shared classroom supplies

[DCJenn]

Re: shared classroom supplies

My brother's lunch EVERY day from 1st grade to 11th grade (senior year they could leave campus):

One PB&J on white bread but in half.
One orange, quartered
One bag of chips
One Twinkie/Ho-ho/ring-ding/etc.
One purchased milk. (in high school during football season he'd buy a couple of milks.)

Every day. In a brown paper lunch bag.

Jenn

[MDPhDWife]

Re: shared classroom supplies

Our school lunches are about $2.15 as well, they just got increased from $1.75. I agree with Heidi that I couldn't provide that kind of variety daily for that price. Every once in a while, I'll pack DD a lunch, but since it's rare she considers it a treat. On her birthday I go have lunch with her at school and bring her a happy meal from the place of her choice. Her friends get a kick out of it and the whole cafeteria sings.

As far as field trips I don't recall any of them being more than $10 and I was really bummed last year that she didn't have any.

Field trips for the twins cost around $35-50 a pop (but they only do 1-2 a year), and last year we spent about $400 on field trips for Kate.

That's just too much money, I'm surprised parents don't complain.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: shared classroom supplies

Field trips are so pricey for the elem kids b/c "no one will be excluded based on inability to pay" and we have to pay for the transportation (usually charter buses are all that's available) and since only about 40% or so actually pay, that's why it's so pricey... It's not really worth it IMO, b/c I take my kids to the museums and stuff anyway. I'm shocked by how many kids in Kate's 5th grade field trip to the Air and Space museum in DC had NOT ever been to the Smithsonian at all. And they've lived here their entire lives... :huh:

For Kate, she's in a special magnet program and I think that I could opt to keep her away from the field trips and not have to pay, but then I'd really suck wouldn't I??? One of her field trips last year involved a "catered Greek lunch". Puuuuhhhhh-Leeeezzzze. Then one involved an all-you-can-eat-Chinese-buffet-in-Chinatown (highly educational, I know). Throw in the chartered bus, the museum entrance fees, etc., etc... The trips add up.

My kids won't eat hot lunches, and when I smell the special hot lunch aroma I feel like ing myself... But if they would eat it, I think I'd do it maybe 2 times a week too. They don't get a whole lot of variety from the bag lunch, at all. But it's just a rut for me. I give Kate about $35 a month for hot lunch-- middle school has this annoying "a la carte" menu where the kids can actually buy ice cream for lunch. A regular "hot lunch" for her runs about $3.00 a day, not including drink. The elem hot lunch rate is something like $2.60 this year, every year it goes up. During med school we missed the "free/reduced" income cutoff by $6.

Re: shared classroom supplies

I bought the pre-order school supplies from Target via the PTO at the end of last year. It was something like $35 or $40 per kid (a little more for the 2nd grader, less for K - my total was in the $70's). I knew we'd get some items we already had (pencil box, ruler) but I also knew it would be cheaper than wandering through the aisles and finding impulse buys. Plus, it was all taken care of for me, and no one could say that I didn't buy what the school was asking for. The boxes included all of the boxes of kleenex and plastic bags that the teachers ask for, so I'm pretty pleased.

Re: shared classroom supplies

Field trips are so pricey for the elem kids b/c "no one will be excluded based on inability to pay"

Does this mean that the parents who can pay end up paying for the kids who can't afford to go?

I have been on both sides of this, as a teacher in public schools and as a parent of kids in public schools, and I've never heard of this. I know from teaching (at least in the schools where I taught) that the students who received free/reduced-price lunches (ie the kids who couldn't pay for field trips) had their educational field trips covered by federal funding and the kids who didn't receive FRPL had to pay full price for field trips. I never even had to deal with collecting money from the the FRPL kids b/c the school secretary handled their funding.

