Where Did the Supplies Go?
Posted by Jen Bragg on 13 Apr 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Management, Organization and Supplies, Teachers and Teaching
It’s spring allergy season here in Greensboro, and that brings sniffles, sneezes, and the need for tissues. Tissues are an important supply in the classroom, too. As you know, when you put 20+ kids in a small space, they’re going to share germs and get sick. Add to that the fact that kids aren’t immune to allergy season and you’ll probably agree that tissues are something of a necessity. At the beginning of the school year, it seemed impossible to find space to store all the tissues parents kindly supplied to my classroom. But by this time of the year, storage was no longer an issue. Our tissue supply was gone. I’d ask for more donations in my newsletter but almost always resorted to picking up a few extra boxes on my personal shopping trips. And let’s face it—tissues aren’t the only thing in short supply at this time of year. Working hard all year does have a downside. Crayons have broken and are harder to use. Scissors have mysteriously disappeared. Glue sticks have either been used down to their plastic cores or dried up. “Sharing” becomes a recurring theme, and there may be times when creative alternatives are needed to complete activities.
So how does your classroom compare? Are you having trouble keeping your classroom stocked with the necessities for student learning activities? What materials (other than paper and pencils) do you consider vital for your classroom? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Our school district is very concerned about food allergies so we are not permitted to have a child bring in snack for the whole class. Each parent is asked to send in a snack for their child each day. Children may bring in a water bottle too. Teachers encourage parents to send in nutritious snacks. This works really well and takes the responsibility off the teachers.
Do any of you have a corporate sponsor for your classroom? In the past, I have sought a corporate sponsor through the students from my classroom. If someone’s dad or mom works for a big company like Bic or WalMart, they might be able to ask their company or store to be your class’s sponsor for the year. They could either supply the items on the list or provide you with a monthly allowance to purchase what is needed. Works either way.
Also, I have found items for my classroom through my local Freecycle group. Some items were things like bookshelves and reems of paper that someone posted to the site. Other things were papercups, napkins, and books that I requested. It is a good place to go because you can make requests and it is also helping to keep things out of landfills.
I ask local businesses for donations of tissues and such. When they donate I put a “donated by Dr.So And So” or “Given to us by Business Name” on a sticker and attatch it to the item. Free for us and Free advertising for that business.
One way I keep my classroom stocked is by submitting proposals for materials to DonorsChoose.org. If I submit them early in the year and request the materials I always run out of, proposals are usually funded by December and then I can save the materials to use whenever they are needed. And the best part is that I don’t have to buy them or ask my parents to send the supplies.
Thanks for sharing ways you supply your room with supplies needed. Parents are very good about sending in supplies at the beginning of the year and just a few will consistently answer your need for supplies through your newsletter or web news when the year’s supply has dwindled. I am always thankful for any supplies that I receive.
Have a wonderful Spring!
Brenda
During parent teacher conferences and other activities in which parents attend school functions. I have a paper tree titled the “giving tree” with post-its of thing we require. The parents will remove the post-it and return with the supply. It has been very successful. Some teachers keep it out all year long.
I teach kindergarten and agree with all of you. We are not permitted to ask parents for supplies so most of it comes out of my pocket. We eat lunch very early and i teach Full Day Kindergarten so they need a snack. My parents are very generous sending in snacks and I use the money that the PTO gives me to buy tissues, hand sanitizer, etc.
We do a lot of work with whiteboards, dry erase timed math fact folders, and dry erase cursive practice folders. Our 2nd grade team finds it necessary for the students to have a good supply of skinny black dry erase markers. We are trying to use these on things in joint with clear sheet protectors to save our copies and copy paper….especially since we have had huge budget cuts! There are so many things the kids can use the dry erase markers for, but they are so expensive to buy out of pocket for your room!
My associate and I have included in our weekly/monthly newsletters a section for our WISH LIST. Parents now look for it to know what our current needs might be. It is very rare that I need to paper products, computer/printer supplies, cutlery, cleaners, etc. We also ask for a list of parents who are not able to volunteer in class but want to find ways to help in other ways. Then when we have a specific need (for supplies, or help from home) we know who doesn’t mind being called.
At the beginning of the year we ask for supplies but only get about half. We ran out of tissues, paper towels, chlorox wipes, dry erase markers and crayons a long time ago. I am constantly picking these items up. They are just part of my weekly grocery list. I have asked for donations but have not gotten much.
I also had a large supply of tissues and paper towels
donated at the beginning of the school year. But
as many of you mentioned, the recent round of runny noses and colds also deleted my supply. I’ve asked
for donations on my newsletter, but have gotten used to buying them at the store myself. My worry for now is that we have been told by our school administration, that school supply lists for the upcoming school year must be very limited due to the economy. With three children of my own to supply for, I am worried about suppling the majority of the the tissues, paper towels, etc. out of my own pocket.
I am a home child care provider. I care for 6 families. I rarely ask for supplies. But just last month we had the runny nose and sneezing outbreak. And we sure did go through tissues. But my wonderful families brought several boxes in without even being asked. It is nice having families the chip in when necessary.
