Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 13:02     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:120 Ticonderoga pencils? You're exaggerating right?


Nope not kidding. 24 pack presharpebed pencils x 5 packs. Last year the teacher only let him have 2 pencils. This communal thing is crazy. We aren’t working hard to spend our money for other people.


I’m a teacher. I have to spend my own money on others’ children all the time. When parents don’t provide, I have to purchase. Some years parents are generous and provide what’s on the list. Some years parents provide very little and I have to do bulk orders with my own money. It adds up. I’ve spend over $800 on supplies some years.



Just don’t buy it. You’re part of the problem here. The school will provide it if you don’t.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 13:01     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:There are none left over. Your children will break and lose all the pencils. They will let them fall on the floor and will walk over them instead of picking them up.

We use wipes snd paper towels probably for the same thing you do—cleaning things, wiping up messes, drying hands.


This is false. Things get used but you should see all the extras at schools.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 12:59     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I just don’t send it. I send my kids with things but not communal things.


Exhibit A: Reasons why teachers ask for extra supplies


Or why they spend their own money on classroom supplies for kids who aren’t theirs.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 12:52     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:I just don’t send it. I send my kids with things but not communal things.


Exhibit A: Reasons why teachers ask for extra supplies
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 12:48     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:120 Ticonderoga pencils? You're exaggerating right?


Nope not kidding. 24 pack presharpebed pencils x 5 packs. Last year the teacher only let him have 2 pencils. This communal thing is crazy. We aren’t working hard to spend our money for other people.


So don’t. Tell the teacher to let you know when your child needs more pencils. Send in yours with your kid’s name on them and a pencil pouch. They can keep track of them. Then come back in June and brag to us about how you saved $20 because your kid made it the whole year with their one pack.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 12:48     Subject: Re:School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
I was a teacher of first grade. I think that is an outrageous number.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 12:44     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are none left over. Your children will break and lose all the pencils. They will let them fall on the floor and will walk over them instead of picking them up.

We use wipes snd paper towels probably for the same thing you do—cleaning things, wiping up messes, drying hands.


THIS! I am a sub and am constantly telling kids to pick up pencils from the floor.


Ok … so the answer is to have the kids pick them up and put them away no? Not ask the parents to send in 500 pencils.


They don’t pick them up.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 11:06     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Classroom scenario:

Kids have 40 mins to take a test. Four raise their hands saying they don’t have pencils. What should the teacher do?

1. Screw the four kids cuz you they are too poor to have pencils
2. Screw the four kids cuz they have issues loosing their stuff.
3. Teachers have to spend test time sending kids to other classrooms to beg for pencils.
4. Teacher cancels test because those four will fail. Teacher has to re-schedule test, and pull a random lesson out of nowhere to make use of that instruction time, and they fall behind.

Just send extra pencils if you can afford them.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:58     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Wow. The most pencils I have ever seen on a school supply list was 36. Where is the teacher even storing 120 per kid?

We'd still send it, but that is...a lot.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:41     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are none left over. Your children will break and lose all the pencils. They will let them fall on the floor and will walk over them instead of picking them up.

We use wipes snd paper towels probably for the same thing you do—cleaning things, wiping up messes, drying hands.


THIS! I am a sub and am constantly telling kids to pick up pencils from the floor.


Ok … so the answer is to have the kids pick them up and put them away no? Not ask the parents to send in 500 pencils.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:40     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
I have not bought my kid school supplies since 2nd grade. The lists are clearly unrelated to what any individual teacher needs. I wait for the targeted email from teachers asking for specific things. Otherwise I just send my kid with a pencil or pen daily.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:22     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:There are none left over. Your children will break and lose all the pencils. They will let them fall on the floor and will walk over them instead of picking them up.

We use wipes snd paper towels probably for the same thing you do—cleaning things, wiping up messes, drying hands.


THIS! I am a sub and am constantly telling kids to pick up pencils from the floor.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:22     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:120 Ticonderoga pencils? You're exaggerating right?


Nope not kidding. 24 pack presharpebed pencils x 5 packs. Last year the teacher only let him have 2 pencils. This communal thing is crazy. We aren’t working hard to spend our money for other people.


So don't. Other people who are grateful and maybe have been helped by others at some point in their life will buy the insane number of pencils, knowing that they are covering for a few other people.

Our school usually asked for one or two boxes per grade year. My inference is that your school district doesn't have a lot of people chipping in for collective supplies.

Also, almost all pencils we purchased for our kids, including the expensive Ticonderogas, are poor quality compared to what I grew up with. The wood is softer. They don't stay sharp as well. My understanding is that teachers ask for pre-sharpened pencils because kids mess around while sharpening and it's harder to get them sharp.


All of this. We are past this stage thank goodness. I remember being irritated (on DCUM) about communal supplies, but it's only a few years. At first I followed it to the letter, but then got more - oh there's an enormous pack of Expos so I'm sending in 3X the expos, but I might miss on sending the two rolls of paper towels. I end up sending in more but not the exact stuff. Hopefully it all evened out.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:20     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
maybe buying/supplying too many pencils and crayons leads kids to NOT taking care of things, since they know there are hundreds of backups. there is no way one kid needs 120 pencils for the school year (or even half that).
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 10:13     Subject: School Supplies lists and Janitorial Supplies
You really don't understand how many pencils ES kids lose. I sent a 40 pack or something stupid last year for my 6th grader and within the semester she'd lost almost all of them. Kids just lose stuff or it gets broken. This stuff isn't that expensive it you hit the sales this weekend. Just go with it and don't think too hard about it.