Kayvan Gihavami, 8, left, and BeJan Ghavami, 10, of Reese Elementary talk about some of the school supplies they picked up with their mother on Thursday at Target. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Gearing up for class

Lodi parents, educators search out supplies for new school year

As students gear up to head back to school, many parents are stopping by their local office supply store to get the goods that will keep their kids on track.

However, some teachers say much of the stuff they'll need will already be in the classroom for them.

For Lodi Unified, school starts districtwide July 28. Galt High School District schools will start Aug. 13, and Galt Elementary District schools will start Aug. 25.

At Lodi High School, Principal Bill Atterberry showed off the new three-ring binders that each student will receive.

The binder, new this year, comes stocked with a planner, dividers and a pouch for pens, pencils and highlighters.

Atterberry sent out a recorded message about the binders to Lodi High parents earlier this week.

Supplying a couple thousand students with three-inch binders filled with back-to-school goodies cost Lodi High approximately $14,000 to $15,000, but Atterberry said it's well worth it.

By starting students off with basic supplies, he said, students can concentrate on learning rather than all the different supplies they need for each individual class. High schoolers won't have to carry six different binders around either, as every teacher at Lodi High plans to have students use their free binder.

In addition, Lodi High will furnish students with special Cornell note-taking paper.

Teachers at Reese Elementary provide some materials for their first-graders, such as pencils, crayons, glue, erasers and hand sanitizer. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

"They don't even have to provide note paper, because we provide that, too," Atterberry said.

At Reese Elementary School, first-grade teacher Shelly Schatz already has a pencil box full of supplies sitting on each students' desk. Inside, on the first day of school, students will find a pencil on which the words "Welcome to my class" are printed, an eraser and hand sanitizer, among other things.

Schatz said that in first through third grades, students really don't need to buy anything. It's already all in the classroom for them.

Still, she has no doubt that students will show up with newly purchased supplies decorated in fun colors and patterns.

Leaving a local office supply store, Ali Meier, a fifth-grader at Larson Elementary School, showed off her matching lime green notebook and pencil box.

Her brother, Alex Meier, picked up some binders after seventh-grade orientation day at Lodi Middle School.

Ali said she likes to have her school supplies match and was happy to get new stuff. Their mother, Lynn Meier, said the supplies weren't too expensive. She thought it would be worse.

Although her mother got Atterberry's message about the free binders, Megan McCay, 14, an incoming freshman, decided to stock up anyway. Her sister, Ashley, 12, was not to be left out.

Each of the girls bought a few folders, including a hot pink, tiger print one.

"They definitely have opinions about what they want," said the girls' mother, Linda McCay, with a smile.

Brothers Bejan, 10, and Kayvan Ghavami, 8, are students at Reese Elementary.

The boys' mother, Juanita Ghavami, said she bought extra supplies that they could keep at home to do their homework.

Both boys liked the new markers and colored pencils their mother bought them, but were more excited about getting a new teacher and meeting other students.

"It's good to meet new friends," Kayvan said.

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com.

What did you have to bring to school when you were growing up?

Wally Katnich, 84
Went to school in South Side Chicago

"A pencil, some sheets of paper. That was it; that's all there was. We didn't have all the luxury kids have today."

Maria Uriz, 65
Went to school in Spain

"We had to have this little chalkboard; we didn't have erasers. We used to have bread."

Phyllis Roche, 75
Went to school in Iowa

"A pencil box; you bought the box. (It had) pencils, an eraser and a pencil sharpener."

Richard Shaffer, 69
Went to school in Colorado

"Used to just have to bring a lunch box, a hanger for the cloak room. We couldn't use spiral notebooks. We had to bring punch hole paper and a three-ring binder."