my back to school list August 10, 2011

I need to get to school soon, to give the school secretary a letter from me to send out to my new students’ families.  I used to request school supplies (Crayola crayons and markers, pencils, Elmer’s glue, glue sticks, tissues, etc.) but I ended up with enough tissues to last me 4 years (seriously, this will be the fifth year and there are still tissue boxes in my storage box).  Parents also tended to buy things I hadn’t asked for (we do not need any pocket folders or rulers, thank you), or would buy crappy brands (I only want Crayola markers as they are the only ones that will last, for example).

So a few years ago, I started asking parents to bring in $5 for each child, so that I could have a fund to use for art supplies (paint, markers, etc.), and also to bring in just a few other items:  a backpack big enough for 9×12 papers, two green spiral notebooks to use as journals, and a ream of copy paper, if possible.  It has worked well and simplified things quite a bit.

day 3 August 25, 2010

I’m still jet-lagged from my trip (came back after midnight on Saturday), and I can’t seem to catch up on my sleep, but otherwise am glad to be back at work.  Today I came back to find that Miss Dickens had gotten lots of stuff done yesterday, and put the meeting area things back up on the blackboard (calendar, 100′s pocket chart, months of the year, etc.).  I also went to a data meeting where the staff looked at our test scores from last year.  The Princess was trying to put a positive spin on things, which I appreciate, but it will be interesting to see how we as a staff handle the fact that so many of our students are failing.

I went to Office Max, and now have spent close to $300 on my classroom.

Tomorrow is the open house, so it will be a looooong day.  But — I’ll get to meet a bunch of my new sweeties!

What my classroom looks like July 30, 2008

I stopped by today — the first time I’ve ever been to my classroom in the middle of summer, and all my furniture was piled up in the hall by my cubbies.  I went inside and it was completely empty, except for all the dust bunnies. 

Well, and the tech guy who is currently installing my videodata projector from the ceiling.  Whoo hoo!  He was surprised to see me, but I think he liked hearing my enthusiasm and thanks.  He said this is all he’s doing this whole summer — visiting 24 schools and putting the vdp’s in every classroom.

I asked him if he had an extra smartboard he could give me, but alas, no.

I dropped off all the stuff I bought and then went home with tons of curriculum materials so I can start lesson planning.  The beginning of the year is always so stressful for me, I figure, if I at least plan out the first few weeks, things will go easier.

(image courtesy of www.physicalgeography.net, via Google Images)

What teachers spend July 29, 2008

I went to my local teacher supply store this morning and spent $167.50 on supplies for the new year.  The receipt is about two feet long.  Since my husband has been making choking noises about the credit card bills lately, with no paychecks coming in from me, I am not looking forward to giving this one to him.

However, $167.50 is actually about what I spend each year at the beginning of the year.  And it is nothing compared to what I spent my first two years of teaching.

When I got my first official teaching job in a public school, I was shown a dark, dank room with one window (but covered in some sort of security plastic that was completely opaque) and two dead mice on the floor.  I had tables and chairs, a desk, and some pattern blocks.  That’s it.  I asked the curriculum director about curriculum — stupid me.  She looked at me like I was a cretin and said there was no curriculum.

So here I was, about to start teaching kindergarten for the first time, and I had NOTHING.  I’m guessing I spent $1,500 of our newlywed funds just to get going.  I had to buy teacher books and curriculum materials and puzzles and games and manipulatives and art supplies….and everything.

Later I found out that the district provided $8,000 for each new kindergarten class that was opened, and as mine was new to the building, it qualified.  Of course I never saw a penny of that money.  At the time I wondered if the principal had actually STOLEN it, but in retrospect I’m sure he swiped it to use to pay for other things the school needed.  Like the mentally ill assistant teacher assigned to my classroom.

The next year I probably only spent a thousand, and then it started going way down.  So now it’s $167.50 at the beginning of the year, and…another $75-$125 during the course of the year.

I even have to buy my own copy paper and construction paper.  (I did get free construction paper at my first school.  Whoo hoo!)

I wonder how many people out there who think that teachers are overpaid actually have to buy their own office supplies for work?  Plus enough supplies for twenty other people in their office?

Whenever people ask me about holiday gifts for teachers, I always tell them to forget the tchotchkes and pool their money with other parents to buy a generous gift certificate to Target or Barnes and Noble or the local grocery store or the local teacher store, so that the teacher doesn’t have to spend quite so much of her own money.