Picket Fence Post

My kids’ three teachers have made contact with their new pupils via snail mail. Along with their pleasant letters — which attempt to psych the children up for the new school year – came the obligatory school supply lists. I know that I say this every year, but something about these very practical, but ever-growing lists bugs me.

See for yourselves:

One of our fourth grader’s supply list:

• One pair of Fiskars pointed-tip kid scissors
• Two rolls of 3/4″ Scotch tape
• One ruler, plastic
• 10 (.74 oz.) white glue sticks
• Three packages of #2 pencils with erasers
• One box of 12 count Crayola washable markers (conical tip) (fat)
• One box of 12 count Crayola washable markers (fine tip) (skinny)
• One box of 24 count Crayola crayons
• One box of 24 count Crayola colored pencils
• Three (Sanford) Sharpie markers, ultra fine point, permanent, black
• Nine twin pocket folders, one of each color, no clasps inside: tan, yellow, light blue, dark blue, orange, green, red, purple, white. (NOTE: Has anyone seen a tan pocket folder? I’m afraid this is going to be difficult to locate.)
• Two gummy erasers
• One pencil bag with zipper that has three holes to fit in your trapper
• One trapper (NOTE: I’m assuming this is like a Trapper Keeper from when I was a kid and not a trap of another sort, like a bear trapper, or cranky mother trapper.)
• Two packages 4 X 6 ruled white index cards
• Three Mead composition books, black and white firm marbled covers
• 100 sheets, wide-ruled
• “During the school year, I will be asking for additional glue sticks and pencils.”

The aforementioned list is not to be confused with the second list for my other fourth grader:

• One pair of Fiskars pointed-tip kid scissors
• Two large glue sticks
• Two packages of 12 #2 pencils with erasers
• Two boxes of 8 count Crayola washable markers (conical tip, fat)
• Two boxes of 12 count Crayola colored pencils
• Two plastic, two-pocket portfolio folders
• Six twin-pocket folders, one of each color: red, green, blue, purple, orange, yellow
• Three 100-page, wide-ruled Mead composition books, black and white firm marbled covers
• Two 70-page, wide-ruled, single subject, spiral-bound notebooks, one red, one blue
• One 4 X 6 spiral-bound memo book (at least 50 pages), solid color
• One plastic accordion style folder (string, snap or elastic closure)
• One plastic pencil box
• Three postage stamps
• Two boxes of tissues

And last, but not least, the supply list for the second grader:

• 24 count crayons
• 12 count colored pencils
• One pair Fiskars pointed scissors
• One binder, 1-inch, 3-ring View Binder (clear front to insert a cover page)
• Six glue sticks
• One bottle of Elmer’s glue
• 24 count #2 pencils (Dixon Ticonderoga are the best)
• Three block erasers
• Four pocket folders (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 green)
• One pencil case or box
• One letter-sized clipboard

One of the letters explicitly tells us not to label the supplies because “the items on the list will be used by the whole class . . . We will do any required labeling together in class.”

There’s one lingering question that has been bugging The Spouse and I for years that we keep forgetting to ask: What happens to all the scissors we buy, year after year for the classrooms? Do they disappear? Are they melted down and recycled someplace? Is there a black market for scissors? Why couldn’t we just have each kid buy one pair of scissors, be responsible for them the entire year, then take them home in June and bring them to the next classroom he or she is in the following year? Why a new pair every year? That isn’t very green, now is it?

Image credit: Fiskars.