"Whatever you do, don't bring used supplies to school"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was posted by a teacher in my local moms group. Why? The fact that our children bring home tons of slightly used pencils/erasers/scissors/folders/etc is testament to the fact that they don't get fully used up during the school year and you don't NEED brand new supplies. What harm is it to you if we send those same items in for the coming school year?

Exactly and I agree

and I would have posted "whatever you do, don't request ridiculous amounts of supplies that are really not needed and won't even get used"

Teacher lists need to be way, way trimmed down and they need to only add what a kid really needs.

I have multiple composition books that I now use for notes. Yes, I still write things down. My comp books have stickers on them, have been colored on, have my kids name on them. They also have nothing written in them.

yes, we are amassing unused composition books in the early elementary years. What are your intentions with these teachers? Why are they blank at the end of the year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

By mistake I bought unsharpened Ticonderoga pencils one year. Probably around 3 boxes. The teacher sent them home for us to sharpen all of them. I remember as a kid going to the back of the room to use the wall sharpener and sharpening as slow as I possibly could. I guess kids don't get the small freedom anymore.

now they have battery powered sharpeners.

[Anonymous]

It's because the supplies get divvied up and some kids will get new stuff and some kids will get used stuff and the teacher will have to deal with the kids who get used stuff whining about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

By mistake I bought unsharpened Ticonderoga pencils one year. Probably around 3 boxes. The teacher sent them home for us to sharpen all of them. I remember as a kid going to the back of the room to use the wall sharpener and sharpening as slow as I possibly could. I guess kids don't get the small freedom anymore.

now they have battery powered sharpeners.

Wow. I'm kinda surprised she sent them back home to be sharpened. That feels unnecessarily passive aggressive.

[Anonymous]

At least some of you get back the unused supplies. We usually don’t. I’ve sent in so many pairs of scissors & never get them back. I sent in a pencil pouch one year that never got used or returned. These aren’t consumable items like crayons & paper. This year, apparently my 3rd grader needs 72 pre-sharpened pencils. SEVENTY-TWO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was posted by a teacher in my local moms group. Why? The fact that our children bring home tons of slightly used pencils/erasers/scissors/folders/etc is testament to the fact that they don't get fully used up during the school year and you don't NEED brand new supplies. What harm is it to you if we send those same items in for the coming school year?

Exactly and I agree

and I would have posted "whatever you do, don't request ridiculous amounts of supplies that are really not needed and won't even get used"

Teacher lists need to be way, way trimmed down and they need to only add what a kid really needs.

I have multiple composition books that I now use for notes. Yes, I still write things down. My comp books have stickers on them, have been colored on, have my kids name on them. They also have nothing written in them.

Same here!

[Anonymous]

Sorry teachers, I send in barely used supplies for my kids. They are still usable and we try not to be wasteful. Reduce, reuse and recycle.

I will send in new tissues, wipes, bags and always send $$ for anything else you need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

By mistake I bought unsharpened Ticonderoga pencils one year. Probably around 3 boxes. The teacher sent them home for us to sharpen all of them. I remember as a kid going to the back of the room to use the wall sharpener and sharpening as slow as I possibly could. I guess kids don't get the small freedom anymore.

now they have battery powered sharpeners.

I think the particular teacher I had that year hid hers in the desk because she couldn't stand the sound all day. So I had to use the old school wall sharpener. But it was a way to get up and move about and talk to your friends on the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least some of you get back the unused supplies. We usually don’t. I’ve sent in so many pairs of scissors & never get them back. I sent in a pencil pouch one year that never got used or returned. These aren’t consumable items like crayons & paper. This year, apparently my 3rd grader needs 72 pre-sharpened pencils. SEVENTY-TWO.

Let's say there are 25 kids in your class.. 72 * 25 = 1,800 pencils. That's an obscene amount of pencils.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

By mistake I bought unsharpened Ticonderoga pencils one year. Probably around 3 boxes. The teacher sent them home for us to sharpen all of them. I remember as a kid going to the back of the room to use the wall sharpener and sharpening as slow as I possibly could. I guess kids don't get the small freedom anymore.

now they have battery powered sharpeners.

Wow. I'm kinda surprised she sent them back home to be sharpened. That feels unnecessarily passive aggressive.

