Buy the Damn Glue Sticks!

It’s back to school time… womp womp womp…. I’m just getting started with summer vacation.  Every year around this time when stores put up their fancy back to school displays, I start to see all the complaints about buying school supplies. And you know what! It burns the depths of my soul! “Why do they need so many glue sticks? The teacher should….” *grabs pearls* The teacher probably spent way more on school supplies than the $50 per kid you will buy on top of the fact that your kids shoes cost more than what you spent on school supplies. I know that because I (who REFUSES or at least tries to not buy school supplies) has already spent $50 on school supplies. I still am waiting on 60 folders to go sale so I don’t have to spend $30 on folders and I’m going to buy at least 20 glue sticks myself.

YES!! Your child needs however many glue sticks are listed on the list and whatever is on the list. You don’t know how many glue sticks end up without tops on them and dry out, or kids roll all the way up and smash them when they try to put the top on it, or they cut them in half, or they just throw away for NO REASON! I’m running around like a glue stick police trying to keep all the glue sticks safe.  And let’s not talk about tissues. They grab a handful of tissues and WIPE their nose and throw them away. They didn’t blow it so it it’s continues to run, so before you know it, a box of tissues are gone in 30 minutes.  I spend at least a month (sometimes MUCH longer) teaching children how to not waste YOUR supplies so I don’t have to go into my stash. With all the gluing, writing, germs etc. your child needs all of the supplies listed … so just BUY THE DAMN GLUE STICKS!

My School supply list if I could send out my own would go something like this…

-          5 COMPOSITION books (not spiral notebooks- those wires are not safe)

-          2 boxes of Crayola crayons (They color the best.)

-          36 quality pencils (Cheap pencils are eaten up by the pencil sharpener and break it.)

-          2 pair of scissors

-          8 large or 12 regular sized Elmer’s glue sticks (the others dry out and end up in trash by March)

-          1 regular pencil box

-          plastic pocket folders with prongs in green, purple, and black

-          2 pocket folders of your child’s choice

-          8 highlighters

-          1 box of gallon sized zipper bags (girls)

-          1 box of sandwich sized zipper bags (boys)

-          2 regular sized bottles of hand sanitizer (not the little individual bottles)

-          Clorox/Lysol wipes

-          2 boxes of tissues

-          8 dry erase markers

-          1 pair of headphones

*You know your child, if he/she is clumsy, destructive, or messy you should purchase and send extra of these items. For those little people, the items listed will NOT last them/us through the year.*

Things not to send those little personal pencil sharpeners and fidget spinners. Additional requested items but not required by each child include notebook paper, cardstock, snacks, markers, paper plates, etc. Please feel free to reach out and request are sent out regularly.

But on a real note, teachers pour a lot of unpaid time as well as their own personal money into their classrooms and your child’s school year. The least you can do is send YOUR child to school READY to get the most of those 180 days. I am grateful every year for those parents who send in snacks, GLUE STICKS, etc. throughout the year! They are truly a blessing because some kids are not fortunate enough to afford supplies and brand new back to school gear and that helps me meet those children’s needs  and worry about more important things like ya know, teaching.  If you buy your 7 year old Jordans for his first day back, you do not need to be on my timeline complaining about .50 glue sticks...