back to school {2013} : school must haves

wow is it really that time already? to start thinking of everything back to school?
I have received so many questions lately about back to school stuff so I decided to do up a post with as much info as I can think of! But it got way too long so I will split it into three. Today I'm going to talk about what we've been doing to get ready for school to go back, and what I think are the must haves for school. I will also do a post on our school routines and another post on lunch box foods! Hopefully that answers all the questions I've been sent. :o}
Getting ready for school to start back up starts a couple of weeks before the big day. We have two weeks of holiday left and since we were so busy for the first bit of school holidays with family visiting and Christmas, and then away for nearly 2 weeks in the New Year, I am taking it a little slower.  This week we have started doing some writing and sight word work during the day for about half an hour in the morning before lunch. And then we are practicing reading in the afternoons.
 Noah will be in Year 1 this year. Obviously in Kindy and Pre-Primary we didn't do a lot of 'revision' prior to school starting back up but it never hurt to pull out flash cards of colours, letters and numbers for him as he enjoyed it anyway, and we practiced writing his name. This year Noah is also starting at a new school so we are talking about that a lot. We have orientation so that will be great in terms getting a little more familiar with the school. 
We are also getting our school supplies organised. This is like heaven for me. I am a stationery junkie. I think it's hereditary because my Mum is too. And I can see that my kiddos probably follow in my footsteps. Sorry hubby.
Below is a list of what I think are School Must Haves:

School Bag: Our school bag is part of the uniform at school so we don't get to choose this. But I think it's important to have a couple of pockets, we always kept lunch box and drink bottle in one, and left the other for papers and notebooks and his library bag on library days.

Lunch Box: We have used and loved the Skip Hop Zoo lunch boxes but find they are too small now that Noah is no longer in Kindy. We upgraded to a bigger Beatrix NY Lunchbox and we LOVED that, it was machine washable {yes, you heard that right!} and I washed it probably once every month and when needed and it still has held up perfectly and honestly would be fine for this year, but Noah spotted a lunch box while we were out a while ago {decor brand} that he would really like to use this year so we are giving that one a go. I will talk a little more about what I use inside our lunch boxes in my lunch box post coming soon! 

Drink Bottle: We have gone through lots of drink bottles and I can't find one that I'm truly happy with for school. I want it to be insulated for those hot summer months, and large enough to hold a lot of water. Noah doesn't often drink from the bubblers at school so he can't have a teeny water bottle. I am going to try out one of these from Lime Tree Kids and will happily share what I think soon :o}

Booklist: this is a stationery order list that the school usually sets for each grade level. This year is the first year I did it through our school where I just had everything delivered to my door. I am converted! No rushing around dragging the kids out to 3 different stores in the heat like last year! Only to save a small amount of money, but not find everything I needed and dealing with hour long lines and grumpy people in the process. No thanks! I LOVE my stationery shopping, but I'll have fun shopping for home stuff instead!

Name labels: These are a must have in my opinion, even if you don't need to label every pencil, crayon or marker yet. You will need to label bags, spare clothes, their lunch box, drink bottle and any containers you send in their lunch box. I have used mooo {now tinyme} and stuck on you and love them both.

Pencil Case: There was a pencil case on Noah's school booklist but we decided to get him a personalised one this year and love our one from tinyme. The quality is great and they had a huge range of designs to choose from which won him over. 

Library Bag: This is also part of our school uniform so we don't get to choose one. It's a good idea to choose one that is water resistant though, just in case it gets caught in the rain or next to a leaky water bottle.

Shoes: It's a great idea to get your kiddos foot fitted at a children's shoe store. I always make sure to buy shoes that have a great sole and good arch support as he is in them all day, everyday!

Uniform: obviously this is a given especially in Australia as I'm pretty sure most of our schools use a uniform. When Noah was attending a 3 year old program through our school he only needed one uniform as I had a lot of time to wash it in time for the next week. When he attended Kindy 3 days a week we had 2 full uniforms and found this was enough and easy to manage. When he started full time school last year, I made sure we had 3 full uniforms and found this was perfect for us, I knew Wednesday was uniform washing day after he came home from school and we'd have enough for the rest of the week and Monday in case I didn't get to his washing on the weekend. 

Hat: Usually this is part of the uniform, but I ALWAYS give Noah a spare hat to keep in his bag. It is usually never needed but at least it's there. 

I also pack a travel pack of tissues in his bag in case he gets a runny nose etc as well as some antibacterial hand cleaner for those times the school toilets have run out of soap. 

We will do a special back to school dinner while we're still on holiday. We usually head for the beach for fish and chips or cook up a family favourite and eat picnic style in our own backyard. The kids just like doing something different and fun - and honestly I'm all for something laid back! 
I really loved this eBook "Starting School - A Parent's Survival Guide" by the lovely Natalie from Mummy Smiles! Although we've been at school for a few years now, there were still some helpful tips in there for me so I am sure you'll find some helpful info too. As I read through it I wished I had something like that when we started out on our schooling journey, it is really a great introduction to the world of being a school parent!

We also use a back to school countdown in the lead up to the big day! You can download a copy from the blog here. We also read some back to school books that we usually borrow from the library, we just haven't gotten there yet. The book in the basket "The Things I Love About School" is a very sweet book that we wrote a dedication to Noah in when he started his schooling journey and it's become a lovely part of our back to school traditions.
More back to school posts coming soon!    :o}