Monday, July 07, 2008

School Supplies: WTF Edition

SchoolAroundTheCorner Student Supply List 2008-2009
GRADE 1

1 doz. #2 pencils
2 lg. bar erasers
2 pkgs cap erasers
4 thin black [brandname] dry erase markers
1 pr. [brandname] 5" blunt scissors
10 lg. white glue sticks
2 boxes 16 count [brandname] crayons
1 box [brandname] colored pencils
1 box [brandname] markers
4 plain 2-pocket folders in red, blue, yellow, green
2 black marble composition books
1 box tissues
1 5x8 school box
1 roll [brandname] transparent tape (3/4")(refill - boys only)
1 box gallon-sized [brandname] freezer bags (boys only)
1 box snack-sized [brandname] freezer bags (girls only)
1 box quart-sized [brandname] freezer bags (girls only)
1 box unscented baby wipes
1 bottle [brandname] glue
1 infant sock

I was (and am) appalled, but I finally found out why they have gendered supply sheets. Kudos to the first commenter who guesses correctly. Also, kudos to first commenter to correctly guess why the kids are bringing in an infant sock.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

My guess for the gendered list is that they don't need that many bags. Breaking up boy/girl gives them roughly half as many.

Just one sock? Why not a pair?

~profgrrrrl~ said...

I had the same guess for the gendered list. Easiest way to split up the class roughly in half in most cases.

The infant sock. I've seen socks used for erasers before, and given the dry erase markers I'll guess that's the purpose. Why are the kids supplying dry erase markers??? And why infant socks as opposed to other sizes? Maybe I'm totally wrong about this.

Madeleine said...

I'm with the crowd on the halfsies. But I'd use "Last name A-M" if it was up to me.

Sock puppets on the first day of school? Or "look how much you've grown!"

But really, who still has an infant sock lying around when their kid hits first grade?

susan said...

What they all said about getting an even set of supplies for the room, in about the right proportions of supplies wanted.

The infant sock? A small puppet was the first I thought of, but I'm sure that's not right.

Liz Miller said...

Kudos to j for being the firstest with the reason for the genderific list.

And madeleine made the same statement about it I did when I found out the reason.

Kudos to profgrrrrl for being the firstest with the reason for the infant sock.

Mummy/Crit said...

Same as everyone on the gendered list - the supplies are not specifically for your child, but pooled for the class. You probably won't even see them, but they're telling you what you're paying for. That's how it is with D'Arcy's school supplies. They send the list home and say "this can be supplied by (some company) and you don't have to pick it up, it gets distributed to your child's class on the first day of school. If you want, you can buy the stuff yourself, but we're saving you the hassle"

Only in Grade 2 do they finally hand out packets of coloured pencils and markers to each child to look after for themselves at D's school.

No idea on the infant sock.

kathy a. said...

one infant sock? sorry, that is just weird and/or a pain in the butt.

KLee said...

From the educator's prospective, we ask for a lot of that stuff (ziploc bags, tissues, dry erase markers, and baby wipes) because those are not included on the products that we can buy with our supply money. We actually purchase a lot of that out of our own pockets, and it gets to be very expensive. We use quite a bit of that consumable stuff in the classroom.

Our superintendent, in his infinite wisdom, decided to make ALL of our schools have a master supply list, and we cannot deviate from the list or ask for anything else. Great. That means we're going to be ever more out of pocket than we usually are. And, what was he thinking -- there was no hand sanitizer or hand soap on that list for elementary kids! When he has astronomical numbers of people out sick this next year, I bet you money that it'll be changed back!

kathy a. said...

seriously, klee? oh holy mumble mumble grrrrr.

is it still ok to ask for donations from willing parents? i'm guessing that things a teacher might want for projects -- egg cartons, oatmeal cartons, baby food jars, spare yarn and artsy stuff, clean sox for sock puppets, apples for apple prints, etc. -- are not on the master list.

it just seems tremendously unfair to make teachers pay for ANYthing out of pocket. if you are allowed to ask donations of other supplies, is it possible to add the hand sanitizer, hand soap, whatever to a classroom "donations wanted" list? i'd be willing to bet there's a classroom parent or 4 with a costco card, who would love nothing better than to donate some sanitizer.

ccw said...

I loved elementary school because you could buy a supply kit and it was there on their desk the first day.

I have come to give a sh*t less about supply lists now. Kid L will still freak out because it says BLUE folder or must have books COVERED with approved covers. She has now accepted our attitude and no longer cares herself so long as she has what she actually needs (which isn't a lot of the list).

I agree that splitting by alphabet would look better.

Magpie said...

maybe 90% of the class falls into A-L?

still, i don't remember ever having to do anything like this when i was a kid? am i deluded, or has something really changed?

Jody said...

It's a good thing we don't do the boy-girl divide, because there were 8 boys for every 13 girls in all four of the second-grade classrooms (and I am still having to stop and remember not to type first grade).