The 10 Most Important Items to Purchase for Your Elementary School Student

While there will be several items on your child's back to school list, I feel that these are the top 10 essential items for every elementary school student.

1.) Backpack - Make sure that your child purchases one that fits, not just one that is "cool". Also, be careful when purchasing the backpacks with wheels. Some schools do not allow these.

2.) Notebooks and paper - Whether the notebooks be spiral bound or the marbled composition notebooks, this will be the number one item on the list. This week Wal-Mart has the spiral notebooks on sale for 15 cents each. Most of the paper on the elementary supply lists request wide ruled paper.

3.) Glue Sticks - Jumbo or regular size. I must confess though, when the lists specifically asks for the jumbo size sticks I do buy the regular ones. Wal-Mart has the regular size on sale for 25 cents and contains two glue sticks in a pack.

4.) Pencils - Definitely essential. Stock up on these while they are on sale. We have several new ones from last year's goody bags (Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's, and Easter Parties).

5.) Scissors - Each child will need their own pair. These have been on my daughter's list every year since kindergarten.

6.) Erasers- Let's face it - pencil erasers do not last long so make sure that your child has a stash of extra erasers on hand. The pencil top or cap erasers are often requested.

7.) Pencil Sharpener - Sometimes it's not convenient for your child to get up to sharpen their pencil during class, by having their own sharpener this will alleviate that problem.

8.) Folders (with or without prongs) - Another must for organization and almost always requested by the teachers.

9.) Crayons - Markers and colored pencils also fall into this category. It is very important for children to have their own individual box of coloring utensils. Some kids have trouble sharing and the class box of crayons may not have the color that your child needs. Many of the stores currently have crayons on sale for 25 cents a box. Stock up now because later on they will be over $2.00 a box for the same pack that over the summer cost you twenty-five cents.
10.) Class Essentials - Unfortunately in today's society the students are asked to bring more supplies into the classroom than ever before. Most students are being asked to bring in things like tissues, paper towels, baby wipes, Ziploc bags, and hand sanitizer. If you can catch these items on sale it would benefit you to stockpile these items. (Usually if the items are not donated, these items fall to the teacher to provide for the entire classroom.)

Each year the supply lists seem to get longer and so therefore when items are on sale I purchase more than we can use. This allows me to not only have enough for my child but I am also able to donate to the classroom. Keep an eye on the Sunday sale papers to get the best deals before school starts.