They think you need this stuff for KINDERGARTEN!?

[Sannum]

My cousin sent this school supply list for me. Her kid is starting kindergarten today, and this is the list that they are required to have. Holy Shit! Why the hell would a 5 year old need 10 folders and 24 pencils! When I was in kindergarten, we needed crayons. One package, that was it. What educational value do 4 boxes of ziploc bags have? How can some people afford this, especially if they have more than one child...:crazy:

THREE RING BINDER – 1
BLACK MARBLE COMPOSITION BOOK - 3
FOLDER WITH POCKETS AND BRADS - 10
PENCILS - REGULAR SIZE #2 - 24
CRAYONS - 16 COUNT SMALL (NOT JUMBO) - 4
ELMERS GLUE (NO PASTE) - 3
SCISSORS - FISKARS BLUNT - 2
CLEANSING TISSUES (LARGE BOXES) - 2
CRAYOLA WASHABLE MARKERS – 8 PACK
SPIRAL NOTEBOOK – 2
TOTE BAG OR BACK PACK
ELMERS GLUE STICK – 4
BABY WIPES – 3 BOX
ZIPLOC BAGS (QUART SIZE) – 2 BOX
(GALLON SIZE) – 2 BOX

[cleofus1]

1. it's not easy

and yes they do use it all...i have two kids 7 and 8 years old and the list they have is very similer to this...

[Wickerman]

2. Wow! Hey, In K I know we had to have paste

yumm!

[youthere]

16. mmm...paste...minty

[trof]

30. Foy Ledbetter drank ink.

But that wasn't until 1st grade.
He got "held back".
Today, I think Foy would have been on the short bus.

[greekspeak]

34. LOL where did the kid get liquid ink? That is pretty screwy

And did the ink render him short-bus ready?

[Zuni]

3. all I remember doing in kindergarden was playing with blocks

:silly:

[Left Is Write]

24. I started kindergarten 34 years ago.

We didn't have to bring anything.

The teachers gave us all nametags made of felt to wear for the frist few days.

Paper, paste, crayons, scissors, clay, pencils, toys, etc., were all provided.

I would gladly pay more in property taxes if it would mean that schools would be able to pay for basic supplies, especially for the little ones.

And what the hell does a kindergartener need a COMPOSITION book for? What five-year-old writes compositions?

While I'm on a rant - I hate that schools require certain numbers, colors, and types of notebooks and binders. That would have driven me apeshit when I was in school, especially junior high and high school. I like to organize my own stuff in a way that makes sense to me. I don't want to be told what color or kind of folder I have to use for any particular class. We had NO such rules when I was in school.

[Arugula Latte]

37. I'm 39 so we were probably in kindergarten the same year.

Everything was provided for us, as well. That was in Calif., but pre-Prop 13.

My youngest, a five-year-old, starts kindergarten in a couple weeks. I haven't gotten any supplies yet -- it kind of depresses me for the reasons you named.

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. I agree with you

I can't stand the anal supply lists. My son had an art teacher who asked for PRANG water colors every year. You couldn't buy any other brand (I did one year and she sent them back home) and the Prang ones were only sold at an art supply store. I finally called the principal and complained. He said he had heard from dozens of parents about that item and I noticed it didn't appear on the next year's list. :)

I have spent 25 years teaching in an elementary school and I have no idea why a kindergartener needs a composition book.

The list I give my students is brief and general.

And here's an FYI - very few kids bring everything on the list.

[Mizmoon]

4. They usually need to bring in a box of tissues too

Finally one year I asked why ... turns out that the teacher puts them on his/her desk for all the kids to use cause the district is too cheap to buy them

What a scam. :P

[havocmom]

8. have heard of schools asking for toilet paper too cuz they can't afford it

for the student restrooms. But, war profiteering corporations are getting plenty of taxpayer dollars....