I teach first grade and average around 21 students per year. We hand out an extensive supply list at our Moving Up Night in June. We ask for just about everything that will be needed for the upcoming year. We ask for multiples of just about everything. I have separate, small storage boxes labeled with each students name and I keep all extra pencils, crayons, glue sticks, erasers, scissors so they are readily available when needed. This way parents can take advantage of back to school sales and I have to ask for very little during the year and the children are never out of supplies or don’t have to borrow. I also keep a box of my own that I fill from the back to school sales, just in case.
That said of course the exception to this is wipes, tissues, and paper towels. With these I also ask for one of each from every student at the beginning of school. Again, I have to send out a wish for these items once and awhile, but our initial supply lasts quite awhile, I have items readily available and I don’t have to purchase much, if any, on my own.
Other supplies that I use/request at the beginning of the year and find handy are 1 package of small index cards and 1 package of larger index cards. These come in handy for many activities in the classroom. I also ask for one box each of snack size, quart, and gallon size baggies. These come in very handy for unfinished projects to keep pieces from being lost; they are also great for sending projects home. I know it sounds like a lot of stuff to ask for at the beginning of the year, but the feedback from parents is they rather buy it all at once and take advantage of back to school sales, then to be buying things weekly or monthly. In fact with all these items coming in early in the year and not having to constantly be asking for things, I find the parents are very generous when I do ask and I usually get multi-packs of tissues, wipes, and paper towels when I ask.
I’m fortunate that my first graders use hallway lockers and these have two small compartments above every two lockers so I have that for storage space.
I usually have about 20 second graders and have found as others above the benefit of taking advantage of the inexpensive supplies in August and September. I like the idea of saving those crayon boxes for Valentine’s Day! I’ve had the kids write school supply wish lists to their parents for stocking stuffers before, but have forgotten about it. Thanks for reminding me!
We are in a preK-12 central school and in order to feed everyone we eat lunch at 10:30! We’re hungry in the afternoon, so each student is asked to bring a snack for the class on the day designated on our monthly snack calendar. It would take some organizing, but I could pick a few different students each month to also bring in a box of tissues, paper towels, hand sanitizer, a package of pencils, crayons, etc, on their designated snack day. This would eliminate the glut of supplies at the beginning of the year and a steadier supply when things usually start to run out.
One of my kindergarten partners posts a Giving Tree outside her classroom door. Instead of leaves, the tree has little hand shapes with needed supplies written on them. Visiting parents take the hands off the tree and provide the desired items. It would be a good idea to also list these supplies on our school website or in the class newsletter.
You motivated me to think about solutions for this age-old problem. I’m excited to put them into action!
Some stores have tissues on sale. Sometimes there is a limit, so get together with several parents and load up. I am a family child care provider, so that’s how I do it.
I have done family child care in my home for 17 years. The last 4 have been with LAUP shich provides low cost preschool for parents. I can not charge a supply fee now and have not asked for donations from parents. Parents do bring in things when I ask. But what I really noticed this year is the change in paint quaility.In years past I have gotten Bio color paint and the last two years have reordered colorations paint because it is less expensive. I really miss the bio color paint and will ask for money donations so that I can buy it. I will also try and send out emails for things we need, parents seem to really enjoy bringing stuff in.
PS I love reading the blogs.
We ask for tissues, paper towels, wipes, and other needed supplies at the start of the year; and as I run low, I mention it in newsletters. We also ask for snack, and this year (following the practice of other teachers in a new team I joined), I put parents on a “rotation” so that they provide snacks one week a month. It works out pretty well. There will ever remain an issue of the “haves” versus the “havenots,” but somehow we’ve seemed to have plenty of supplies.
I spend plenty of money on other items not provided …. Such is the way of our profession.
Thank you,
Temmie
I think we can all agree that teachers do buy A LOT for our classrooms. It’s kind of funny how some years go better than other years when requesting supplies. One thing that I do watch is when the flyers come out from the stores when school supplies are starting. You can really save and get glue sticks for a cheap price, scissors, and other school supplies. I buy enough so I can give them to my students at different holidays during the school year. You can buy a box of 24 crayons for .25 cents right before school starts. Usually around Valentine’s Day my kindergartners need new crayons. I give them their box, and even wrap them up. They love to see a present on their table when they walk into the classroom. One thing I did that helps is tell parents right before Christmas that if they need ideas for stocking stuffers, I let them know what their child could use. Parents really like the ideas of something to put in their stocking at home for Christmas.
At the beginning of the year I ask for tissues, paper towels, and wipes as part of supply list for the school year. My closet is also overflowing at this time. In January, I ask for more of tissues, paper towels, and wipes and receive them from some parents. Since I use some of these items myself, I also bring in supplies. I send home a note when a student needs new glue sticks,crayons, markers, etc. I also keep on hand extra glue sticks and crayons to loan out when parents do not respond. I greatly appreciate the families who generously bring in extra supplies throughout the year. Two years ago I had a grandmother who added to our supplies every month when she went to “Sam’s Club”.
It has been a steller year at our school for tissues! We ran out a few weeks ago. Snacks are also on the low side but we only have a few weeks of school left. Our last day is May 20th. I general pick up extras at the Mart rather than ask parents to donate more. As far as vital materials for the classroom…. My wish list is more puppets for circle time. They seem to love them and I enjoy watching their faces thinking that the puppets are the ones really talking!