Required Reading at School

[anonomom]

I was wondering: if there are novels/books that your child is required to read at school, who provides them at your school? You? The School?

We got a note home that DD1 (7th grade English) will be reading a specific book in class, and that she is required to have it in hand by a certain date. This took me aback a little -- I'm used to her not having textbooks, but when I was a kid we were provided with the books we read as a class (as opposed to books for book reports or just for reading). It seems to me that if a book is part of the curriculum -- and another mom told me that this book is read statewide in the 7th grade -- then it's something the school should be providing.

What's it like at your kids' schools?

(and to be clear, I don't begrudge the $10 the book costs, just like I don't begrudge the $150 I already spend on DD1's school supplies. Better I spend the money than, say, her teacher. But seems like basic curricular materials are kind of the responsibility of the agency funding the schools.)

[SnuggleBuggles]

Our charter school provides that stuff. Our public school does for all materials during the year but we've had to buy the books for the summer assignments. To be fair, our local libraries within the district have several copies of those books at each branch as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JamiMac]

Required reading, sometimes in the summer, starting in 7th grade. We have always been asked to provide the books. Sometimes we do a hard copy and sometimes my daughters have opted for a digital copy.

[ett]

The school always provides the required book during the school year. A few years ago, when the whole school had the same required summer reading book, every student also got their own copy to keep. That only happened once though, so it may have been covered by a grant.

[Simon]

Our school provides copies of any required reading if its the whole class using the same book. In 7th and 8th grade (much more than 6th), many, many units in reading/language arts allow students to choose what interests them from a long list of book titles. If the copies of one title are gone the student can choose another title or get their own copy. Otherwise, parents in our district are highly unlikely to be asked to buy a book.

[JamiMac]

I wanted to add that our required reading where we purchased the books were always in the Pre-Ap/AP classes of theirs. Maybe that makes a difference from on-level classes.

[PZMommy]

I do several class book reads and I, the teacher, have to provide a copy for each of the students. I make every student/parent sign a form that if a book is lost or damaged, they must pay to replace it. So far so good, I've only had one book damaged to the point it needed to be replaced. I do believe once students start middle school here, that they must buy a copy of any required book.

States give schools less and less money every year, and here may not be any funds in the budget for the books. Every year we are expected to do more and more, but are given less resources.

Keep in mind, it is not the teacher's fault for all of those school fees, and they likely spend hundreds of their own money every year on the students and classroom. If the $10 is a hardship, I'd let the teacher know, but otherwise, I'd just buy the book.

[schrocat]

We had required reading starting in 6th grade. They could borrow a book from the library and there were books in class but it was recommended that the kids bought their own book. It's not expensive.

[jgenie]

My kids attend private school. We purchase summer reading books. Books read during the year are provided by the school but I'm guessing paid out of tuition dollars so I guess we buy those too.

[connor_mommy]

We purchased one because they were marking and writing in the book as they read it. Otherwise all of the books were provided.

[bisous]

We haven't had to purchase anything yet. California is pretty protective of its students though and although sometimes schools will say that purchases are required this cannot be enforced. However, since there is significant shortfall in our budget, the person that usually foots the bill is the teacher and that's not quite right either!

[anonomom]

I do several class book reads and I, the teacher, have to provide a copy for each of the students. I make every student/parent sign a form that if a book is lost or damaged, they must pay to replace it. So far so good, I've only had one book damaged to the point it needed to be replaced. I do believe once students start middle school here, that they must buy a copy of any required book.

States give schools less and less money every year, and here may not be any funds in the budget for the books. Every year we are expected to do more and more, but are given less resources.

Keep in mind, it is not the teacher's fault for all of those school fees, and they likely spend hundreds of their own money every year on the students and classroom. If the $10 is a hardship, I'd let the teacher know, but otherwise, I'd just buy the book.

I did buy the book, and I know it's not at all the teacher's fault. It's infuriating how much funding has been cut in our schools; I guess novels are the least of it.

[lalasmama]

DD is in 8th grade Honors English, and required reading of any specific title is provided by the school. We are a Title I School; I wonder if that affects it at all? DH (middle school sped teacher) said he believes our whole district does it like this.

Books required for nightly reading are provided by the student/family (school library, public library, bookstore, etc).

