Are these the craze anywhere else? My students are nuts for these things, and I teach freshmen and seniors! They wear them as bracelets - almost everyone is wearing at least a few, and some kids have quite a collection.
My students don't have them (they're obsessed with creating beaded bracelets right now) but I did see recently on the news that many districts are banning them because they can be shot (since they're glorified rubber bands) and that the Silly Bands Co. thinks that it's great because since they've been banned they have seen sales spike!
Oh my goodness yes! I have a student who has 55. They line both wrists. OTher students are happy to have just one or two. They're nuts about them. They really like to trade them and even know which of them are rare and more collectable!
THey are all the craze here! From Elementary all the way to high school! It seemed like it popped up over night too! (about a month ago) .....we had slap bracelets, kids today have Silly Bandz! Its funny because I was watching some reality tv show the other day...i think it was Real Housewives of NJ and they had a sign on the door of the store they were going into that said Silly Bandz are here! (The show was probably taped 6 months ago- I thought it was funny that it took that long to get to NY!)
Yes, my first-grade son loves them (my fourth-grader isn't quite as into them, but his classmates are). He liked the idea so much he got some regular rubber bands and started claiming they were silly bands in shapes such as a baseball, the sun, a watermelon, etc. (i.e., all circular shapes). Some of them are too small for use as bracelets -- I think a bigger concern than kids snapping them at each other (which realistically, has an almost negligible chance of any real harm) is that wearing them can cut off circulation. My son wore them to bed one night and woke up with his hand grossly swollen. There wasn't any lasting damage, but it was still disconcerting.
My 2nd grade daughter loves them and lots of my high school seniors wear them as well. The only way to get them that I know of it to go to a 5 Below on a Thursday, that's when their weekly shipment comes.
I banned them from my classroom yesterday. They have been shot across the room, lost, stolen, cried about and even stolen off my desk. So I said no more. I have enough to worry about, I don't need to worry about rubber bands!
Oh yes. Now being confiscated if they are playing with them in class. I actually had one kid FREAK OUT when I found one on the floor and threw it out.
YES! My 9th and 10th graders love them! I'm really surprised though, because they don't shoot them at each other or play with them. They just wear them, so I have no complaints...yet.
That is so funny! I have been using them for about two years now. I got them as a gift in my Easter basket and they are the only rubber bands I have. My kids have asked about them but they are not a craze here at all. I didn't even know they had a name
Yes, they are wearing them here. I've taken one from a child who was obsessing over it instead of doing his work, then misplaced it and couldn't give it back to him at the end of the day. Thank goodness I found it the next day because he was obsessing about me not being able to find it.
A letter went out today from my principal banning them. A third grader had so many on her wrist that she told everyone her hand was turning blue. Turned out they were so tight that her circulation was being cut off.
I didn't know what they were called, but yes! I have a student who visited her family in Georgia a few months ago and brought two back to show off...and it was all up, Up, UP from there. I had to deal with a stolen one last week.
This reminds me of when slap bracelets were banned when I was in elementary school! lol My 6-year-old niece loves them, but I'd be concerned about the older kids (high school) wearing them because wasn't there some phase not long ago where the types of bracelets they wore designated what sexual activities they'd done/were willing to do? I'm sure a lot of it is harmless but I could see them being used for that again.
I had no idea what these were when I read this the first time, but Monday one of my students had handfuls of them. Ugh. I'm glad that we're almost out or the summer. Maybe they'll be tired of them before August.
My rule is wear them or put them away. They can trade at recess but not in the classroom and I don't want to deal with ones that snapped in half or kids crying that they want to trade back. Yes- it's crazy (and silly) (and I wish I had come up with it)
They are pretty easy to find for sale here - they are all over the farmer's market. I might start getting them as incentives. They would probably work.
They popped up overnight here, and quickly turned into such a problem that they were banned in my school last week. Kids were fighting over trading them- who had this one or more than someone else or who didn't have any. It was a problem at recess and during the day. The first thing I said when I saw a child wearing them was "aren't those too tight for you?" They definitely cut off their circulation.
Its funny that so many people are saying that they are cutting off circulation...probably the counterfeit ones, there are more than enough of those on the counters at every 7-11! My 1st grade nephew got the alphabet! I made him use them to spell words!
We have had issues with girls cutting and hiding thier marks with the bands. So we have a new rule 3 bands MAX! Helps cut down on the craze.
My grandkids live in the next county--a little more affluent than where I live and work. They are all over the place down there. Where I teach--in an urban school--you hardly see them. We are only about 15 miles apart!
The first thing I thought about was those bands being used as a 'sexual' thing like the craze was a few years ago. That every band had some kind of meaning behind it. They've just recently popped up in my school and they've become a distraction. I had to deal with one in class that was found on the playground, and he suddenly remembered that it was his.
I saw these on the news earlier in the week for the first time and now it seems like all my students have them. They haven't caused any problems that I know of, but I work with juniors and seniors.
I have them in my class and as long as the students isn't playing with or shooting them, I don't care if they wear them. Some of my students need small items like that to help them focus.
One of my students wears a lot of them. She takes them off during snack and lunch and is distracted and distracting others from wanting to finish their food so I gently told her that she can wear them but if she takes them off, they must go in her cubbie. She's been great about it since. I'm lucky they haven't started popping each other. With the group I have this year, I doubt that will be a problem. One of the highlights my students have each week is having some kind of poster or project big enough to ask me for a rubber band from my rubber band ball. They think it is a treat. They don't do anything with it except roll up their posters and wrap it around. I love them. They are great!
My 6th grade boys love these silly bands. It's funny though. Some of them were complaining about my "girlie" stickers while wearing these bright pink and yellow silly bands. hahaha They are banned on my team because the kids were using them to flick "birdies" at each other.
Silly bands and silly rings have moved into my school as well. I told my students I don't care if they wear them so long as THEY don't get silly about them. If anyone starts playing with the silly bands in class, they become my silly bands. Period. One girl had about 500 of the stupid things crammed in her desk, and I told her to take them home or they would wind up in my closet until June. So far so good.
I didn't see them until about a week and a half ago. Then after the weekend, several more kids had them. I don't really care as long as they don't play with them.
