Back to School Supplies

In honor of the back-to-school season, I’ve decided to devote this post to my all-time favorite school supplies and my least favorite supplies throughout my schooling career.

10 All-time Favorite School Supplies
1. Brand new box of Crayola crayons (elementary) – nothing like the feeling of coloring with brand new crayons, I can almost smell the fresh, waxy aroma now!
2. Elmer’s blue glue (elementary) – didn’t work as well as the regular Elmer’s glue much to the annoyance of the art teacher but I envied the kids who had it!
3. Mechanical pencils (elementary) – good-bye pencil sharpeners and hello Bic teal clipped mechanical pencils!
4. Gel pens (middle) – yes these got banned after a few years because some idiots would buy and use the light pink & yellow, but for a while they were sooo cool!
5. Post-it notes (middle & high school) – before the days of my beloved planner, post-its would remind me of important events & assignments!
6. Five Star three subject notebooks (high school) – these notebooks would cover 3 classes worth of information and provided pockets to take the place of trapper keepers!
7. Graphing calculator (high school & college) – I wouldn’t have gotten through BC Calc or Accounting without it!
8. Pink, green & blue highlighters (high school & college) – I was a book, note & study guide highlighting fiend!
9. Planner (college) – My planner was my life! It kept me organized
10. Jump drive (college) – saved my life transferring group projects, advertising projects and when my computer was acting up!

10 All-time Worst School Supplies
1. Plastic pencil case (elementary) – it took up so much room in my desk and still didn’t fit everything!
2. Pens with feathers, felt & sequins (elementary) – these girls needed a clue (sorry if you were one of them…)
3. Side pocket folders (elementary) – you would inevitably get at least one handout a month that didn’t fit into those side slots and were forced to just slide it in at the risk of losing it!
4. Child safety scissors (elementary) – cutting ANYTHING with these scissors was a challenge, even standard construction paper!
5. Wide-lined paper (elementary & middle) – there is NO need to write anything that big. Generally used by cheaters who couldn’t write a full-page essay.
6. Protractor (elementary & middle) – really when did you ever actually use this device apart from poking the annoying kid sitting next to you.
7. Trapper Keeper (middle) – these were NOT locker friendly, especially when the girl you were sharing with decided she needed on for EACH class.
8. Binders (high school) – only because no one had a three-whole punch and teachers passed out handouts without the holes already punched. You had to store things in the pocket until it was bursting and were forced to take it home to organize your crap. Really a folder would have been better.
9. Hand-held recorder (college) – really? You can’t just take notes Blue books (college) – I don’t understand why you can’t just use normal paper? Is the teacher REALLY too cheap to invest in a stapler or, heaven forbid, supply the paper for their tests?