[many944s]

Alot of it isn't for kids to keep, but are necessary for the class overall. All of the books do stay with the teacher, but since the children only go to the library everyother week, there is a great demand for books in the classrooms, especially since the students are now required to read at least 15 minutes a night.

However, the school requires that all students have name tags on their desks with the alphabet, number line, colors, etc... The teacher get's to buy those. All of the welcome packets for the parents are printed on paper that the teacher has to buy, all the classroom decorations including the number line, sight words, pocket charts, cut out letters, fabric backing, borders, birthday signs, calender activity, theme decorations, pencil boxes, markers, colored pencils, folders, (the list goes on ans on)... the teacher buys. Not to mention all of the chalk, dry erase materials, grade book, the teachers don't get a computer to take home, so we have already toasted 2 sets of ink cart's in the HP officepro I use for shop stuff, plus all of the paper it's been printed on.

School it nothing like it used to be!
Gone is the day of 2-#2 pencils, a ruler, a jar of paste, a pencil box, ruled paper, yadda, yadda!
All the students are required to supply is themselves, and half of them don't even speak English. For many of these children, the families can't afford to supply the needed materials, and with "no child left behind" that just makes things even more interesting!