For Halloween, I ask my students to share their most dreadful experience. Back to school shopping was among them. As for teachers and parents, some are tempted to start their back-to-school shopping at the LCBO. I can understand why, but I find unpacking back-to-school purchases almost as exciting as opening birthday gifts. Starting the year with the right attitude can set the tone for the months ahead. Here is a list of a few products with the power to inspire anyone to be studious.

  1. Reinforced lined paper was the first item I purchased, one stack for my home office, three for my kids and a ton for the school. This regular-size paper is lined with plastic along the left margin preventing the sheets from ripping at the holes and vanishing before ever having a chance to fulfill their purpose. Homework, class notes and assignments stay put, binders look organized and your dog won’t choke on your algebra.
  2. Unfortunately, reinforced paper does not cancel out the need for hole reinforcement stickers. Photocopies received in class are still going to tear at the holes and escape. Every student should have a sheet of the circular stickers in every binder. At Write Up Your Alley, we go through about 15 packs a year.
  3. When you are missing half of what you need for class the embarrassment can be mortifying. Punched binder pouches to the rescue. These are clear, plastic envelopes with either a Velcro or a Ziploc and a folded crease on the side, wide enough for a fairly thick textbook. Insert one into each binder and keep the textbooks together with your notes and even writing utensils. You will leave your house feeling a lot more organized and ready.
  4. A similar item to help keep backpacks organized is a plastic envelope. Loose sheets of paper frequently end up at the bottom of the backpack, moist and affixed to gum or unidentified pieces of something which used to be edible. They say procrastination is caused by fear. The fear of opening a messy backpack doesn’t have to be one of your worries.
  5. On the subject of messes, lunch boxes are the worst offenders. Lunchblox by Rubbermaid has my vote. Unlike the 20-piece plastic container sets where only 3 non-disposable containers are a useful size, these come in a set of 4 different shapes which stack and click into a block with an ice pack in between; or they can fit loosely inside a lunch bag. One is a perfect size for a sandwich or another substantial dish, one for salad or a snack meant to keep its shape. Two smaller square boxes are ideal for veggies and dip, cookies, berries, or yogurt. This plastic dream team can handle any number of combinations.
  6. Mechanical pencils are nothing new, but how about coloured mechanical pencils? The ones I found at Staples came in a set of 12 with extra lead for refills. The colours look bright and beautiful on white and off-white paper. The pencils are lightweight and easy to refill. No sharpener, no pencil shavings. They became my daughter’s favourite school item in an instant.
  7. But if you are still a fan of lead pencils, please don’t fall for cheap plastic sharpeners. A small metal sharpener will do the job better and last longer.
  8. Another product that stole my heart was the erasable pens and highlighters. Many children are messy writers. Mistakes and typos are a common source of embarrassment for the child and disappointment for the parents. In my writing classes, students attempt many inconspicuous ploys to correct these typos, but none are neat or inconspicuous. Erasable pens look and feel just like regular pens on paper, but mistakes can be corrected without a trace.
  9. Erasable highlights allow you to highlight information in school textbooks or textbooks you plan to resell. This is very useful for high school and university students who take advantage of my highly recommended “trigger questions” method of studying, the subject of another article.
  10. Erasable pens or not, lead pencils or mechanical, all these items need to be stored in a user-friendly pencil case. I can see many square pouches with a zipper on top and so many mystery items buried at the bottom, I am afraid to put my hand in. Rectangular pencil cases that unzip all around the perimeter are the best.
  11. In our classrooms and at home, my favourite attention saver and discipline tool is the kitchen timer. We have one in the shape of an owl and a ladybug, both symbolic, one of wisdom and the other of luck. 10 minutes for a writer’s warm-up, 7 minutes for a punctuation quiz, 5 minutes for etymology, all under the watchful eyes of the wise old owl. With students who tend to get distracted or discouraged by the prospect of time-consuming tasks, it helps to break the work up into smaller tasks, estimate the time each might take, plan breaks in between, and set the timer. It’s fun to challenge a child to guess how long it will take to finish the questions. My estimate is always a little bit longer than the students’. They love to prove me wrong by finishing closer to the time they estimated. The timers have helped many clients with ADHD stay focused for longer. If your break includes something they love, like a favourite snack or a game, you can remind them that 20 minutes is all that stands between them and the reward. Then, set the timer.
  12. The last two purchases to join my collection were a reading light and a fashionable bookmark from Indigo. While all the other items were necessities, these are cute enough to be given as little gifts, a sort of good luck charm for the school year ahead. The little clip-on light is perfect for reading in bed, on the train, or just a long car ride home from hockey practice. The bookmark with a durable but delicate chain and two decorative charms is an endearing and meaningful souvenir. The choice of shapes and colours is impressive. I settled on Saturn. Saturn, for me, symbolises a journey into the unknown offered by every new book, the limitless universe of our imagination and the boundless opportunities education can yield.

Maria Gurevich

12 Practical Back-to-School Finds