School Supply Shopping

Hello! Now that promises of returning to school are nearing and we are squarely in the midst of “Back to School” sales, I get intoxicated with anticipation of new pens, zippered pouches, and colorful school supplies and thought you might like a glimpse into my suggested school supply list! Not every student at every school needs every item, but I tried to cover what I would buy.

Alright, school supplies are near and dear to my heart. A&E Hoarders would have a field day with my office because it is full of fancy paper and glittery pens. I am constantly trying new supplies and figuring out which things work best for my students, which items can last the entire school year, and which are just cheap and cruddy. So, here we go!

First, I think every middle and high schooler should have their own filing system. Personally, I like the low-cost portable option of a file crate that holds hanging file folders. Something like this works, too. Then, I mark all the tabs with topics like, Employment, College, Personal Records, and start holding extra papers there. If you get assignments back, make a folder for that course and dump them all in the file. That way, you aren’t carrying everything around with you the whole time, but if you need to reference something (to check that a grade got entered correctly or you need to cite something you previously wrote in an upcoming paper), you have access to these items fairly quickly. At the end of the semester or once a year, go through the papers and toss anything you don’t ever need to see again. If you haven’t touched it in a year, chances are you probably won’t (with the exception of personal and legal documents like taxes and birth certificates).

The obvious one—you need a backpack! And speaking of a backpack—take a luggage tag and make a checklist. Understood.org has an easy one, here. If you want me to make you a fancy one, let me know! Choose a bag that is COMFORTABLE. I usually get hiking day packs (spots for water bottles! Clips to hold your keys! Pockets to stuff things in when you are in a rush!) and some even come with a rain cover. I had the Osprey Tempest 20 (the male version is called the Talon 22) for about a decade, but it is looking pretty sad (and yes, there is a lifetime guarantee, but it deserves some much-needed rest). I just picked up the Gregory Miwok 18 as I try to carry less and less everywhere I go. Go to REI, try on every backpack, they even have weights you can carry around so you can see how it will feel when it’s full. I don’t ever carry a purse—just my trusty backpack.

Another thing I like to have on hand is extra supplies. You might not need colored pencils every day (don’t let them take up space in your backpack), but it might be nice to have them in case you want them for a project. I have dedicated a bin or a drawer for extra supplies, but I am also a fan of picking up the hanging shoe holders and using the pockets to sort. I toss it over my door and add tape, glue, markers, glitters, stickers, anything I might need. You can also cut the holder if you don’t need as many pockets as it provides. You can also use the pockets for storing scarves and other stuff if you have extra space. Other supplies you should have at home include:

Hole punch for papers to go in the binder

Stapler

Scotch tape

Glue sticks

Anything else you want (tape, thumbtacks, paper clips, colored pencils, markers, paints, glitter, stickers, etc.)

Once your home space is taken care of, I shift to the locker. My personal philosophy is to have what you need, but don’t overcarry. Some backpacks are nearly fifty pounds and to me, that’s ridiculous. I like to keep things in the locker and at home, and use the backpack to transport what I need. To make your locker organized, I recommend a locker shelf because it gives you more flexibility on where to store your things. You might notice that I am crazy about the Mead Five Star brand of products—they tend to take a beating and still wear really well, they have a ton of cool colors, and their design is really smart and practical. Once you have a locker shelf, I usually have a bag of stuff (I like these because they are rugged, fairly plain looking, can be clipped on with a carabiner, and aren’t see-through so everyone knows your business) with extra deodorant, hair ties, feminine hygiene products, flossers and braces brushes, Advil or Tylenol for headaches, snacks (like applesauce squeezies, granola bars, and beef jerky—anything that won’t cause a rodent or insect infestation), Kleenex, gum, that kind of stuff. Don’t forget a combo lock—NOT A KEY LOCK—because you can text yourself the combo so you don’t forget it where if it requires a key and you left it home or lost it, you’re stuck. Some students add a magnetic mirror and you are good to go. I used to buy those magnetic organizers that held supplies and left them in the locker, but then students kept leaving the supplies in the locker—so I don’t do that anymore. I’m a huge fan of a pencil pouch (more about that down below) for supplies and because magnets are awesome, I use them to add hooks for extra storage, hold photos and comics to the inside door, and I even stick a magnet to the back of a stack of Post-its so I can leave quick messages and reminders to myself!

Then, the backpack! I recommend a backpack that can hold a binder and a laptop because you might want to study and bring both of those things. I’m a fan of the backpacks with side pockets for your water bottle (which I also highly recommend having on you), but don’t overdo it with the pockets because it is easier to lose things. What goes in the backpack?

Small First Aid kit (mostly a couple band-aids for blisters or paper cuts and maybe a few cough drops—don’t get too crazy). Please note: schools have VERY specific policies about medication on campus, so before you keep a spare dose in your locker “just in case,” make sure you are following the rules. Also, these are my favorite med transporters.

Water bottle

Wet Wipes (I like these because you can use them on items (like a desk or a locker) or on skin (cleaning up after lunch))

Flash cards (back in the day, I used to cut index cards, punch a hole in them, and put them on a shower ring—now, you can buy them already like that or DIY!). If you want to watch an AWESOME YouTube video about how to make flash cards, this one is my favorite.

