What About the Pencils?
August 26 2010 The morning of his first day of school, we carefully packed Jedi’s many supplies into his backpack. This included his blue pencil box, which we arranged and prepared expressly for his ease of use, containing a handful of pre-sharpened No. 2 pencils, sharpener, box of 24 crayons, pink eraser, his own pair of safety scissors. The usual suspects.
He came home that afternoon with an empty backpack.
I expected the boxes of tissues to be gone, and the Ziploc bags. Even the Clorox wipes. I known these items are used freely about the classroom. But what about his blue folders and his dragon-covered notebook? What about his fully-stocked pencil box? I don’t remember much from my school days, but I know pencils are important. I asked if he knew where his stuff was, maybe they keep it at his desk, but he said he hadn’t seen them.
I wrote a note in professional red crayon the following morning for his teacher and stuck it in his backpack. Not surprisingly, he forgot to give it to her that day. Yesterday, however, he returned home with a briefly penned response, his dragon-covered notebook, and a bare-boned pencil box.
“The folders are used for journals, is this OK?”, the responding note read.
That’s fine, not a problem, but what about the other stuff? WHAT ABOUT THE PENCILS?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I already find kindergarten confusing.
15 Responses
on August 26 2010
Usually the teacher collects all the supplies and keeps them in the classroom as a community supply. At least that how it works in our district.
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on August 26th, 2010
@Midwest Mommy, I guess that’s how it works here, too. But shouldn’t a kid have a few of his own pencils? And his sharpener, that wasn’t even on the school supply list. But the pencil box was on the list, which begs the question why make us buy a pencil box if he isn’t allowed to keep his pencils?
on August 26 2010
Our teachers always instructed us to buy two sets of everything: one for school, one for home. Looks like you’ll need to do the same, though why they felt you’d intuit that all on your own is weird (and lazy).
on August 26th, 2010
@Kelly, If they’re community property, then that wouldn’t have been a problem. I just wish we had a heads up. We probably wouldn’t have sharpened those pencils and arranged it all just so if that were the case. We do have a few spares here at home, so it’s not really a huge deal. It’s just perplexing more than anything.
on August 26 2010
Our school is all communal. I would ask about the pencil sharpener, if you want it back. I’m confused too, the schedule, the clothes to wear, how to do it all.
on August 26th, 2010
@Kate, It’s definitely a learning process. So far more for me than my kid.
on August 26 2010
Ugh. Community property is SO gross and irritating! All the excitment of choosing just the right supplies (Rock Star is all about “green” everything) just to have it mixed in and not own it anymore. I am serisouly pissed about it all.
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on August 26 2010
Oh, and did I mention that it is only day 5 of kindergarten and we are already talking homeschooling? Already so over all the rules! Give me a break.
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on August 26th, 2010
@mamacomedy, You hit the nail on the head with the other comment. If I knew all of his stuff would actually be everyone’s stuff, we would have gone with more general supplies. I thought of homeschooling before, but I just don’t think I could. So I’m trying to “go with the flow” here, except I’m having difficulty understanding “the flow” right now.
on August 27 2010
That’s so very frustrating. I know a lot of schools do community supplies, especially in the younger grades, but if that’s the case, you think that would have been mentioned. You could have gone with more basic, generic (and inexpensive!) items instead.
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on August 27 2010
That’s confusing to me, too! So, basically, the people that CAN buy supplies for the people that CANNOT?
I guess next year, you’ll by the super cheapy ones, right?
on August 27th, 2010
@Krystyn, Except next year when we buy the super cheap supplies, the school will probably change it’s policy and he’ll be stuck with those. That’s how our luck usually goes.
on August 30 2010
The smell of a yellow number 2 still gets me every time. Maybe the teacher took them to make a yellow-pencil shrine! =>
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on August 30th, 2010
@Stacia, In that case, all would be forgiven if I got to lay witness to the shrine. That’d be my kind of teacher.
on August 30 2010
I anticipate I will be similarly confused by kindergarten, though I have two more years until my on goes. Teachers have all these rules. (I know, because I was one.)
You need to march right in there and ask for your pencils back!