See also Term Expectations in a post below.
While the sales on school supplies are available, it's a good idea to stock up on the things you'll need later, but that will be much more expensive then !
Time-sensitive note: I believe Target has thumb drives right now (August 3) for $5.95. Walmart has the composition books for forty cents each.
Note: If your family cannot afford school supplies, please speak with a teacher or administrator.
Here are some required and suggested items.
You will definitely need these:
- Composition books -- Ms. Dorsey asks her students to bring a composition book to use for readers' and writers' workshop. You might want to buy a couple when they are
on sale. You should have it at school by the beginning of the second week of school.
- Plenty of lined paper (Get enough to last for the school year, since it costs so much more when it's not on sale.)
- Plenty of pencils (Teachers usually keep some on hand for students to borrow in an emergency, but students should supply their own, and should not break or throw pencils.) If you like to use mechanical pencils, have extra lead on hand. Teachers won't have it.
- Pens with black or dark blue (indigo) ink
- A red pen might be used sometimes, but do not do your homework and in-class writing with it or with other odd colors of ink.
- Parents, please don't send sharpies or other permanent ink pens to school with your students. They can quickly become a nuisance item. If they need to use them to mark binders, notebooks, P.E. clothes, etc., please do that at home.
- A couple of three ring binders. Some students do better with everything kept in one binder, and others prefer to have one binder for A-Day classes and another for B-Day classes.
- Binder dividers -- You can buy these or make your own with index or construction paper.
- A thumb drive comes in very handy. In the past, students have done a PowerPoint presentation for science class, and you and may want to use it to save or hand in work for other classes, including English class. (You will need a thumb drive to use if you are taking Reading 7.)
- Colored pencils may be needed for history class, and come in handy at times in other classes.
- Spiral notebooks -- Watch for those that go on sale for ten or fifteen cents each.
- A three-ring hole-punch that fits in your binder is very helpful if you receive handouts that haven't been punched.
- A small manual pencil sharpener
- A small pack of Kleenex -- We usually have facial tissues/Kleenex available in our classrooms, but they are not soft on a tender nose.
- Hand sanitizer
- If you find a good deal, you might want to have on hand some poster board. Sometimes teachers will assign students to create posters, and it's nice not to have to run out to the store at 10 pm when the student remembers he or she has a poster due the next day. [Yes, I've been there, done that with my own children!]
- Sticky notes and highlighters
Computers and Internet
Note to Parents: If you have a computer and printer, you might want to check to see that you have enough printer ink on hand so your student can print off homework when needed. Please encourage your student to finish and hand-in assignments before the deadline, so any computer or printer problems don't make them late.
More about computers and Internet: It is very helpful to have the Internet available at home. Our English classes use a writing program called MYAccess for several assignments during the year. We access it at school, and students can write and revise their work from home or anywhere else they can use the Internet. That also allows parents to read their student's writing and watch their progress.
Students may also need to do research on the Internet for various classes.
If you do not have access at home, the student could use computers in our school media center, sometimes (such as during CaveTime) our computer labs are open to students who need extra time, and the Internet is available at the public library.
Parents will need to sign a release for the student to use the Internet at school, and the student will need to have his or her Internet card in hand to use the Internet on the media center computers and in the other computer labs.
Teacher Web Sites
Many of our teachers have web sites, blogs, and wikis where you can find much information about classes, requirements, etc. Take advantage of this resource.
If you're absent or looking for more information or maybe some extra credit, check this blog. You will most likely be required to use this blog at times during the school year.
(Originally posted July 13, 2010 -- Edited and Reposted in July for the 2011-2012 school year.)