[tigereye]

5. it's not your old style kindergarten anymore

they have fun, but they do a lot more academic stuff than in the past, since all the research says that most are capable of it... and a lot of kids get socialzation and play skills, etc. in pre-school. I don't agree with it totally myself, I think kids need time to play and learn. ALso sounds like lots of art projects and that's cool.

[bleedingheart]

9. of 16 kids in my daughter's class last year....one child flunked

but he is being sent to 1st grade at his parents insistence...

To be honest I think he has some learning problems and his parents are refusing to have him tested...cuz they don't want him "stigmatized"... I guess it would be better for him to hate school than to actually have someone help him do better...

I am really worried cuz he will be in my daughter's 1st grade class and he is generally completely out of control and a bit of a young bully... (his older siblings beat on him and he goes about treating everyone else the same way...)

My daughter's class learned their alphabet, numbers, counting to 100 and all kinds of nice songs, and poems and music. Everyone loved the teachers (one teacher, one aide)...it didn't appear to be very stressful for the kids ...(I came in to read to them twice that year and I was amazed at all the stuff they did...)

[tigereye]

15. I remember looking up K and Irst grade curricula on the web

before my son went into each grade - I was stunned at how complex it was in some states. His school didn't over-emphasize the "academics" of those grades per se, I think they were well blended, since play is learning for that age. But I think the tendency, particularly in public schools and certainly in the more rigorous private schools, is to develop a lot of curricula as either " catch-up" for kids who may not have had the same advantages/pre-school or to push kids beyond their cognitive limits, at times.

As far as testing goes, it often provides useful information for parents and should be used in a way that is not stigmatizing... I have done a lot more testing this summer and it can be a very useful tool if it is not viewed in a rigid way. I agree that some kids socially probably aren't ready to proceed and you really do them a disservice by age passing them, esp. at that young age. :) :hi:

[bleedingheart]

6. Seems like a standard list to me...

the baby wipes and tissue will be stock piled and used as the year progresses...because otherwise the teacher has to pay for that stuff...(at least in our district cuz the initial budget doesn't have enough cash to cover a year of runny noses)...

The back pack will be used for years to come...

Not sure about the Ziploc bags....hmmmm

But what I recall of kindergarten...my kids didn't need notebooks...they got worksheets to use...from the school...

[Heidi]

18. In my mom's first-grade classroom

Ziploc bags and other plastic bags were used for the clothing of kids who had "accidents."

[Fleshdancer]

7. My kindergartner didn't need any binders or composition books or notebooks

That does seem like a weird list. Notebooks but no kleenex? I've never seen an kindergarten list without kleenex before. lol

[bleedingheart]

10. you are like me.... I always think...Kleenex...but on that list it is

"cleansing tissues"....sounds far more aristocratic...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

11. Tryin' to lock the paste-eaters out

It's discrimination, dammit!

[Terran]

12. Gods, what do kids do in Kindergarten these days?!

When I was there (1964), all I took to school was myself. Whatever we did there was provided by the school district, and it sure as hell didn't involve any writing. I know for sure I never had any use for notebooks or ring binders until I was in 6th grade, maybe not even then, beause the school supplied all the writing materials we used. Man, what has happened to our educational system that parents have to supply all this stuff now? This is just really pathetic. I think it really is a microcosm of what's what's wrong with this nation, and how seriously off-kilter our government's priorities are.

[Left Is Write]

25. I remember in fourth grade, I sat at home writing on notebook paper,

pretending to have homework like my older sisters.

I didn't have any actual homework until 6th grade.

Can you imagine? Pretending to have homework in 4th grade! Nowadays, the kindergarteners have homework.

[greekspeak]

35. Damned good question

"Man, what has happened to our educational system that parents have to supply all this stuff now? This is just really pathetic." Boy howdy I would like to know. I guess the vouchers are hurting, and the tax cuts for the rich, and the siphoning off for political ventures in other countries over the past few decades.

[greekspeak]

13. Our list for elementary was similar, as I remember

But why does a kindergartener need a three ring biner, a composition book and two boxes of ziplock bags?