[PZMommy]

We haven't had to purchase anything yet. California is pretty protective of its students though and although sometimes schools will say that purchases are required this cannot be enforced. However, since there is significant shortfall in our budget, the person that usually foots the bill is the teacher and that's not quite right either!

Yes!!! I don't know why California has this rule, when they do not have the funds to provide for the students. I get so tired of parents who keep saying I don't have to buy it because the school will. No, the school will not buy it, but the teacher will have to buy it. We can't send home supply lists. We are given crayons, lined paper, pens, and pencils. Anything else like notebooks, colored pencils, folders, markers, glue, etc the teacher has to purchase and pay for. Field trips have been cut way back too for the same reason. We have to find free trips. Anything that costs money, we can ask for a donation, but if a parent doesn't pay, the school has to pay, and by school that means the teacher.

[ang79]

My oldest is in 5th grade, which is intermediate school here (Jr. high is grades 7-8). At our elem. and intermediate buildings if the class is reading a novel together, it is provided by the school. But I think the books stay in the school, unless a student is absent and the teacher gives permission to check it out to take home. All reading time is done in class and there is usually one set of books per ELA teacher and they use that set for both ELA classes they teach throughout the day. This is how my school did it too, all the way through high school. Not sure if say all the ELA teachers in a grade and building do the same book study at the same time, or if they stagger it so that the books are passed among teachers.

While I don't have a problem buying books and school supplies for my kids, I know there are many in our school district that struggle financially to do so. We've had teachers before that when doing a special class project and requesting students to bring items, always put that if you want to send one item for your child and another as a spare for a child that may forget or can't afford to bring stuff in, that it is greatly appreciated. The most recent things I'm thinking of are glue for slime and t-shirts to decorate for a themed day.

Oh, in our elem. buildings (k-3) the students are supposed to do nightly reading and they often bring books home from either the teacher's class library or from the Title One teacher's library for their nightly reading. Most teachers don't even have the kids sign them out, they just grab a book from a leveled bin and take it home in a special folder to read, then return the next day. I often wonder how many books from the teachers' personal classroom collections are lost or damaged this way. When I was teaching years ago, the books in my classroom library were only used in the classroom, never sent home.

[ang79]

Yes!!! I don't know why California has this rule, when they do not have the funds to provide for the students. I get so tired of parents who keep saying I don't have to buy it because the school will. No, the school will not buy it, but the teacher will have to buy it. We can't send home supply lists. We are given crayons, lined paper, pens, and pencils. Anything else like notebooks, colored pencils, folders, markers, glue, etc the teacher has to purchase and pay for. Field trips have been cut way back too for the same reason. We have to find free trips. Anything that costs money, we can ask for a donation, but if a parent doesn't pay, the school has to pay, and by school that means the teacher.

Our PTO funds all school field trips (including paying for bus transportation to the high school to practice for seasonal concerts). So fundraising or the buy out option help support these, as well as class t-shirts, prizes for AR reading incentives, special holiday activities, and Fun Day at the end of the year.

[sariana]

In CA schools are required by law to provide all supplies. They doesn't mean they do, mind you, but that is the law. (MI too. I don't know about any other states.) Technically it is illegal for a CA public school to require families to purchase any educational materials.

[SnuggleBuggles]

OP- what school supplies did you have to buy that added up to $150?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AnnieW625]

I have no idea what the public school does but we provide the books at the Catholic K-8 school; this started in 4th grade.

I always check out from the library (either physical or ebook) first. Sometimes I end up buying the book as well, but I always like to use free resources first.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[speo]

CA here. So far we haven't had to buy a novel that the whole class is reading. DS1 is in 7th grade. His English teacher this year has said it costs her too much too print out worksheets and papers. So we have to print it at home! I have never heard of this before. In this case, I would rather buy a book over printer ink!

[AngB]

When I taught comm arts, we always provided the book except for honors classes where they picked their own books (which could be library). Public schools, 6-12.

[PZMommy]

In CA schools are required by law to provide all supplies. They doesn't mean they do, mind you, but that is the law. (MI too. I don't know about any other states.) Technically it is illegal for a CA public school to require families to purchase any educational materials.

The problem with this is the schools/state do not have the money to buy the supplies anymore, so then the teacher has to.

[ahisma]

I had to provide it when I was in school. DH is a high school teacher now and the school provides the books. He's in a low income district, which may be a factor.

