Anonymous wrote:Honest question here - FTM of a 2-year-old so I really am this clueless: why are parents buying all these basic classroom supplies instead of the schools? How did this come about? I've been reading all these threads thinking, WTF? As a kid we used those ancient, crummy, but heavy-duty old craft scissors with green rubber handles, huge pots of paste, oaktag paper, etc. - all provided by the school. How is it possible that every parent needs to buy scissors all the freaking time? This just seems weird to me, and I wonder when this shift happened. Granted I went to public school in a middle- to upper-m.c. New England suburb, so maybe that's the entire answer. Is this every public school in every DC/MD/Va district? I can see providing craft supplies for your own kid, but bulk offerings for the whole school?

Anonymous wrote:My kids pre-k list is all cleaning supplies: no markers, no crayons, no pencils. Why can the school provide those things, but not cleaning supplies? (Or, worse, they won't be using those things?)

Anonymous wrote:
Post 07/30/2014 14:09 Subject: Ridiculous school supplies thread!

OP -- here's my take on the very specific supply request... it is quite likely that the school/PTA arranged for pre-ordering school suppply kits from Staples. When they pre-order, they want the teachers to be VERY specific about the item that Staples has to put into the kit otherwise, Staples can put the lowest quality product into it. So, the teachers probably don't care if your child gets a pencil sharpener from Staples... they just want him/her to have a small pencil sharpener.

As for crazy things I cannot find... plastic two-pocket folders NO Brads, but must have three-hole punch! (and orange, red, yellow, blue and green are needed). I understand the colors b/c they use different ones for different subjects. But, I am pretty certain these do not exist (at least not at Target or Walmart). I ended up finding plastic 2-pocket folders with no brads at Target and I used my paperpunch (at home) to punch three holes in each one. (not entirely easy b/c paper punches don't like plastic!).

Anyway -- there is no way most of the kids at an AAP center are going to have what was listed in the supply list.

Other ridiculous requests from previous years --- 18 (!!!) glue sticks (large). Seriously -- what in god's name are these kids doing by going through TWO large glue sticks PER MONTH??? That's like $20 in glue sticks ALONE for ONE kid! Plus, those glue sticks don't even work. Why can't they just learn to use Elmers glue like the rest of us did so that it actually STICKS. And maybe they should spend less time glue-ing and more time learning to write words/sentences?

PP--did you bother to read your PP's post before writing this? If not, please read it again--SLOWLY.
Teachers know what works and what doesn't in their classrooms. Please buy what they ask for. If you can't find it before school starts, have your child ask the teacher where they found it.

Anonymous wrote:Whatever happened to those great crank pencil sharpeners attached to the wall in the classroom? I used to love those. No need for a personal sharpener either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP -- here's my take on the very specific supply request... it is quite likely that the school/PTA arranged for pre-ordering school suppply kits from Staples. When they pre-order, they want the teachers to be VERY specific about the item that Staples has to put into the kit otherwise, Staples can put the lowest quality product into it. So, the teachers probably don't care if your child gets a pencil sharpener from Staples... they just want him/her to have a small pencil sharpener.

As for crazy things I cannot find... plastic two-pocket folders NO Brads, but must have three-hole punch! (and orange, red, yellow, blue and green are needed). I understand the colors b/c they use different ones for different subjects. But, I am pretty certain these do not exist (at least not at Target or Walmart). I ended up finding plastic 2-pocket folders with no brads at Target and I used my paperpunch (at home) to punch three holes in each one. (not entirely easy b/c paper punches don't like plastic!).

Anyway -- there is no way most of the kids at an AAP center are going to have what was listed in the supply list.

Other ridiculous requests from previous years --- 18 (!!!) glue sticks (large). Seriously -- what in god's name are these kids doing by going through TWO large glue sticks PER MONTH??? That's like $20 in glue sticks ALONE for ONE kid! Plus, those glue sticks don't even work. Why can't they just learn to use Elmers glue like the rest of us did so that it actually STICKS. And maybe they should spend less time glue-ing and more time learning to write words/sentences?

Glue sticks are $1.25 for 4, or $11.99 for 30. So 18 will cost you far less than $20. Elmer's glue is great for craft projects, but it's lousy for things like word sorts, where you want to work quickly and efficiently, and you only need it to last long enough for a teacher to check it anyway.

As for the students are sorting and glueing rather than just sitting and writing over and over again: one reason that we want students to learn math, and reading and science and social studies, and not just writing words and sentences. There are lots of great sorting/matching/glueing activities that target all those skills.

