Updated Back-to-School Checklist: What Kids Actually Need to Bring to School, From a 4th Grade Teacher
It was 8:12 a.m. on the first day of last school year, and 9-year-old Mia was stuck in my classroom doorway. Her hot-pink rolling backpack, a birthday gift from her grandparents, was wider than the doorframe, its plastic wheels catching on the edge of the circle-time rug. When she gave it one final hard yank, it tipped sideways, and its contents spilled across the floor: three unopened packs of glitter glue, a 12-pack of neon dry-erase markers still shrink-wrapped, two 3-subject spiral notebooks, a 40-ounce insulated water bottle that immediately started leaking onto a stack of reading logs, a stuffed fox roughly the size of a social studies textbook, and a crumpled printout of the district’s official school supply list, last updated in 2019.
Her mom, Sarah, hovered behind her holding a lukewarm iced coffee, work badge already clipped to her shirt, and sighed. “I printed this off the PTA Facebook group last night at 10,” she said, kicking a glitter glue pack gently toward the pile. “All the comments said to buy extra of everything, because teachers always run out. I think I spent $75 at Target. Did I overdo it?”
Before I could answer, I glanced past her at the rest of the class lining up by the cubbies. Half the kids had backpacks bulging so tight the zippers gaped, stuffed with every item on that same 5-year-old list. The other half, like Javi, whose abuela had dropped him off 10 minutes early before catching two buses to her housekeeping job, carried nothing but a crumpled manila folder and a half-eaten granola bar tucked into a plastic grocery bag. I knelt down to help Mia stuff her things back into the backpack, and told Sarah the truth: most of that stuff would sit in her cubby until June, and half the things she actually needed weren’t on the list at all.
I’ve taught 4th grade for eight years now, and I’ve seen supply lists stay almost completely static through remote learning, staggered schedules, 1:1 classroom Chromebooks, and all the small, quiet shifts in what kids need to get through a school day. The district still prints and posts the same 2019 template every year, because no one has gotten around to rewriting it, so most parents never find out what’s actually useful until halfway through September. Last fall, I threw the template out and wrote my own, based on what I actually see kids use, and what actually keeps small, unnecessary stress from derailing their day.
The glitter glue went home with Mia that first Friday. We do half our art projects digitally these days, and when we pull out construction paper, I keep a class set of glue sticks and washable paint bought with classroom supply funds. Individual packs just get lost under desks, or squeezed out into desk gaps when the teacher’s back is turned, and I’m still finding glitter from a 2021 Valentine’s project in the carpet by the reading nook. The 12 dry-erase markers went into my communal supply bin; we only use individual whiteboards for whole-class math review once every two weeks, and the class set I buy at the start of the year lasts all nine months. The 40-ounce water bottle didn’t fit in the side pocket of her desk, and after it leaked on a class copy of Charlotte’s Web three days in a row, she swapped it for a 12-ounce plastic one she could refill at the fountain by the bathroom between recess and lunch.
The first thing I put on my updated list, that never shows up on the old district one, is a $5 pair of wired earbuds with a standard headphone jack, tucked into a labeled plastic baggie. Every kid in my room uses a school-issued Chromebook for independent reading quizzes, math practice, and occasional virtual guest speakers, and personal earbuds keep them from leaning over to listen to their neighbor’s screen. I explicitly ask parents not to send wireless AirPods or expensive bluetooth headphones. Last year alone, three kids lost pairs worth more than $100 on the playground, and half the time wireless buds die halfway through a state practice test, or accidentally connect to another kid’s device mid-lesson. The cheap wired ones work fine, and if they get lost or broken, no one has to panic. I keep a bin of extra donated pairs by my desk for anyone who can’t bring their own, no questions asked.