Planner – this is controversial—I know. I have found that using technology is great for a calendar (I am a huge fan of Google Calendar myself), but neuroscience strongly ties hand-writing something to memorization. For me, I have gone through a million different types of planners—the Dawson and Guare Executive Functioning Work-Smart Academic Planner, the Bulletproof Planner, the Essential Planner, and everything else on the market. In fact, I want to make my own planner that actually WORKS, but until that happens, I am going to try the Order Out of Chaos Planner this year. I tend to use the planner for daily stuff like homework and assignments and the Google Calendar can then be used for overall scheduling.

Lunch stuff – for students with Executive Functioning deficits, it is vital to make sure you are eating, hydrating, sleeping, and exercising regularly. In Junior High, I ate Cheez-Its and milkshakes every day because they were cheap, easy, and I didn’t have anybody telling me not to. Now, as an old person, I wish I had learned better eating habits and taken my health more seriously. When you take care of your body, your brain functions better allowing you to learn more and reduce some of the challenges that come with lack of memory, poor organization, distraction, and other difficulties. And also - don’t forget you have snacks in your locker! You are a genius! Look at you, already planning ahead!

Binder – This is a topic that I can be very passionate about, so stick with me on this. Unless your teacher requires you to—do not buy different binders for each class! This seems like a good idea, but what if you grab the wrong one? And now you need to keep track of five times as much stuff as before! Plus, you might want to start on math corrections during some free time in English, but you can’t do that because the math binder is in your locker so you end up just wasting time!! Alright, you get my point. I recommend a typical view binder. You can slide your school calendar into the front, or a picture of your cat, or whatever you want—it can be changed!

Inside the binder you will need a zippered pencil case. I tried the ones that you press like a Ziplock baggie and they never work right. Get the kind with the three-rings so it stays in the binder. You can go super fancy (Five Star, my love) or super basic.  This holds all of your pens, pencils (I have a lot of thoughts on pens and pencils—mostly, buy stuff you love! Oh, and get some good erasers! I get these because I like making mistakes—that means I am actually learning and, as I am a mechanical pencil girl myself, those erasers are too darn small, even if I carry an extra package of lead and erasers for them. Don’t forget your calculator, index cards for notes or flash cards, and I like to keep a tiny thing of tape from the Dollar Store and a small pair of scissors—you would be surprised how much stuff I end up fixing! Everything now is cloud pretty much so no more USB drives, but a phone charger is handy to have.

Dividers – I have been around and around with these and what I have decided is your dividers MUST have a pocket of some kind (in case you get handed something small or without holes punched), but not so many pockets that you get lost. These are my favorite right now. I got really excited when Five Star launched their dividers because they were plastic (durable), hole-punched, and had a pocket, but they are too thick for the binder and are basically an entire folder unto themselves, so I am going back to my old faves.

College-ruled loose-leaf paper

Now you may have noticed there are a few items missing on my school supply list, and I am going to address those things. I will say that if a teacher specifically asks for something—just get it—it isn’t worth fighting over, but if they are open to different products, here’s my workaround:

Highlighters – I almost never use these. Students get a highlighter in their hand and then boom—the whole page is neon which defeats the point of highlighting at all. I read with a pencil and an eraser and make notes that way—I am happy to show you my system. I find that annotating this way is much easier for me to remember what I was thinking anyhow.

Composition books – These are my nightmare. They are so hard to repurpose and if you start writing in it and make a mistake, it becomes a scribbled-out disaster. Instead, I opt for the Five Star (surprised?) 1-subject notebook. These are awesome because they have a built-in storage pocket that you can move as a bookmark (which is great for labs or whatever), has a holder for a pen so you can keep a lab pen with the notebook, is spiral so it is all held together but if you want to rip it out, it has perforations so you don’t get little dangly pieces of paper on the left side and it is hole-punched to go directly into your binder. This kind can even be put into your binder as-is and taken out when needed, but you don’t get a fancy pen holder.

Finally, there are a few “nice to have items” that can be fun. The first is a highlighting bookmark to help with reading and guiding the eyes to stay on track. The next is a check set which is popular in Japan, but hasn’t quite made it here. Finally, I recommend every student have headphones or earbuds with them so they can do homework, listen to audiobooks, or just chill out and watch YouTube videos. It is nice to enjoy your stuff without disrupting others.

Anything I missed? Any questions you might have about supplies? Anything you want a blog post about? Let me know!!

Home:

File crate

Hanging file folders

Over-the-door shoe storage

Hole punch for papers to go in the binder (which gets taken back and forth to school)

Stapler

Scotch tape

Glue sticks

Anything else you want (tape, thumb tacks, paper clips, colored pencils, markers, paints, glitter, stickers, etc.)

Locker:

Shelf

Mirror

Combo lock

Bag with survival stuff

Backpack:

Backpack

Small First Aid kit

Water bottle

Wet Wipes

Flash cards

Planner

Lunch stuff

Headphones or earbuds

Binder:

Binder

Pencil case with pens, pencils, erasers, calculator, index/flashcards

Dividers

Loose-leaf paper

NOTE: I was not paid or given any supplies in exchange for this post. I am just a school supply nerd.