School supplies -- buy the best or is it just pooled for the whole class?
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Anonymous
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Many classes have what are called community supplies, where all the pencils, crayons, etc. go in for the good of all. I have seen some teachers picky enough that they only want one brand, such as crayola crayons. Personally I have a problem with that as what happens to the student who has non-brand name items, especially ones that come through free school supplies when only certain brands are available, like Roseart crayons, not Crayola. Another reason I have heard that specific brands are listed goes back to the PTA supply list orders that some schools do where you order the packet through them and are done with it. One year I was told that if the teachers did not specify a brand, like Pencil type, the company will provide the cheapest available.
Bottom line, buy what you can afford. If you can afford all the brand names, do it. There are plenty of families out there who can't afford any of it. The children are part of a community in their classroom so it should not matter the quality of their supplies. They are there to help and support each other, not to compare crayons. |
Anonymous
| Our school also lists brands, but that's because they just copy and paste from the flyer for the supplies you can buy from the PTA. I'm betting that your shool does the same thing and doesn't care about brands. We are at Flint Hill. |
Anonymous
+1 I also learned that lesson. |
Anonymous
They probably didn't specify Crayola so the companies that do this will get by with the cheapest they can too. I heard that happened with pencils one year at my school and that's why there are name brands listed. |
Anonymous
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I so don't get the point of spending more money for crayons than you need to, so I don't care about the name brands that are requested. Really, my kids arent going to do better for having Crayold over Rose Art crayons. As far as supplies, I send them all at once. Teachers have never asked for supplies to be replenished and two pencils won't last the whole year. If you send a kid with only two pencils, the teacher will end up supplying your kid with pencils for the rest of the year.
As far as being pooled, that's never been my experience. What does happen is that parents are asked to buy extra supplies for the class and they get distributed to kids who don't bring them. |
Anonymous
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Both of my kids schools pool the supplies until at least 3rd grade. When folders, comp books, etc are sent in, they go into a pile. The teacher (randomly) slaps labels on them and passes them back out to the kids.
Every year we buy high quality supplies. Rigid plastic folders, five-star notebooks, hard back comp books, and every year my kids bring home floppy cellophane folders and dollar store thin floppy comp books, etc. My solution...I buy extras. So when they come home with something junky, I just peel the label off and put it on a quality item that will last the whole year. That way I am ensuring my kids don't end up with junk, but not contributing to the problem by sending in crappy supplies. |
Anonymous
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OMG, OP. Really? Just buy why the f*ck the teacher asks for---half the time they are buying stuff for their class out of their own pocket throughout the year. They have been doing it long enough to know which supplies are better worth the brand.
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Anonymous
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Rose art crayons are crap.
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Anonymous
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Your subject implies you will only buy the best if your princess/prince gets to solely use them. If what you buy is going into the communal pool- then you'll buy the crap. Righto.
You are also the one that puts in the paltry amount into the Group Gift since nobody will know how much each contributed---and god forbid you put in more than everyone else, correct? |
Anonymous
You don't know me, so don't make assumptions. You are wrong. I'm the one organizing the class gift. I'm the one bringing ALL the treats for the school party. I'm the one who leads the girl scout troop. I'm teh one who wants to know if everyone really IS sending in the expensive stuff (some of the "preferred" items cost 4 times as much as the store brand and I'm not sure there is a significant difference). If everyone IS complying, then I will too. If the general opinion is "I'm just buying what I think is a good deal regardless of the "preferred" status," then I'm down for being value conscious as well.... especially if items are pooled. |
Anonymous
So stipulated. |
Anonymous
Well you shouldn't be bringing ALL the treats to anything. But I think it's safe to assume that DCUMdom in general and in FCPS specifically, parents are contributing what the teacher asks for. If it's a financial hardship, speak to your teacher who will deal with it confidentially. That's preferred to RoseArt supplies which are just crappy. |
Anonymous
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Make the trek to Wal Mart and buy the name brand stuff--it's CHEAP there. Don't shop at the office supply stores, their prices are crazy high on school supplies.
Our school has the supply kits you can order and I've done it both ways. Usually it's not too hard to find what's on the list, but sometimes there are items that are just obscure--the teacher said just to send in whatever I could find. |
Anonymous
| Two years ago I shopped at six stores . . . SIX . . . to find a damn two pocket folder in orange. I now buy from the PTA. I also learned that Office Depot carries orange folders with the proper number of flaps, hole punches, and dimensions. |
Anonymous
| My third graders bring their supplies and keep what they need in their pencil boxes. I put each child's name on a gallon ziplock bag in which they put their extras. All of those bags go into a milk crate up on top of a cabinet until a student needs to get something from his or her stash. |