I think we too had to have a nap pad. We did not use #2 pencils in K, but rather those big round ones...what were they called, Husky or somesuch. We also had to have one of those Big Chief pads and a special writing pad with dashed lines at the midrange, for learning to make our letters the correct size. Why does a child need 24 pencils for one school year?

[tigereye]

17. I think the teacher will probably have the kids

put their drawings and such in a binder for parents to see. I know that's what they show parents at my son's school.

[greekspeak]

31. I guess that is just a different way of doing things

I think we just took our art home piecemeal for Dad and Mom to put on the fridge. I don't remember any folders of art.

[tigereye]

43. well

that was then, this is now. :)

Although I do remember learning to count in German in my kindergarten in the 60s.

[Left Is Write]

26. Some of the things will be for community use, I'm sure.

Including the pencils, wipes, ziploc bags, etc.

But my mind is still trying to wrap itself around what a kindegartener would be doing with a COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK.

Well. We have the Parent Information Meeting tomorrow for parents of children entering kindergarten, so I suppose we'll get a list of supplies then. If composition notebooks are on the list, you can be sure I will ask what the use is.

[greekspeak]

32. Composition book is strange indeed

I was more advanced than most of the kids in my class, but I still did not have the manual dexterity to use #2 pencils in composition books. Are they going to write essays and term papers? LOL

[SmokingJacket]

14. My guess about the ziploc bags is...

that the teachers send notes and work home in them. Not a bad idea -- my kids' work and notes to be signed often get mashed in the bottom of the bags, and soaked with melted snow or milk dripping from their thermoses...

Still, you should be able to reuse the same bags several times! Cripes, what a waste. I know sometimes they will laminate a manila enevelope to send stuff back and forth.

[Heidi]

19. Sometimes little ones have "accidents." (nt)

[Midlodemocrat]

20. the list here is similar.

the ziploc bags are used to send art work (small ones) home in and separate things to teach the kids to count.

Here, the kids don't leave kindergarten until they can read. Lot of pressure.

[Divameow77]

21. Just wait

My friend recently told me that she had to buy her 14 year old daughter a $110 calculater for school, if she didn't have that exact one she automatically lost one letter grade.

My son is going into 3rd grade and I remember that in Kindergarten the 3 ring binder was used to hold their work and sent back and forth from home to school.
The composition notebook is weird to me.

[Left Is Write]

22. When my daughter was in middle school, she was required

to have a calculator that performed certain functions (for her algebra class), and there was a "recommended" brand. The recommended brand was not REQUIRED, though - any calculator with the functions needed was acceptable.

How on earth can a kid's grade hinge on a specific brand/model of calculator? On top of other supplies, grade fees, fundraisers, school clothes, class fees, band fees, etc., who can afford $110 for a calculator?

[Divameow77]

28. Maybe my friend misunderstood

but she bought her the damn thing anyway because she had to. I think it's ridiculous, what if the parent couldn't afford it, then their kid automatically gets a B instead of an A. Thats' crap.

[mconvente]

23. Gee, about that calculator...

Hmm, I used an $80 dollar one for three years and got 5s on AP Calc AB and AP Chem - and I knew how to do most of the work in my head/on paper anyways. No wonder our AP Calc teacher didnt let us use calcs on exams (except basic scientific) because knowing how to do the work on paper instills it in your mind. Bah, the education system today...

[Montauk6]

27. Wow!!!! The CUTBACKS since I was a kindergartener (1970).

And that was public school! You brought your own crayons only if you wanted to be cool.

[trof]

29. We strung beads.

I dunno.
:shrug:
We just sat there on little mats making a long string of spool shaped wooden beads. All different colors.
Then we'd pull the string out.
And then string some more beads.
I got to be pretty good at it.

If you ever run into a situation that calls for beads being strung, I'm your go-to guy.
:-)

[bridgit]

33. there is no life without: ELMERS GLUE STICK...