[rainbabies]

Re: shared classroom supplies

am i way off base with my thinking?? i don't mind providing pens/paper, notebooks, bookcovers, pencil box and a glue stick for MY OWN kid...but come on! what are taxes for? and don't schools get government subsidies? when i was in school, we made book covers from brown paper bags, had a traper keeper, a box of pencils/pens, and some reams of notebook paper.

if we went skating after school, either you had the $2 or you didn't. if we went on a field trip, it was funded by the school and your parents. YOUR OWN parents. we brought a brown bag lunch.

i realize that some kids don't have it all....and while dh has been in residency...our babes havent had stuff thrown at them?? i don't expect ds's kindergarten and first grade fellow students parents to fund his *awesome* trip to the science museum if dh and i are on an "off" week on the pay cycle and need the extra $$ for food or gas.

forgive me if i'm wrong, i know this isnt the debate area ....off i go...back to my cave. :run:

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: shared classroom supplies

They try to take funds from the PTA to pay for the kids who can't afford to go, but our PTA was pretty weak this last year (had no extra money), and so they just canceled the field trips. Also, the prices we pay for our kids to go are "non-refundable" (so if there's a snow day, or if your kid gets sick, you're still out your $), and they are inflated a bit to help pay for those who can't afford to pay. For school parties, of which I've been in charge of a couple, parents from the class are asked to send in some $ for the party if their kid is attending. It's usually about $2 per kid. We usually get about 75% of the parents to send in money for that...

:huh:

I don't like having to pay for the "in class use magazine subscription" either-- but Scholastic News is slightly better IMO than the Time For Kids, which I refused to pay for. TFK was not even *close* to an unbiased journal. Yet I was asked to pay $5 so that my daughter could get that level of indoctrination? No... She still got the indoctrination, I just sent in a snack or something instead of paying for the indoctrination. I'm feeling snarky today. I'm sure there are some TFK fans out there.

Re: shared classroom supplies

but our PTA was pretty weak this last year (had no extra money),

I'm thrilled with how our PTO is starting off this year. They sent home a letter saying that there would only be ONE fundraiser, a walk-a-thon, and they're asking that each kid try to raise $40 or $50 bucks. I'll have 2 kids at the school, so I'll send in a check for $100, and then I won't have to deal with all of the crap that comes along w/fundraising, useless stuff to buy from fundraising, and the general headache therein for the year.

As far as our field trips, I'm pretty sure it's covered in our "fees" we pay at enrollement. I paid a total of $104 for the two boys (2nd grade was a bit higher than kindergarten, so next year my total will be higher). And our taxes, while a cause for complaint for most people in JoCo, are a downright steal compared to what we paid for 1/2 the house in Cleveland Heights - and I'd never send my kids to those schools. All in all, I'm very pleased (as we head in to day 2 of school) ....

[rainbabies]

Re: shared classroom supplies

question. yesterday i finally heard something, via letter about ds starting K. it stated that orientation is aug.25. school starts the following day. we're to meet his teacher and take a tour. nothing was mentioned about supplies??? what does one get for a fresh faced little kindergartner? or do i wait until the day before, after i talk with his teacher?? :huh:

[rainbabies]

Re: shared classroom supplies

or a small chalk board and one (dont use it all up the first day!) piece of chalk??

on a serious note, the school he is going to, is one of "excellence." of course, being WV who knows what that means.

Re: shared classroom supplies

you could also check their website (assuming they have one in WV), or your local Target/OfficeMax kind of deal. Most of them will have print-outs of the school lists.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: shared classroom supplies

Just send him in with a backpack and he'll be fine. Once when we were really behind the schedule b/c of a late August trip I didn't have any school supplies for the kids for a whole week. The stores were really empty after all the kids were back in school at least!

But since you haven't heard anything, and since it's KG, I'm guessing that they are all *shared* supplies probably supplied by the school. They'll ask you for things like hand sanitizer, pencils, crayons, etc to replenish the supplies. We didn't have any individual supplies (other than backpacks and lunchboxes) for KG since the kids didn't have desks.

[Phoebe]

Re: shared classroom supplies

Our kindergarten supplies were provided by the school/teacher and I think the cost was built into the book rental fee. The teacher asked for random things throughout the year as they ran out.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: shared classroom supplies

you could also check their website (assuming they have one in WV), .

i totally missed this first time i read your comment!!!!



do they have the internet?????

Our elem school website is really bad, actually, and we live in the "technology corridor of Maryland." Mmmm-hmmmm. That's why it took 3 years for us to be able to get hi-speed internet here.

