Top 10 Back-to-School Supplies: The Ultimate List

What can you do to get your kids off to a great start for school success?

Having the right back-to-school supplies can make the difference between feeling prepared for the school year and not. They can help boost your kids’ confidence as they enter the school year knowing that they have the supplies they need at their disposal. As a parent, what can you do to help your kids be excited and confident about school?

For our family, it was critical that we talk about the upcoming year. We’d speculate on which teacher they might get. We would think about who might be in their class. We’d also walk over to the school a week before school started and see where the new grade classrooms were and sometimes we even got to meet their teacher who was getting the classroom ready. Doing this always increased their excitement and confidence for the coming year.

One of the most fun things we’d do was to shop for a new backpack and some school supplies. There is nothing like that feel of picking out your backpack and a few new supplies to start off the new year. If you are homeschooling or learning remotely, you might want to pick out a nice bin or some shelves that you can use to organize your learning at home.

Studies have shown that students tend to do well when they have the tools they need handy. The right tools can make a difference in helping your kids make connections, comprehend, and use what they are learning.

Back-to-School Supplies List

K – 2nd Grade Back-to-School Supplies List

1. Pencils: These are for beginning writers.
2. Pencil Grips: These are specifically designed to help kids write and hold their pencils properly.
3. Dry Erase Markers and Whiteboard: These markers make it easy for your kids and easy to erase.
4. Washable Markers: These markers make it easy for your kids and easy to wash off.
5. Pencil Sharpener: Make it easy for kids to write more neatly with sharpened pencils.
6. Erasers: These are the sturdiest and best I’ve found over the years.
7. Glue Stick: Make it easy for your kids to glue without making a mess.
8. Scissors: Get the sharpest and safest scissors around.
9. Sentence Zone Game: Learn how to write sentences with color-coded cards.
10. Wide Ruled Handwriting Paper: This paper helps with sizing letters correctly.

3rd – 8th Grade Back-to-School Supplies List

Get the supplies in the K – 2nd-grade list and add the following items:

1. Daily Planner: This small-sized, but mighty student daily planner is perfect to help you and your kids win at time management.
2. Highlighter Tape: Better than highlighter pens…color code your textbooks and notes with removable colored tape.
3. Graph Paper: This helps you keep your columns straight in math.
4. Hole Punch: Helps keep track of your papers in their appropriate folder or notebook.
5. Folders for Reports: This helps you be better organized with color-coded folders.
6. Atlas (student-friendly): See the connections geographically and historically.
7. Thesaurus (student-friendly): Helps you use more interesting words in your writing and assignments.
8. Dictionary (student-friendly): Our favorite dictionary that has simple, easy-to-read definitions. A must-have!
9. Graphic Organizers: Make note-taking, paragraph writing, and essay writing a little easier.
10. Writing Reference Guide: The ultimate cheat sheet for any writing assignment.

5 Steps to a Successful School Year

1. Set up your learning area in your home with the supplies you’ll need.
2. Visit the school a week or even a day or two before school starts. This will help your kids remember that they are part of a larger learning community.
3. Have your kids set up their first week of school schedule: including homework time as well as sports practice, scouts, etc. (This is very easy to do with the planning calendars with the Daily Planner for Students.)
4. Have your kids plan what they will wear to school the night before school. Yes, even though they might be home, dressing for school will help your kids get in school mode. This is a good routine to get into as it helps reduce morning stress.
5. Plan what you’d like your kids to eat for lunch. Also plan for healthy snacks (grapes, apples, oranges, carrots, cucumbers, hummus, etc.) so that your kids have the energy for learning. Sundays are a great day for meal prep so that you don’t have to think about every meal directly beforehand.

Planning and doing these things ahead of time will make it a bit easier for your kids to adjust back into school mode. Coming out of summer break and back-to-school is a big change and implementing these tips will make getting back into the routine of school a bit more enjoyable.

Also, be sure to take a look at our free Daily Schedule Maker. You can create, share, download, and print out a customized schedule for each day of the week.

Daily Planner for Students

Back-to-school special ends on August 31st

Looking to streamline your day? Keep track of all your to-dos? Celebrate your wins?

This small-sized, but mighty student daily planner is perfect to help you and your kids win at time management.

Other planners don’t give you room to breathe while still having enough structure to succeed. You also feel like you need to start using them on a specific day.

Plus, other planners are simply too big.

Our daily planner is undated, so you can start at any time, even in the middle of a month. Each planner is set for 5 weeks long to keep it small and manageable.

Prioritizing, scheduling, and planning your days becomes as easy as filling in the blanks. There is also a ton of blank space for notes, ideas, tasks, and doodles.

This planner was designed for students, but adults love it too.

It’s simple and no-nonsense. We love it and we think you’ll love it too.

Learn More

Who is Scholar Within?

Scholar Within was founded by learning expert Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET. Bonnie began designing and developing her own custom educational tools when she started her private learning center in the 1990s. Teachers kept asking what she was using with the kids who saw her because of the dramatic improvements that the kids made in school. From there, Bonnie decided to make her materials available to teachers and families worldwide.

Now, Bonnie Terry has turned her materials into a full-service online program that you can follow step-by-step at home, on your schedule. School alone is not enough anymore. Bonnie’s programs boost your kid’s overall learning skills by focusing on improving the auditory, visual, and tactile processing areas of your brain to make it work more efficiently.

How do families use Scholar Within’s Reading Program?

• Homeschooling
• Skill Building and After School
• Gifted Students or Accelerated Learning
• Learning Difficulties or Special Needs
• Self Paced Learning
• Schedule Flexibility

Learn more about Scholar Within’s At-Home and Online Reading Program.