed the parents to label things ahead of time. I may be making things harder for teachers by doing something like labeling because it make me feel better about the supplies I bought. Each teacher has a system and I will comply with their wish. If they ask to label, label if not, then don’t.

[Anonymous]

I got tired of buying supplies for children that don’t belong to me so we do sharpie plus label for everything. Except pencils, those we get custom off Etsy with name.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher and if things like crayons, pencils, and glue aren’t labeled they go into the bin I pull from when kids run out. If labeled I pull from there for those kids. I respect the labeling and send back anything we didn’t use.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in HS. I never labeled anything. Somehow, a bunch of stuff was returned unused every year. Save yourself the time and don’t bother. Some of it won’t get touched. You will need to buy more of others by Sept either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids go to a public school with a 3% FARMS rate and I don't see why we have to pool school supplies.

We never labeled anything in ES and had no issue with shared supplies, it made life easier for the Teacher. We had 8% FARMs at the school and there were parents who would not buy school supplies because they thought the school should supply them or they wanted to save that money for something else. The ones doing this were pretty public about it. Teachers don't get paid to provide supplies for the class, I can afford to share a box or two of pencils so that the Teacher doesn't have to.

We got an email from DS Algebra 1 Teacher last year; she needed pencils because the kids were showing up to class without pencils. This is 7th grade Algebra at Carson, a low FARMS school and kids whose parents have been reasonably involved in their education. Shared supplies have little to do with the FARMs rate and more to do with parents who are cheap or not paying attention to what their kid need. I sent in a couple of boxes of pencils; we had extras at home for a club that we have helped to run in ES. They are not that expensive, and it is a very small thing that helps my kid's teacher.

A few times in ES my kid wanted a specific type of pencil or school supply. I would buy the communal supplies and give those to the Teacehr and then add the specific ones he wanted to his pencil box or backpack after the year got going. I kept a supply of those at home so I could resupply him as needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in HS. I never labeled anything. Somehow, a bunch of stuff was returned unused every year. Save yourself the time and don’t bother. Some of it won’t get touched. You will need to buy more of others by Sept either way.

Same, I think that all of the extra stuff was just divided up among the kids and sent home. I would have been fine with the school keeping it for the next year. I stopped buying fresh supplies and reused what was sent home.

[Anonymous]

My kid has a pouch and a backpack and they carry what they need. They don’t label most of it but they know don’t give anything to the teacher because they’ll never see it again.

[Anonymous]

The only issue I ever had with the collecting and redistributing of school supplies by the teacher was that my kid really loved picking out her notebooks, folders, crayons etc. And then they'd get taken and she'd never see them again because she'd get some other notebook or folder some other family brought in and it upset her.

She's older now and it's not an issue. I get why early ed teachers collect and pool the supplies, because little kids can't hold on to everything, but it's still a bummer for some kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t want the cheap a;; teacher to steal it for their “classroom supplies”, aka the poor folks, then you’d better put that kid’s name on it real big!

Why would you call the teacher a cheap a**? Are you implying that the teacher should be purchasing supplies for the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got tired of buying supplies for children that don’t belong to me so we do sharpie plus label for everything. Except pencils, those we get custom off Etsy with name.

I still put supplies with names on them in the communal bin....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got tired of buying supplies for children that don’t belong to me so we do sharpie plus label for everything. Except pencils, those we get custom off Etsy with name.

I still put supplies with names on them in the communal bin....

As you should! You're the ultimate ruler in that room and you can do whatever you want. And if kids get upset, too bad. Maybe it'll toughen them up a little when their nice crayons get taken away and replaced by some crap from Dollar Tree.

[Anonymous]

As a classroom teacher, at the beginning of the school year I go through everything, letting kids know (orally and in writing on the board) what to label and keep in their desks (markers, ruler, notebooks, etc), and what to put in a class bin (Kleenex, anti-bacterial wipes, extra pencils). If kids have already labeled their things, that’s fine. It’s a little bit of a laborious process as kids open package and get organized. It’s part of the process of starting the year and getting everything set up.

[Anonymous]

I label headphones, folders, notebooks, pencil boxes and things like protractors and water bottles. I send boxes and boxes of pencils and dry erase markers and glue and scissors for the teachers supplies. I also help room parents with snack requests. We have a lovely school with a lot of kids that can't afford many supplies so everyone helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got tired of buying supplies for children that don’t belong to me so we do sharpie plus label for everything. Except pencils, those we get custom off Etsy with name.

I still put supplies with names on them in the communal bin....

As you should! You're the ultimate ruler in that room and you can do whatever you want. And if kids get upset, too bad. Maybe it'll toughen them up a little when their nice crayons get taken away and replaced by some crap from Dollar Tree.

That’s why I tell my kids on the first day of every school year- don’t trust the teachers, some of them are communists and they’ll steal your school supplies!

[Anonymous]

Who are these teachers snatching and stealing school supplies from children????