Q for teacher on school shopping

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. On the school supply list that we hand out it notes which items that should be labeled. Glue, crayons are shared items. If we do not use that students personal items I will send them back home with them.

[Anonymous]

I am.also a middle school teacher. I ask students with last names beginning with A-N to.donate a.box of tissues, O-S to.donate a bottle of hand sanitizer, and T-Z.to donate a container of wipes.

This past year, out of 145 students, I got two boxes of tissues, one bottle of hand sanitizer, and one container of wipes. I sent out multiple messages asking for tissue donations in particular, but I didn't get any additional donations. 😔

We typically went through 2-3 boxes of tissues per week, so I had to buy A LOT of tissues (as well as over 1000 pencils) to.get us through the year.

As a middle school teacher, I would be thrilled if students just brought their own supplies (including pencils and chargers) and could donate some tissues!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d love to hear from teachers. Are they annoyed at the whole school supplies issue? Surely it’s a problem to have to fill all your cabinets with tons and tons of supplies (maybe getting them 2x a year would be better?). Are teachers annoyed that other teachers want the composition books and they don’t?

We always get a plea mid year for more Kleenex and wipes. I wish teachers and schools would be honest and admit they aren’t ever going to have our kids using 12 pencils a year or more than 5 pages in a notebook because we are “rich and lucky enough” to have iPads for each kid starting in kindergarten. 4 boxes of Kleenex, 2 tubs of wipes, a box of ziplocks, a box of markers or colored pencils and a 5 pack of pencils is all each kid needs, sadly.

We get this plea for Kleenex and antibacterial wipes too. I don’t understand. How does a class go through 80 boxes of Kleenex and 60 antibacterial wipe tubs (3x20)? And all before Christmas? The math ain’t mathin. And I see everyone bringing the correct supplies on back to school night.

30 glue sticks a person is kinda wild too. I’m super into art projects and my kids go through maybe one glue stick a month for all 3 of them.

My.classes (in middle school) go through 2-3 boxes of tissues per week, so it's possible! I.had a student this past year who used an entire.box of tissues by herself over the course of three hours (I had her for academic class and Advisory back-to-back, so it was three hours). Her parents said she had allergies and that it wasn't their responsibility to supply tissues for school, so she didn't have her own box.

[Anonymous]

I teach 5th.

The supply list would be way shorter if I got to create my own, but I have grade level colleagues who insist on things like the 5 composition books. I put the extras in a cabinet (labeled) and hand them back in June to hopefully save the parents a tiny bit of hassle. I’d be annoyed, too.

Some years a class goes through a particular item ridiculously fast, so you increase the amount requested following year, and then it turns out to be a different item they burn through by winter break.

I never, ever have enough tissues. Some kids refuse to use the same tissue for more than one blow, so during allergy season we can go through a box in a day easily.

For labeling— I make a sheet of printer labels for each child, and we label together in class during the first week. The only things I collect are tissues/paper towels/wipes/ziploc bags. Kids with pre-labeled supplies just chill while the rest of us are labeling.