I never sent them all back. We sharpened a few and I said let me know when you need more. I probably still have the rest unsharpened somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least some of you get back the unused supplies. We usually don’t. I’ve sent in so many pairs of scissors & never get them back. I sent in a pencil pouch one year that never got used or returned. These aren’t consumable items like crayons & paper. This year, apparently my 3rd grader needs 72 pre-sharpened pencils. SEVENTY-TWO.

Let's say there are 25 kids in your class.. 72 * 25 = 1,800 pencils. That's an obscene amount of pencils.

On the other hand, there are about 180 days in a school year. Many kids can’t get through 2 -3 days without breaking or losing a pencil, and having pre-sharpened options near at hand probably helps keep students on track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that teachers/schools are not transparent about what is needed and why. It is best when teachers provide two lists:

1) The items your kid needs for the year, and you should feel free to send slightly used items because if it gets used up, you are the one who will wind up replacing it anyway! Also some items can be used and not "used up" like pencil cases, rulers, etc. I see no reason this stuff must be new as long as it's in working condition.

2) Items that are needed for the classroom, whether specifically assigned to families to send in, or placed on a wish list that parents can buy off of. These tend to be communal items, extra supplies needed for kids who can't afford them or whose parents can't get it together to buy them, and necessities that schools for one reason or another don't provide because school funding is stupid. My experience is that if the parents at the school tend to be well off, teachers will simply ask parents to send these items directly, and at schools with a lot of low income families, they just let people know there is a wishlist and people are welcome to purchase things on it or share the wishlist with friends and family.

The problem is that for teachers who simply ask families to provide the stuff for #2 directly, they will often just add these items to the "supplies list" without making it clear that these things are not actually for your child -- they are for the classroom and for other children. They should just be honest about it. I can't imagine begrudging these things, assuming that you have an income that enables you to spend $30 or so extra on classroom supplies so that the classroom has cleaning supplies and low-income kids have crayons. Just be honest about what it is.

Items from #2 should be new for reasons that should be obvious.

Excellent points.

[Anonymous]

Content aside, the group where this was posted has a community guideline of not sharing things externally, if I remember correctly.

I’m not sure DCUM is the forum to use to call out this comment. Or at least ask it in a more oblique way, eg “Does anyone send in used school supplies?”

Also, if you had a question, why not respond to the poster and ask directly? I did that once when someone posted something that made me kind of curious/a little uncomfortable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was posted by a teacher in my local moms group. Why? The fact that our children bring home tons of slightly used pencils/erasers/scissors/folders/etc is testament to the fact that they don't get fully used up during the school year and you don't NEED brand new supplies. What harm is it to you if we send those same items in for the coming school year?

Exactly and I agree

and I would have posted "whatever you do, don't request ridiculous amounts of supplies that are really not needed and won't even get used"

Teacher lists need to be way, way trimmed down and they need to only add what a kid really needs.

I'm talking to YOU 4 glue stick, 24 pack of pencils, 6 binders Teacher. You will see my used pencils, erasures, scissors etc again. It's called being good stewards of the environment ! Recycling.

4 glue sticks? lol my dd's list wants TEN!

I am really annoyed by the requests for supplies that are hard AF to find. Like 8 packs of markers (they come in 10 packs! 10 packs are on sale and the only 8 packs are on amazon for $9), 8 packs of multicultural crayons when they come in 24 packs (at least at Walmart and Target).

I will say that I can't send used supplies back to school. I should have taken a picture of my dd's supplies on the last day of school- 1 inch crayons that were broken and all missing the wrappers, pencils that were broken, not one pencil had an eraser, the supply box was busted and missing the latch, pencil shavings galore, marker caps with no markers. It was like a big box of trash. The only thing reusable was the scissors.

OP here, in June, my 9 year old came home with four composition books that had her name and 0-2 pages used. 4 erasers that were barely used, a dirty but in tact pencil box, scissors, and ruler and several pencils that had barely been used. I am sending all of those items back this year (will wipe down the box, scissors, ruler). I really don’t care what the teacher thinks, it’s so wasteful not to send in things that can be reused. Obviously I would not send the type of stuff you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe any teacher would post something like the OP referenced. Used supplies are fine. If I ask for a set of 8 markers, and the store only has sets of ten, get ten. I don't care. Many kids walk in with nothing. This is what I think should happen. We need to TAX citizens enough so schools have a budget bucket to purchase what is needed. Free public school should be FREE, that should include everything...lunch, pencils, field trips, workbooks, everything.

OP here, it happened, at least one other person on this thread has confirmed it.