[Amiens]

Re: shared classroom supplies

Phoebe, Your school lunches are cheap!!!!

I'm pretty much done with back to school shopping!!! Finally! I wanted to get it all together b/c I know DH won't be able to (shopping the weekend before back to school is really really bad around here, as in people are fighting over the last box of dry erase markers...). Hopefully I'll make it to the first day of school dropoff- baby should be about 5 days old, if all goes as planned...

Anyway, we don't have a textbook fee but we have the various fees for middle school especially, and then the "scholastic news" fee for the elem kids, and then all the field trips, etc. Field trips for the twins cost around $35-50 a pop (but they only do 1-2 a year), and last year we spent about $400 on field trips for Kate. They, of course, *charter* buses b/c these kids are just that special. Next year we start paying for her 8th grade field trip to New York City-- something like $1K. So yeah, school supplies are annoying, but field trips to me have been the major budget buster...

We spent $80 total on two kids for supplies. We could have bought a school supply pack through the school for $40, but it worked out anyway.



Our lunches, which include Entree (they offer a vegetarian option), Daily Choices, Salad Bar (Cottage Cheese, Fresh Fruit, Veggies, Yogurt, and salad toppings) and Milk. are
K-2nd grade $2
3rd-4th $2.25
5th-8th $2.50
Adult $3.50

A la Carte
All you can eat Student Salad Bar $1.75
All you can eat Adult Salad Bar $3.00
Student Side Salad/Fruit Bowl $0.95
Adult Side Salad/Fruit Bowl $1.75
Milk $0.45
Juice $0.35
Bottled Water $0.35
*In addition, children may purchase certain ala carte hot/cold lunch line items (based on availability). Prices will be listed on the daily Menu board in the Café.


The sample menu for the month of Aug is

8/18: Beef Finger Steaks, Green Beans, Ranch Beans, and Animal Crakcers
8/19: Chicken Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes w/ Gravy, Biscuit, Mixed Vegetables, and Chocolate Chip Pudding
8/20: Corn Dog, Peas, Potato Tots, Applesauce, Pears
8/21: Soft Beef Tacos, Spanish Rice, Carrots, Corn, Jell-o
8/22: Pepperoni Pizza, Cheese Pizza, Fruit Snacks, Bananas, Mandarin Oranges
8/25: Chicken Parmesan, Buttered Noodles, Broccoli, Rice Crispy Treat
8/26: Macaroni & Cheese, Roll, Green Beans, Sliced Apricots, Chocolate Pudding
8/27: French Toast Sticks, Potato Tots, Little Smokies, Applesauce
8/28: Burrito, Corn, Mandarin Oranges, Sliced Pears
8/29: Hamburger, French Fries, Fruit Snacks, Peaches

Break down of one of the many sack lunch options for Em or Brig

Ham and Cheese Wrap
Whole wheat tortilla 1 (10 @ 2.29): .29
Ham: 1 slice (9 @ 2.88): .32
American cheese: 1 slice (72 @ 7.92): .11
TOTAL: .72

Fruit
Fuji Apple slices: 1-6 oz (1 lb @ 1.23): .46

Veggie
Baby Carrots: 3 oz. (3 lbs @ 3.48): .22

Beverage
Milk: 8 oz. (1 gallon @ 2.49): .14 (The school charges 45 cents for a la carte milk!)

Treat
Pre-mixed Grocery store Bulk Trail Mix: 2 oz. (1 lb @ 2.48): .31

GRAND TOTAL: $1.86


I actually put together a lunch and it is a lot of food. We are giving E and B the option of choosing a hot lunch once a week. Also at their school they have a limited amount of time to eat their lunch: Em (1st grade)- 15 minutes, and Brig (K)- 20 minutes. Em and Brig do get snack during the day, and at least for Em she will probably eat from her lunch choosings. I will throw in a cheese stick and crackers for her just in case she is extra hungry that day and ends up eating all of her lunch. For us a sack lunch will be more economical, and at least based on the first month lunch menu, healthier, too. I got a Thermos for both kids, and hopefully that will be a good avenue for providing variety.