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 teach in a small school district in the Mid West and our budget has been cut this year. We do give students a supply list but they often come without supplies or just pencils or bare basics, Our supply list includes ziplock bags, hand sanitizer, baby wipes and Kleenex in addition to the basic school supplies. I have a $100 classroom budget and spend a lot of my own money!
I love back to school time! The smell of new crayons! However, with the economy the way it is I find myself spending more of my own money than ever before which of course impacts my wallet! I just keep looking for bargains and am making some things like journals this year and not buying them.
Is it just me or is it only the Crayola crayons that make you go “AHH!” The cheapy brands just don’t do it for me. Maybe it is just that yellow and green box but I love CRAYOLA crayons! I already had 20 boxes at school but I bought 50 more… one box to start 1st semester and 1 to start 2nd semester! It is just an addiction buying things and preparing for the next year. I started in June figuring out what was on hand in my room and what I needed to buy!
I am definitely finding the economic crunch impacting my own WALLET as many parents last year were unable to buy all the supplies on the list that were requested. As supplies ran out many of my parent newsletter requests for more of an item often went ignored. Parents think the school system provides us with everything in our classrooms. I have spent thousands of dollars on my rooms over the 2 decades I have taught. I have already spent $200 on sale items that I know I will need. Our district only refunds $50 of what we spend. My husband knows that if I have the supplies I need my job is much easier so he never complains anymore and watches sales for me too!
I am in one of those $100. for the year schools and that includes all my office supplies plus my copy paper! I buy my own pens, notepads, etc; seems fair since I ask my students to supply theirs. So of course I am always looking for bargains. Those bargain sales (I find 10 cent sales, too) are a bonanza so keep watching the ads. Also, our local office supply store gives teachers a discount through August, and in Staples, with their teacher reward card and a school ID, you can increase the typical limit of 5 or 10 up to 25. A nice store manager will increase this to 30 if you have larger classes. We identify what we need, and have each team member, family or friends go in til we have a grade level set of folders, pencils, erasers, etc. Our supply list includes the sanitizers, tissues and paper towels. And I also include the information for organizations that give away school supplies for those kids that cannot afford them. We send out the list in June for the upcoming grade, so the parents have the info and can bargain hunt also.
I love it when stores have their folders for a penny! I pick them up in sets of colors for homework folders, reading folders, unfinished work folders and parent night folders. At 4 cents per child it is a bargain!
I loved back to school supplies even before I became a teacher! I love the smell of crayons! At Christmas time, I always have new coloring books out for my guest to color. My children, now grown, (28 & 30)always buy me school supplies for Christmas and birthdays. At the beginning of each school year, I stock up on all of the great sales at discount stores.
Before I became a teacher I would get so annoyed with the Back to School section going up in stores because it felt like it just cut my summers with my kids in half. NOW - I love the Back to School section. I drag my kids down the aisle as they repeated claim - “it’s to early to shop school supplies” (my famous quote)
My school does not supplies and the kids are from low income families so my favorite thing is to watch for the penny - well quarter this year - sells. I then go in and collect a class set and that way if I have a student that doesn’t have the supplies I can provide for them.
I love the beginning of the year and starting out with brand new crayons, folders, etc. Our school district provides some school supplies and teachers also send home a list for students. This year our budget for classroom supplies was cut 20% first time in 6 yrs.
New supplies are one of the exciting things about the beginning of a new school year. My students are not required to bring items, our school district puts supplies into the budget and we order them each year. I have bins in my classroom that hold crayons, glue sticks, scissors, pencils, etc. Those students who would like to bring their own supplies can, but it isn’t necessary
I would love to know how the smell of colored wax can make so many people so happy
I have always loved shopping for back to school supplies.
I love the image of the back-to-school aisle dance number! That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?
I LOVE GETTING NEW CRAYONS, PENCILS, PENS, AND MARKERS. THE GREAT ITEMS ON THE BACK TO SCHOOL AISLE
ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THEM COMING. I ALSO FEEL STUDENTS LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING THE LATEST DESIGNS IN NOTEBOOKS AND MATCHING PENCILS.
I love to watch for the bargain items, like 20 cent glue sticks, which will be over a dollar in another month. Many of the “office” type items are supplied by my school. Parents also provide the basic supplies that their children will personally use. I always buy extra supplies for those students whose families cannot afford things and to fill a few school boxes to have on hand for those students who move in and have nothing. My grandson is starting kindergarten and his list is different, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, zip-loc bags, multiple packs of sticky notes, no crayons, glue or scissors.