If I were a parent faced with lists like these, I would ask for an accounting of what the supplies are intended to be used for.

5000 snack baggies? Ri-freaking-diculous.
If they use all them I’d be just as disappointed as if they didn’t!

Taxes are constantly rising and teachers are still underpaid and yet parents re being asked to contribute supplies not for the personal use of their child?

And yet we spend so much money on consultants and unnecessary speakers at training meetings (I’m speaking as a former teacher here)?

My daughter is only 2, but I’ll be checking into this in my school district.

Kids used to learn to read, write, and do arithmetic just fine when all they had was a teacher, a classroom, and a chalk board. I’ll allow a little increase for some new technology, though I strongly suspect that kids pick most of that up at home, anyway.

Cut the junk from the budget, give more to the teachers, and pass the rest back to the tax payers.

5th grade supplies are more reasonable. 7th was even better! so it gets better, hang in there!

First Grade
School bag or backpack without wheels
(5) #2 pencils, (no Rose Art) sharpened
Scissors – children’s Fiskars
CRAYOLA Crayons – 24 count regular colors
(1) box 3-oz paper cups
School box (5�x8� plastic)
(2) Pink Pearl Erasers (separate from pencil)
(5) pencil top erasers
(3) folders, bottom pocket
(1) wide-lined spiral notebook (no wireless or perforated pages)
Kleenex, large box
(2) 4-oz Elmer’s Glue-All (no school glue, gel paste or glue sticks)
(3) BLACK dry-erase markers
Dry-erase eraser
(1) container Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
Crayola watercolor paints (basic colors – no Rose Art)
$8 voluntary donation for miscellaneous supplies,
Tennis shoes**(for Phy Ed days)
NO Rose Art products

Yes, I know that schools are underfunded and that many teachers (including my friends) end up buying a lot of supplies on their own.

But… 75 pencils per student? That’s a recipe for waste! No one should even be considering that they might USE 75 pencils in 9 months!
Even worse… now they are communal pencils… and communal crayons ,(which began with the assumption that some kids get 64 packs of crayons and the kids who get an 8 pack feel bad. – Wah!)
Here’s the thing. As a kid, when you have your own crayons – you take pride in them. I know I did. My little 18 or 24 pack Crayola box wasn’t even tattered at the end of the year – I’m sure I brought it back to school year after year.
I felt bad for the kid in the next row whose desk was so messy that his crayon box didn’t even resemble a box any more.

In reality… when they gather the communal crayons – and dump them into a coffee can … there is no pride the tools. No ownership. They break… kids break them … and send them back to the coffee can. Suddenly there’s not a single whole crayon in the can.
Now… you have the communal crayon can, so Timmy’s runny nose is now mingling with Susie’s chicken pox. GREAT! No wonder they need hand santizer!

I went to a small Catholic school… where in addition to the taxes my parents paid to send YOU to school, they paid tuition for me.
I had my own crayons as did everyone else in class. Each kid was to supply kleenex for their own desk. And no one supplied paper towels.
We did, however rotate duties in the classroom. We didn’t pay janitors… students took turns, supervised by the teacher, sweeping the classroom and wiping down desks once a week with a wash cloth and a bucket of soap and water.

All those paper towels and plastic bottles of santizer are waste – of money and of resources.
Who uses paper towels anymore? No one’s heard of napkins and wash clothes?

Off my soapbox. I found it the janitior’s closet, and Sister Faith reminded me to put it back!