Managing Student Supplies on Back to School Night

Thank you to Avery for sponsoring this blog post. I received payment, trade and/or products from Avery in exchange for promoting. However, all opinions stated are my own. I only promote brands and products that I love and I truly adore Avery peel and stick labels in the classroom. This post also contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. I receive a small commission whenever someone makes a purchase through one of these links, which helps to support the blog.

After a crazy and delightfully hectic month of moving and helping to set up multiple classrooms for back to school, last night I focused my attention back to my own classroom and the kindergarten students who will be learning with me this year. My school holds an annual “Sneak Peek” event in which students and families are invited into the classroom before the first day of school. They bring all of their school supplies, meet the teacher, and get acclimated for the new school year. It is a wonderful, but busy night at school.

I planned for 16 families to drop by the classroom last night and the room was buzzing with excitement. Kindergarten parents have a lot of questions because everything is new to them. Drop off, dismissal, homework, our schedule, etc. In the midst of answering all those questions, it’s my job to help all of the students unpack their school supplies.

The Problem: Hard-to-Read Writing

Many parents write their child’s name on everything with a permanent marker. Which is great for me, but often not-so-great for the children in the class who find a stray glue stick on the floor and haven’t figured out how to read the print/cursive mix of parent penmanship.

It’s a waste of time for the children to bring every lost-and-found school supply to me just because they can’t discern the handwriting (and it doesn’t really foster independence either). Fortunately, Avery labels are the perfect tool for solving this problem!

Avery 8160 Labels to the Rescue

As I prep for Sneak Peek, I print a column of labels bearing each students name on Avery 8160 labels and cut to separate each name column into strips. I place a strip of the appropriate name labels on each student’s desk and then I wait. When the students arrive in the classroom and find their desks, they have a great time peeling and sticking their name labels onto all of their supplies. And I take peace in knowing that the large, kid-friendly font will help all of the students to recognize each other’s name throughout the school year.

I created my labels using the Avery 8160 template in Microsoft Word, using the font KG Miss Kindergarten. You can also create your own labels using Avery Design and Print.

Storing and Managing School Supplies

My classroom school supply lists requests that all families supply four boxes of crayons and four large glue sticks. These items usually get us through the duration of the school year. I tuck one of the glue sticks and one box of crayons into each child’s pencil case and the rest get stored for later in the year.

In addition to the strip of printed 8160 labels, each child also receives a quart-size zipper bag bearing their name in the same kid-friendly font. I create these bags ahead of time and use Avery 5163 labels. (These are my all-time favorite labels. I use them all the time in my classroom.) The extra three glue sticks and boxes of crayons fit perfectly into the quart-size bag. Once filled, all of the bags get tucked under my classroom easel for easy access during the school year.

For the first few months of school, I personally hand out new supplies as they are needed. As the year progresses, the children learn to responsibly help themselves to supplies when something runs out. The Avery labels make everything so easy for them to read!

Some supplies go into student desks, others get tucked away under the easel, or placed into table boxes, and still others go into separate corners of the classroom. We stick Avery 8160 labels onto just about everything (except paint shirts and scissors).

Avery Organizational Giveaway

Avery makes so much more than just amazing labels. Their product line also offers and assortment of binders and accessories, page protectors, highlighters, dry erase markers and more. I’m so excited to give away a very generous gift pack from Avery to one Kinder Craze reader. Use the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It’s been an exciting summer with lots of fun projects and some interesting changes to my classroom. I can’t wait to fill you in on all of the details in the coming weeks!