School Supplies For Next Year

This is a great time of year to buy school supplies.  Make up a list, check it twice, mark off half of it - don't get side tracked!

But over the years, I've come up with a pretty solid list of what I USE.

For my younger grades ... Kindergarten's this year.

Pencil Box - Plastic is fine, but an old metal or zip up lunch box works fine too.  The lunch boxes tend to last a LOT longer, especially if you are traveling back and forth with them.

CRAYOLA Crayons - crayola just lasts so much longer and the colors are true.  Little kids get very confused when their blue crayon is really green.  The yellow is really orange, and the red is really magenta.  Get a large enough set to have your basics - red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown, black, white, gray, and pink.

CRAYOLA Pencils - I use these with the Color Phonics to mark their readers eventually.  But also, they seem to last longer and not break as easily.

Scissors - don't skimp on these either.  A good plastic pair with Metal blades - or a solid metal with a plastic handle.  If the scissors don't work well, a young child will get very frustrated very fast while learning.  With a high quality pair of scissors, one pair is all you'll need, and the learning curve is rapid.  Most of ours are Fiskars.

Pencils - Options are wide open here.  It depends on what you like.  We prefer the slightly larger pencils for the younger ones.  Ours are yellow with a green band holding in the eraser.  Our 2 have lasted through both years of preschool and look like they'll be used for kindergarten as well, or saved for LaRue.  We also have a large supply of "fun" pencils.  A good sturdy eraser is also a must - whether on the pencil or a nice pink one.

Glue - Get Sticks AND a bottle of school glue.  School glue will wash out of clothes - Glue-all will not.  Some projects just work better with the bottle of real glue.  And your child learns a little patience to let it dry.

Construction Paper - I've found hundreds of uses for construction paper.  We save all the bits for mosaic art during the year.  If you can also afford a few card stock variety packs - those are great for long lasting projects, and then glue the construction paper to the cardstock.

Clipboard - I put all the worksheets and assignments on the clipboard at the beginning of the day.  When they finish, they are done.  I just happen to give out gold coins for a full days work.  They buy little things with them.   My girls have clipboards with insides - I think those would be nice for the little ones too, but they are fragile and on the expensive side.

Small chalk board or dry erase board - (and chalk or markers) - they use these to practice drawing, writing, or to mark off a to do list.   These are the most optional - we can certainly live without them.  My girls often do spelling lists with theirs.  Sometimes I write a sentence or word to copy onto their worksheet ... instead of me writing in in highlighter and them tracing it.

I've been pondering the workbox idea - easily searchable on the internet.
So I would like to try getting dividers and putting a week of work into a notebook.  (I bought a SUPER 3 hole punch years ago to do Alpha Omega Lifepacs).  Will  I have time?   This will also make it so much easier to send work home with my extra's who come 2 or 3 days a week.   Since my mom had many notebooks, we have plenty to share unless they want something colored or cool.  We would just have to find some dividers.  Of course, zipped up notebooks would work best.

Mat - we use them for "my space" activities.  Any exercise mat, nap mat, or heavy blanket would work.  When we do circle time or exercise or stretching - you sit on your mat and don't get out of or off of it.  Little kids are still defining my space verses your space.  This helps them understand.

Clay - be careful - some clay is mostly dye and will stain everything.  You could make clay - tons of recipes out there.  Some will dry out.  Some doesn't.  Sorry - I really DON'T like playdough.  Clay is awesome for developing the muscles in their little fingers.  I try to pull it out to play at least once a week.

Cookie sheet - another weird one.  But it is great for putting beads or magnets or clay ... the mess doesn't roll off the table so easy.  A dollop of shaving cream or whipped cream - and you have a fun place to practice drawing or writing.  It's also a great place to do science experiments.


For my BIG girls (I don't have any boys yet this age) -

Pencils - My girls like mechanical pencils.  By now they have a preference of what they like to use.

Pens - Go for a little quality.  It is hard enough to think about what to write without having a spotty pen.

Highlighters - we use them for everything - marking work to do - work that is done - instructions in books.  We change colors daily, although we don't always use the same colors from week to week.

Depending on how your child like to beautify or store their work ....

Notebook, Spiral notebook, Pencil box, folders, notebook paper (spirals work fine too), and book covers.  Don't go overboard.  Think about what you want to do with the classes and buy accordingly.   We usually use a spiral notebook for each class. Vannan likes book covers.  Kendra does not.  If you aren't using them - don't buy them the next year.

This year I'm pondering making a personal dry erase board for each of the girls.  If I can get a durable picture frame that they can set up at their desks, semi portable (especially for Katie) ... I can slip a piece of scrapbook paper into it and write notes, assignments, or whatever onto them.  They can also use them for spelling tests or math work.  I'm thinking larger than 8 1/2 x 11 - Hmmmm.....



Other supplies?

A friend is cleaning out her office - she's supplied us with several boxes of used folders and such things.  Another friend gave us several boxes of the feed printer paper.  Our library gives away old magazines - we have quite a stack for using in "find fruit" "find happy faces" or the like projects.  We have markers, craft sticks, pom poms, beads, bells, foamies, scrapbooking paper ... and lots more.  It is a rare day, when I cannot come up with what I need to do a craft OR makeshift a similar craft.  I look forward to doing more crafts again this year.