Supply Solutions

A lot of classroom time can be wasted when students don't have needed supplies on hand. Time can also be wasted when students play with supplies: spinning rulers on pencils, painting fingernails with glue, etc. Our student desks were too small to accommodate the large fancy binders kids liked and unless I wanted chaos, I had to teach them how to organize their materials, which was much easier when they all had the same materials.

Consider having the PTA or Student Council purchase the exact supplies you want and make them available at the school store. I prefer rulers without holes, quality pencils with leads that don't break immediately, college-ruled paper, sharp sewing scissors, colored pocket portfolios and water soluble markers, for example. One year, our PTA sold packets of supplies for each classroom for about $12.00. Parents could just send in a check and avoid the crunch in the school supply aisles and the frustration of having to run all over town for a particular item that has sold out. Individual items were on sale at the school store as well as the packets. Parents loved this system and students had all their supplies within a week, saving a lot of time.

Have students each bring in or buy 12-24 pencils at the beginning of the year, preferably sharpened and marked with their names at home. Each student will keep just two sharp pencils in his/her desk. Rubber band the others together and store in a coffee can. Have students bring in 500 sheets of notebook paper at the beginning of the year. Make a file folder for each child in a box or file drawer and store all but the 50 or so sheets there. Train children to check each morning to make sure they have paper and two sharp pencils. If not, they can replenish their supplies from this central supply station.

Get class sets of certain seldom-used but essential supplies and keep the sets in coffee cans or boxes in the supply center. For example, keep 30 rulers, all the same, in a tall can. Keep 30 small bottles of glue in another can and 30 pairs of scissors in another. Sets of crayons, markers, protractors, meter sticks, etc. can also be consolidated. Whenever they're needed for an assignment, have someone pass them out and collect them back later. These sets can be used over a period of years. If possible, purchase sets of such supplies with school funds. If not, have each child bring in one ruler, one bottle of glue, etc. and consolidate them. There's no need to mark these supplies with names.

Ask each child to bring in a box of facial tissue as one of the requested supplies. Store these and use them throughout the year.

Have students keep all papers related to a subject in a pocket portfolio of a specific color. For example, reading could be coded green, spelling red, math blue, etc. Train students to have their folders out during any class in that subject. Near the end of the class, instruct them to put their papers back in their folders and back in their desks. Even students with messy desks can easily find colored folders, and a lot fewer papers get lost.

To encourage clean desks, make up a certificate from the "Clean Desk Fairy." Do random checks and put a certificate and a tootsie roll in any clean desk.