I work in a school and kids go thru pencils like crazy. At my school when the custodian sweeps he sweeps up whatever is on the floor. The kids getting up constantly to sharpen pencils is so distracting. In the lower grades I would say the kids need 3 or 4 packs crayons. They break them and lose them. Usually the best time to hit the sales is before school starts. There aren't usually any of the good 1 cent sales later in the year. I spend a lot of my own money to supply kids that don't have any. In kindergarten sometimes they use a glue stick every 2 weeks.