Lakeshore Learning Paper Roll, Corkboard, Printer Paper Size and Other School Supply FAQs

Questions From the Office Side of Classroom Supply Orders

I'm not a teacher. I'm the office administrator who signs purchase orders for the people who teach—about 340 staff across six buildings, and roughly $190k in supplies each year across several major vendors. I report to operations and finance. Since I sit between the classroom and the budget office, I end up dealing with the products that don't work, the deliveries that arrive late, and the invoices that don't match. These are the questions I wish every new buyer would ask first.

Should I use the Lakeshore Learning website for most classroom purchases?

I have mixed feelings about this, and I say that as someone with plenty of Lakeshore orders in our history. On one hand, the Lakeshore Learning website is genuinely useful when a teacher asks for something specific. The catalog is organized by grade and subject, so it's easy to verify dimensions and quantities before I approve a purchase order. On the other hand, easy to browse does not always mean best total price.

A couple of times, I've gone to the website to find an item description and then checked whether our local supplier could match the total cost. Other times, the teacher discount made Lakeshore the cheapest option after shipping. From the outside, adding another vendor looks like more invoices and more logins. The reality is that a second specialty vendor often prevents a stockout from stalling an entire grade-level project.

One caveat: set up the tax-exempt and purchase-order process before you need it. The website works fine; your internal approval workflow is usually the bottleneck. I learned that after a rush order sat in our district email queue for four days.

What is a Lakeshore Learning paper roll, and which one do teachers actually want?

When a teacher asks for a Lakeshore Learning paper roll, they usually have a certain width, length, and color in mind. That sounds obvious, but it is not. A 24-inch roll will not cover a classroom bulletin board the same way a 36-inch or 48-inch roll will. Length matters too, but width is what causes the oh-no conversation after the order arrives.

There is also a difference between easel paper, art paper, and bulletin board background paper. If you buy the wrong type, the teacher will make it work for a day, then ask for a replacement that actually matches the project. I ordered what I thought was a better equivalent once because the original roll was out of stock. The paper was thinner and tore when students tried to staple things to it. My fault for assuming same idea means same product.

What is standard printer paper size, and why does it cause so many problems?

In the US and Canada, the standard printer paper size is letter: 8.5 × 11 inches. If a supply order says regular copy paper, that is usually the correct size. Legal is 8.5 × 14 inches, and tabloid is 11 × 17 inches. In most of the rest of the world, A4 is the everyday size (210 × 297 mm), and it is defined under ISO 216. Letter size is sometimes called ANSI A.

The mix-up happens when someone orders standard paper without specifying the actual dimensions. I assumed standard paper in a product catalog matched the settings on our copiers. It did not. The boxes said standard, but the product was A4. It fit in the tray, but every printout had uneven margins and the double-sided jobs did not line up. Four boxes had been distributed before anyone noticed.

For normal copy machines, 20 lb letter paper is the baseline. If you print a lot of material for parent handbooks or training packets, 24 lb is worth the extra cost because ink shows through less. Compare the same size, weight, and brightness when you look at price.

What is a western journal, and why did a teacher ask for it?

In a school context, a western journal is usually a themed writing journal for a social studies unit. Students write diary-style entries from the point of view of a pioneer, a cowboy, or an explorer. In other contexts, Western Journal can mean an academic publication. If the request comes from a teacher, it is almost always the classroom journal, not a research periodical. (I searched for the scholarly version once before asking. It was embarrassing.)

What matters is the page layout. Young students need draw-and-write pages with room for illustrations. Older students need solid writing lines. Some versions include maps or vocabulary words inside the covers. A jar of generic composition notebooks is not a substitute if the project depends on the journal prompts. Ask for the grade level, then check the inside page before you order a class set.

What should I look for in a corkboard besides the price?

For me, a corkboard is one of those purchases where the cheapest option gets expensive. In an office, a lightweight board can last for years. In a classroom, it faces pushpins, staples, tape, and occasional abuse. A cheap fiberboard backing can sag or split when the seasons change, especially if the building has old windows.

When I order corkboard now, I look at the cork density, the frame corners, and the hanging system. Denser cork holds pins without leaving huge holes. A closed-cell or self-healing surface lasts longer in elementary rooms. If the frame is thin plastic, it will crack when someone carries the board flat instead of by its edges. And a 36-inch board with two small plastic hangers is a wall hazard, not a classroom supply.

If you are comparing options, also compare the actual depth. A 0.5-inch board and a 1-inch board look the same in a product photo but feel very different when you hang them. Put the total depth in the order notes if it matters for safety.

If the teacher discount makes Lakeshore cheaper, isn't that the answer?

Teacher discounts are not always available to office buyers, but when they are, they still do not tell you the full cost. The real comparison includes shipping, delivery time, return options, and whether the product actually meets the teacher's lesson plan.

A two-week delay can turn a $10 saving into a $150 rush replacement. The opposite fails too: paying a little more for a product with a clear return policy can save you from a restocking fee or a box of supplies that sits unused in a workroom.

I have mixed feelings about loyalty to any brand. On one hand, consistent products are easier to reorder. On the other hand, budgets are not built on motivation. The reasonable middle ground is to use a few reliable vendors, know their terms, and reserve impulse buying for low-stakes items that won't get stuck in a credit memo.

What is the most overlooked step in school supply ordering?

Verification before approval. Not dramatic, but it is the step that catches the wrong dimensions, unclear item numbers, and unavailable delivery dates before they become someone else's problem. The third time we had to reorder because of an incomplete description, I made a simple checklist: product name, size, quantity, unit price, delivery date, required approval. It took five minutes and saved a lot of phone calls.

The biggest lesson from managing purchase orders is that same is not a specification. Same size, same color, same material—those words do not survive contact with a monthly budget review. Put actual numbers in the notes. If you are ordering a Lakeshore Learning paper roll, say 36 inches wide and 100 feet long. If you are ordering a corkboard, say the exact dimensions and mounting system. There is no substitute for a description that a substitute vendor cannot misinterpret.

That is the part of the price that never shows up on a quote.