Five years ago, I would have taken any fidget toy off a kid the second I saw it. Now, I ask every parent to pack one small, quiet fidget that fits entirely inside a pencil pouch. No light-up spinners, no loud pop-its, just something small they can twist or rub while they listen to read-aloud or work through a tricky math problem. A lot of kids got used to moving their hands while they learned at home during remote school, and forcing them to sit still with both hands on the desk just means they end up wiggling out of their chair, tapping their pencil loud enough to distract the whole table, or getting up to sharpen their pencil for the fifth time in 20 minutes. Last year, a boy named Tyreese who used to leave his seat three times a lesson started keeping a smooth river rock he found on a camping trip in his pencil case. He’d rub it between his fingers while I read, and by October, he was finishing his independent work 10 minutes early most days. It doesn’t have to be a $15 fidget toy from the store. A smooth rock, a hair tie wrapped around a pencil, even a small Lego brick works.
The second non-negotiable that surprises most parents of upper-elementary kids is a full change of old clothes, tucked into a sealed gallon Ziploc bag at the bottom of their backpack. Most people assume that’s just for kindergarteners who have bathroom accidents, but I see a need for it at least once a month in 4th grade. Last October, a quiet kid named Lila spilled an entire carton of chocolate milk down her shirt and pants at lunch, and the nurse’s closet only had an oversized adult t-shirt and sweatpants three sizes too big. She sat through our afternoon fall assembly with the waistband rolled three times, and her mom told me she cried about it that night and didn’t want to come back to school. Kids slip in puddles at recess, get nosebleeds that soak through their shirt, spill paint during art, even get caught in a random rainstorm walking in from the bus. The change of clothes doesn’t have to be new—old sweatpants, a faded t-shirt, a pair of extra socks is enough. It saves them the embarrassment of walking to the office in front of the whole class to borrow ill-fitting spare clothes, and it saves parents from having to leave work last minute to bring a new outfit.
I also ask every family to pack one extra, non-perishable nut-free snack, separate from their kid’s lunch. Our school still runs staggered lunch schedules to keep the cafeteria from getting overcrowded, and half my class doesn’t eat lunch until 12:40 or 1:10 p.m. By 10:30, half of them are slumping over their desks, too hungry to focus on spelling. The school does offer free snacks for kids who qualify for free or reduced lunch, but a lot of 9 and 10 year olds don’t want to raise their hand and ask for one in front of their friends. Packing a granola bar, a small bag of crackers, or a clementine from home takes that pressure off. I let kids pull them out and eat quietly during independent work, no questions asked.
A lot of parents tell me they treat the school supply list like a checklist they have to nail to be a good parent. I see them at the big box store the night before first day, scrolling the PTA post on their phone, panicking because the store is out of the exact brand of 24-count crayons the list asks for. But the $100 worth of brand-new supplies don’t make nearly as much difference as the small, boring stuff that no old list remembers to add. You don’t need 10 pre-sharpened pencils; I keep a bin of sharpened pencils by the door that anyone can grab, and we collect them at the end of the day. You don’t need a fancy rolling backpack; our hallways are narrow, our cubbies are small, and rolling bags trip younger kids in the hallway all the time. You don’t need to buy extra bulk supplies to “help the teacher” if money is tight; most teachers have a stock of extras, and we’d much rather your kid have the snack and the change of clothes than an extra pack of glue sticks.
I updated my list again this summer, added a note about skipping wireless earbuds after three more lost AirPod incidents last spring, and crossed off hard plastic pencil boxes after I realized most kids just leave theirs in their cubby anyway. Mia came in on the last day of school with her small backpack, her own river rock fidget, and her extra snack, and she told me she was glad she didn’t have to haul that big rolling bag around anymore. Sarah sent me a message later that week saying she spent less than $20 on supplies that year, and her daughter never once called her from school asking for a change of clothes or a forgotten item.
I still get the occasional parent showing up with a car full of extra glitter glue and fancy markers, and I never turn it down. I just pass it on to the art teacher, and tell them what their kid actually needs is probably already in their junk drawer at home. The list shifts a little every year, as the kids change and the school schedule adjusts. I don’t expect it ever to be perfectly finished.
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