Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Smell of School Supplies

I love the smell of school supplies, and our living room is, at the moment, ripe with them.  We have:

2 boxes 8-count Crayola crayons
1 box 24-count Crayola crayons
1 box 48-count Crayola crayons
4 boxes of 8 thick tip classic color markers
36 pencils
4 pink erasers
7 large boxes of tissues
4 4 ounce bottles of white glue
1 large package of napkins
5 large glue sticks
3 scissors
1 school box (not larger than 9x6x3”)
1 package college ruled theme paper
1 package wide ruled theme paper
10 two pocket folders
2 thin tip black markers
2 boxes thin tip Crayola markers
2 sets of colored pencils (36-count)
3 jumbo book covers
3 college ruled spiral notebooks
1 12” ruler
1 scientific calculator
1 1-inch 3-ring binder
2 red correcting pens
highlighters
4 pair gym shoes

All this is separated into four relatively neat piles awaiting the kids’ first day of school next week.  When I was a kid, I loved picking out my cool pencils, neat folders, and—showing my age—the new school year’s Trapper Keeper.  And my kids like to do it, too.  They keep looking over their stuff to make sure that no one’s pile is accidentally touching theirs and counting things a couple times to be absolutely positive that nothing is missing. 

I love that they are excited about school.  We visited with teachers this afternoon, and all the classrooms look ready to go.  Text books are stacked up in neat piles—including new math books for all the lower grades!—and all the desks are aligned in neat rows.  It’s a new beginning—new teachers, new books, some new classmates, new notebooks…all kinds of newy goodness. 

It’s like a new year, but you get to buy stuff to get ready for it.  It’s a clean slate, and in less than a week, our kids will get to start writing on it.  Go get ‘em, kids!

(8) Comments
Posted by Wendy at 2240 hrs
Culture

  1. Oh, the Trapper Keeper.  I was doing some cleaning around the family home a few months ago and stumbled into an old Trapper Keeper from 8th grade that was buried in a pile of old things from middle school.  Oh, the memories… *sniff sniff*

    Do they still make those things?

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on August 21, 2007 at 2344 hrs


  2. Does the larger Crayola box still come with a built-in crayon sharpener?

    When I was in elementary school, they hired a “professional artist” to be our art teacher. The first thing this idiot did was make us break all of our crayons in half because “true artists don’t use a sharp crayon”. The man proceeded to ruin art appreciation for two generations of children.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 21, 2007 at 2354 hrs


  3. Yes, they still make trapper keepers, I saw them last week when shopping for our “list”. 
    In 6th grade I had a green one with a brown horse on it.  So cool!  Of course, there was that one teacher that put “NO TRAPPER KEEPERS” on the school supply list in 7th grade.  That made us all very upset.
    I’m surprised that your list did not include “baby wipes”.  Many people have mentioned this item being on their list.  I am assuming this will be used as an easy way to clean hands???

    Posted by KT on August 22, 2007 at 0009 hrs


  4. This year is really exciting for us.  Our school list includes not only the usual supplies but all of our 7 year daughter’s text books, work books, and assorted necessary science stuff too - were starting our first year of home schooling.  Wish us luck!

    My four year old is going to go to the public school for 4-k and maybe kindergarten too, but (unless this year with our daughter is a disaster) he’ll be home schooled too. 

    For the record, I never had a trapper keeper.  My dad would bring home three ringed binders from work.  He worked at the local farmer’s co-op so they all had the Midland symbol, or Land o’ Lakes symbol or the name of some new cattle feed or pesticide on them.  Luckily, I was one of the biggest kids in my class. 

    Also, I hate any boxes of crayons with anything more than 8 crayons.  In third grade I had the 48 pack and we did comprehension tests.  You know take your red crayon and draw a square.  Well it turns out I am red-green color blind and I could not find the damn red crayon, instead I found four red crayons and I never drew the damn square.  My school thought I was “slow” and I had to spend four weeks in special-ed before someone thought to test me for color blindness.  Idiots.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 22, 2007 at 0806 hrs


  5. The Trapper Keeper!!!  Do they still make those?  I would expect to only see them anymore on VH1’s “I Love the 80’s”

    Posted by Nick on August 22, 2007 at 0807 hrs


  6. OMG, KT.  I had the green trapper keeper with a brown horse, too!!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 22, 2007 at 0839 hrs


  7. That’s right, we knew what “cool” was!! Ha.

    Good luck to you and your kids this year.  As a former teacher who will eventually go back in a few years, I get all misty-eyed at this time of year each year. 

    Know that the teachers are just as excited as the kids about having a fresh new start. 

    If only we could bottle all of this enthusiasm up and bust it out mid February when we are all slumping down feeling weary.
    long face

    Posted by KT on August 22, 2007 at 1445 hrs


  8. Wendy,

    Revisit this post in two months and let us know if those sneakers still have the lovable ‘smell of school supplies’!  confused

    Posted by Steve on August 22, 2007 at 1737 hrs


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