No...the little ones are that price. The large glue sticks are $1 each. Look it up. Why is my 5th grader still needing SEVEN large glue sticks? And the glue sticks seem to be used for word study notebooks...which means the little cut out words are falling out of the comp book all year because glue sticks don't actually stick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP -- here's my take on the very specific supply request... it is quite likely that the school/PTA arranged for pre-ordering school suppply kits from Staples. When they pre-order, they want the teachers to be VERY specific about the item that Staples has to put into the kit otherwise, Staples can put the lowest quality product into it. So, the teachers probably don't care if your child gets a pencil sharpener from Staples... they just want him/her to have a small pencil sharpener.

As for crazy things I cannot find... plastic two-pocket folders NO Brads, but must have three-hole punch! (and orange, red, yellow, blue and green are needed). I understand the colors b/c they use different ones for different subjects. But, I am pretty certain these do not exist (at least not at Target or Walmart). I ended up finding plastic 2-pocket folders with no brads at Target and I used my paperpunch (at home) to punch three holes in each one. (not entirely easy b/c paper punches don't like plastic!).

Anyway -- there is no way most of the kids at an AAP center are going to have what was listed in the supply list.

Other ridiculous requests from previous years --- 18 (!!!) glue sticks (large). Seriously -- what in god's name are these kids doing by going through TWO large glue sticks PER MONTH??? That's like $20 in glue sticks ALONE for ONE kid! Plus, those glue sticks don't even work. Why can't they just learn to use Elmers glue like the rest of us did so that it actually STICKS. And maybe they should spend less time glue-ing and more time learning to write words/sentences?

Glue sticks are $1.25 for 4, or $11.99 for 30. So 18 will cost you far less than $20. Elmer's glue is great for craft projects, but it's lousy for things like word sorts, where you want to work quickly and efficiently, and you only need it to last long enough for a teacher to check it anyway.

As for the students are sorting and glueing rather than just sitting and writing over and over again: one reason that we want students to learn math, and reading and science and social studies, and not just writing words and sentences. There are lots of great sorting/matching/glueing activities that target all those skills.

Anonymous wrote:OP -- here's my take on the very specific supply request... it is quite likely that the school/PTA arranged for pre-ordering school suppply kits from Staples. When they pre-order, they want the teachers to be VERY specific about the item that Staples has to put into the kit otherwise, Staples can put the lowest quality product into it. So, the teachers probably don't care if your child gets a pencil sharpener from Staples... they just want him/her to have a small pencil sharpener.

As for crazy things I cannot find... plastic two-pocket folders NO Brads, but must have three-hole punch! (and orange, red, yellow, blue and green are needed). I understand the colors b/c they use different ones for different subjects. But, I am pretty certain these do not exist (at least not at Target or Walmart). I ended up finding plastic 2-pocket folders with no brads at Target and I used my paperpunch (at home) to punch three holes in each one. (not entirely easy b/c paper punches don't like plastic!).

Anyway -- there is no way most of the kids at an AAP center are going to have what was listed in the supply list.

Other ridiculous requests from previous years --- 18 (!!!) glue sticks (large). Seriously -- what in god's name are these kids doing by going through TWO large glue sticks PER MONTH??? That's like $20 in glue sticks ALONE for ONE kid! Plus, those glue sticks don't even work. Why can't they just learn to use Elmers glue like the rest of us did so that it actually STICKS. And maybe they should spend less time glue-ing and more time learning to write words/sentences?

Anonymous wrote:OP -- here's my take on the very specific supply request... it is quite likely that the school/PTA arranged for pre-ordering school suppply kits from Staples. When they pre-order, they want the teachers to be VERY specific about the item that Staples has to put into the kit otherwise, Staples can put the lowest quality product into it. So, the teachers probably don't care if your child gets a pencil sharpener from Staples... they just want him/her to have a small pencil sharpener.

As for crazy things I cannot find... plastic two-pocket folders NO Brads, but must have three-hole punch! (and orange, red, yellow, blue and green are needed). I understand the colors b/c they use different ones for different subjects. But, I am pretty certain these do not exist (at least not at Target or Walmart). I ended up finding plastic 2-pocket folders with no brads at Target and I used my paperpunch (at home) to punch three holes in each one. (not entirely easy b/c paper punches don't like plastic!).

Anyway -- there is no way most of the kids at an AAP center are going to have what was listed in the supply list.

Other ridiculous requests from previous years --- 18 (!!!) glue sticks (large). Seriously -- what in god's name are these kids doing by going through TWO large glue sticks PER MONTH??? That's like $20 in glue sticks ALONE for ONE kid! Plus, those glue sticks don't even work. Why can't they just learn to use Elmers glue like the rest of us did so that it actually STICKS. And maybe they should spend less time glue-ing and more time learning to write words/sentences?