[carolinamama]

I have never had to provide a required classroom book - public elementary and also first year at public middle. It wouldn't be a big deal to me but it could be to some parents without the resources. I am involved in creating our public magnet school PTA budget and see the amount of money we allot for both the library and book room. It's substantial. Some schools have this resource while others do not.

[rlu]

As far as I can tell, in 7th grade they quit reading novels and just read excerpts that are included in the new (online) textbooks. This allows them to read more varied topics including more non-fiction. Back to school night is this week so I'll get a better idea of novels for English class. eta: The four novels he read for 6th grade were provided by the school (or teacher, not clear). He was only allowed to bring home one of them, so I checked out copies from the library in case he needed to reference them (he rarely did, most work was done in class).

When I was in junior and high school (in CA) back in the 80s class-wide or small group novels were provided by the school. The only exception was a Shakespeare class I took in 8th grade. We had to buy specific versions of each play book and marked up the heck out of those (I still have them).

It's been a long time since then. My sis is a middle-school librarian and in general the classes take turns reading class-wide novels so each kid has a copy. Same with the lit circle (small group) books. In other words, all the kids can't read the same novel at the same time but her school does provide them.

eta: as librarian my sister orders the books for the library and takes the teacher's requests (for different lit circle books) into account. Library bindings of books are expensive but last longer than regular bindings which means more kids ultimately get to read them. She has to determine the priorities as to which ones get ordered when the funding is available.


eta: as pp mention, at the elem level the PTA provided funding for the library, art, music and field trips (and field trip bus). The PTA at the middle school level is quite different than elem in size of funds available.

[jerseygirl07067]

My middle schoolers go to public school and there is required summer reading. There are usually 3 books, one for science, history, and language arts. We are expected to provide them but the school also has several copies in the school library. This past summer I was able to get a few from the local county library, and a few from our local buy sell trade FB page from people who were just getting rid of them. Because my girls are only 1 grade apart, we can often reuse the ones we had from the prior year.

[anonomom]

OP- what school supplies did you have to buy that added up to $150?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All the standard stuff -- pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, erasers, combination locks, gym uniform, agenda, paper, pencil cases, binder, page protectors, dividers, tissues, clorox wipes, purell; plus a graphing calculator that, while not strictly "required," was strongly recommended. $150 was actually something of a low estimate, now that I look at everything.

The funding system in CA horrifies me, which is why I've been fighting so hard in NC to make sure we don't keep going down that path.

[essnce629]

DS2 goes to an independent charter school and we've never had to provide anything, including school supplies.

DS1 went to the separate middle school of our independent charter and I never had to supply a specific book. They had class libraries and read books at their specific individual reading level. Our school doesn't read whole class novels. We did have to buy school supplies (for him only, not to share).

DS1 is now at a private high school and we had to buy all his books over the summer. We were not given a list for any school supplies to buy and he started with the bare minimum which appears to be sufficient-- pencils, pens, paper, and his zipper binders from middle school. That's it.

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk

[o_mom]

The school provides a copy that you get to keep if they are writing in them, but it is charged as part of our book fees, so it is not free.

[jacksmomtobe]

For ms required reading parents provide the books and school supplies. A notice goes home in advance of when a book is to be read. There may be verbiage stating if you cannot provide the book there are funds or some copies available. That sounds awful in CA with at the teachers are picking up these expenses.

[caheinz]

Eighth grade gifted, and for the first time, they're asking us to buy the three core texts. None of the three will cost much--all are classics and in many versions (and it doesn't matter which we get). Apparently, they could check them out from the library, but she wants them marking up the books -- and post-its in the borrowed ones get cumbersome.

[calebsmama03]

Just found out that for HS we have to purchase the required books. I was able to find the book at our library so I grabbed it but DS insisted they are supposed to buy a paper copy - no digital copies allowed. (ETA this is for a whole class required reading book. Not individual choice.)

[abh5e8]

So I'm guessing everyone read it later year too? Id try to buy a copy from an upper classman.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

[schrocat]

Public school. Required reading starting in 6th grade and they check out a copy from the school (every kid has one). I buy a copy for home. Doesn't cost alot and minimizes the school copy getting lost.

[squimp]

Our public school provides the books if it is required. We did buy one book for summer reading, but it was something I wanted to read as well.

[JBaxter]

this is a thread from 9/2017 any one notice?

[TwinFoxes]

Closing this ghost thread.