:thumbsup:

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. The ziploc bags

are used for storing lots of things. At my school, the kids take books to lunch. They keep them in ziploc bags to protect them.

I would question the 3 ring binder and spiral notebooks. Those are NOT age appropriate supplies for kingergarten.

[ofrfxsk]

38. I didn't bring anything to kindergarten either

We just ran around the room for four hours, made some brown paper bag puppets and played with beads and blocks.
Now, first grade was exciting and expensive. We were required to have a small bottle of Elmer's glue, a package of 10 wide pencils, a pencil box and ten dimes in case we forgot our packed lunch. Lunch in the cafeteria was 10 cents a day. This was in the mid '70's.
How times have changed. I'm only in my 30's and I feel ancient just thinking about it.
I don't know how parents afford to send their kids to school these days.
You have my sympathies.

[OhioChick]

40. What happened to most of the day

consisting of story time and naps?

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. They stopped doing naps and snacks in kindergarten

about 20 years ago.

[tigereye]

44. my kid had rest time a few years ago

all day kindergarten can be tiring... and they still have snack time. Why those were eliminated in public schools,etc. is beyond me... they are still little and they get tired and hungry. That's partially why I sent him to private school. Kids are not little adults.

[redqueen]

51. My daughter's kindergarten class has snack time and naptime.

We're lucky, I suppose.

[LeftyMom]

41. All we had to do was show up

My stepdaughter's school supply list included several boxes of kleenex, white board markers, other stuff for the classroom. I don't mind the list but I'd really rather buy her stuff rather than the stuff the classroom needs to function. I'm not made of money. :grr:

[Not_Giving_Up]

45. OK...

The ziploc bags are for the teacher to use. My kids brought books home in them. The bag had a number, that was how they knew who had what book from the classroom.

Something I have discovered - On the first day of school, they take all of the rulers and put them in a container. This ruler will never return home, even when the homework requires a ruler. They do the same with pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, construction paper, etc.

My kids are fourth and sixth graders now...and this still goes on. I send two or three pencils, two or three pens, a couple of folders, and a couple of notebooks the first day. The teachers let me know what else they need.

[bertha katzenengel]

46. If we'd fund public ed like we fund the DOD, demands like this

from teachers wouldn't be necessary. :grr:

[redqueen]

52. Exactly, Bertha...

when missles fail, we increase funding...

when children fail, we cut it...

:wtf:

[Zenlitened]

47. When I was in kindergarten, I lived in a community that valued education.

The things we needed in order to learn, were provided in school by the community.

Radical concept, huh?

[Rosie1223]

48. But Wait, There's More....

Chances are on the first day of school, your cousin's child will bring home the snack calendar. The child will have an assigned day to bring in the daily snack. Working moms around the country just love that.

Oh, and the fundraiser packet too.

Been there, done that. (2 in HS, 1 in 6th grade.)

Rosie

[LibDemAlways]

50. Oh, man, fundraisers...I'm not looking

forward to that. My daughter's middle school kicks off the year with a big magazine drive. On the first day they get a limo company to bring a big SUV limo to school for the kids to take turns climbing into. Then they tell them that if they sell "only 35" subscriptions, they will get a ride in that "awesome" limo to a local bowling alley.
My daughter tortured me for weeks to buy magazines. She was desperate to ride in that limo.

Finally, I agreed to rent a damn limo for an hour for her birthday party. Way cheaper than buying 35 magazine subscriptions and she and her friends had the car to themselves.

I hate school fundraisers.

[LibDemAlways]

49. I can believe it. I went

school shopping for my 7th grader the other day and spent close to $100.00 for everything on her list, which included a specific HP calculator with scientific notation that cost $20.00. While I was loading up the cart I kept thinking, what do people do who can't afford all this stuff?

Schools provide very little in the way of supplies these days. On her list, too, was the all important box of kleenex as well as a roll of paper towels and two reams of copy paper for the office - one white and one pastel.

I'm positive I never had to bring more than a pencil, pen, notebook, and lined paper to school for any grade.