Pleasing Office Products
Posted by Kim Murphy on 29 Jul 2009 | Posted in: Organization and Supplies, Teachers and Teaching
Do you know what I love about back-to-school time? Office products! Notebooks, pens, sticky notes, binder clips, crayons, stickers—I love them all! I want to twirl down the back-to-school aisle at the local superstore and sing a little ode to these marvelous items. (In my mind, I imagine being accompanied by a troupe of dancing writing utensils à la Disney.) Do you love office products as much as I do? Talk to me about how you acquire paper, crayons, stickers, and other items for your classroom. What does your school provide? What do you purchase yourself? What items do your youngsters bring to school? And is the economic crunch affecting your ability to acquire the items you need for your classroom? I can’t wait to hear from you.
Your blog cohost (and office geek),
Kimberly Brugger-Murphy
Congratulations to Diane Fangmeyer, Director/Teacher of Covenant Kids Preschool, Covenant Presbyterian Church; Omaha, Nebraska! She is the winner of a copy of the Big Book of Monthly Ideas, PreK-K.
64 Comments |
Subscribe
|
Email This
64 Responses to “Pleasing Office Products”
More Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 » Show All Comments
More Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 » Show All Comments
I love the shopping for school supplies. I manage a church mothers’ day out program and we do a developmentally appropriate program for our children. When stores have sales and you can only buy a certain limit, I take my husband so he can buy a quanity also. The first year he hated the school shopping, now he also scans the sale papers for items we may need. Our local school supply store always has a big sale in July. We plan our vacation around the sale date. The other great bargins are the library sales. I already have a big note on my bulletin board to go to one on 15 Aug. I have bought new items for my program at garage sales. You just have to keep your eyes open.
Isupply a lot of my students supplies. I buy a lot on sale. Students are also asked to bring in class supplies(whatever they bring is shared by the class). However, I have a resource that many teachers in our district can (BUT do NOT take advantage of). I call it the free store. It is a teacher salvage warehouse and if the school meets certain criteria, teachers can go once a month to get some supplies. I LOVE it! I, also, love searching out teacher and office supplies at different stores. Searching for bargains is such fun!
I love the beginning of a new school year! All the new supplies and bulliten board sets. My kids love back to school too and have been pestering me for new backpacks and clothes. Back to school means SHOPPING!! woohoo!
It is the hunt for the bargain - making a dollar stretch and the many different ways to use old or new things in different ways.
A friend of mine joked that one reason people become teachers is so they have an excuse to buy school supplies. I love going down the school supplies aisle. My students bring most of the supplies they need- notebooks, pencils, glue, crayons, markers, etc. My classroom has rulers and scissors for the students to use. I use the classroom budget to buy incentives like stickers and prizes, as well as other classroom items- things for bulletin boards, posters, art project supplies, things for centers, and games for indoor recess.
I love school supplies!! I love to shop for them and find the best bargains. My kids want to get all the supplies at the first store we go to but I tell them we need bargains. That is part of it but I love to go to all the stores and find the best deals. My favorite is gel pens to grade papers and I always get all my kids a new box of 24 crayons to start off the school year. There is nothing better than a brand new box of crayons! I get one for myself also.
Back to school sales rock!!!! I am always on the look out for the best buy on crayons, they seems to go the fastest with kinders, at least in my room.
Our school doesn’t supply us with much and our 250 classroom budget doesn’t go far when file folders and stuff come out of it too. I recycle all that I can from year to year and shop yard sales and resell shops looking for bargins all year long.
I do really enjoy the first days of the school year when everything is new.
I can hear your Ode to Office Products in my mind …
Sung to “Ode to Joy” …
Sticky Notes and BallPoint Pens and
Pink Erasers, Small and Large!
Pencils wood, mechanical and
Notebooks: “High School Musical”!
My own children are always amazed (and a little frustrated) that everytime we go shopping their mom has to look at potential sales for preschool. We are a church preschool with a tight budget so I am always searching for the best deals. Our preschool doesn’t make supply lists for the children; we do post ‘wish’ lists in our monthly newsletter and at Christmas we encourage families to purchase a gift for the classroom instead of individual teachers. That has been a wonderful way to get new items for the classroom and stock up on office supplies, kleenex, soap, etc. And all my teachers love sharpies and all the wonderful colors - the metallic silver is always a popular one.
I heard a parent complain awhile back that it was too early for school supplies. But I love them too! I go back evey couple of weeks to see what prices have dropped especially once school has started so I get the best deals on items the stores are trying to get rid of.
This year our principal informed us we each have a classroom budget of $350 for the WHOLE school year. So I decided I was going to need to rely on parents even more than usual. What I decided to do is make each student a supply bag. I am going to request certain items such as crayons, glue sticks, pencils, etc from each parent. There child’s supplies will go in their bag and will only be replenished from their bag. Not only does that show me which students need a crash course in glue usage but if they run out parents are only buying a few items at a time. I may even advise them to stock up at the sales for later in the year. And if there is a student whose parents can’t or won’t provide for him then I’m only buying a few things instead of 20+ at a time.
As a preschool teacher we have the ultimate in back-to-school items. It’s so exciting to see the rainbows of construction paper, crayons, markers, glitter, paint and new playdough!
I am in love with office/school supplies! I am also an organization freak, which you probably could tell if I had the money to buy the containers I really want! We send home a supply list with every child, but this year we do have several families who said it would be difficult to afford. So, we just tell them if they can swing it great, if not don’t sweat it! But that first day is magical! All the new tissue boxes, crayons, markers, glue, ohhh it’s beautiful! Our budget it so tight since we are just starting our second year as a preschool and childcare that teachers are responsible for anything other than the basics like construction paper, glue and scissors. So it definitely has taught all of us to be resourceful, that’s for sure!