You are already familiar with requesting freebees
from local companies that are happy to help the schools. And you probably save a variety of items from
egg cartons to L’eggs containers for craft projects. But in today’s economy, it becomes even more
important to find other ways to save money so you can have more resources for
your classroom. Here is the Letterman-style
countdown…
5. Design
group projects. This is a teacher's favorite way to save time and materials while encouraging students
to cooperate and arrange an order of values.
With a group of three working together, you use 1/3 the materials and
take 1/3 the time to grade their projects. (Note: Never use a group of four
because in that situation, inevitably one student sits back and watches
the project unfold.)
4.
Find retired or retiring teachers. Many retirees want to downsize or clean their
supply cabinets before they leave.
Approach the retiree with the thought that their materials will live on
through the next generation of students.
I’m sure that teacher will be very glad to share what she has stockpiled
over twenty or thirty years. (After he
or she has retired, feel free to discard unusable materials and save what you
need!)
3.
Post a teacher’s wish list on your
website. You do have a website,
right? Where you post assignments and
extra credit offerings? If not, start
one. Then let parents know that the
homework assignments will be there for their review every night. (Make sure you
update it every night.) You’ll be more likely to get finished homework the next
day. Part of your website should be a
wish list with a deadline if you have one.
Suppose you need 40 toilet paper rolls by February 4. Post that request on January 20 and watch the
donations come in. Remember to post a
thank you when you reach your quota.
Don’t be afraid to ask for things that cost money. Maybe you need two dozen black sharpies and
three packs of construction paper for a map project. Let your parents know what you need, how
many, the deadline, and what the materials will be used for. Remember to post pictures of the finished
products.
2.
Write a grant. Grant money is out there for targeted
projects. Look at this government site
as only one example: http://www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html
. Then click on Innovative
Approaches to Literacy Program. This
program deadline for 2012 has passed, but is available every year. You might apply for classroom sets of
books for use in your classroom because they fill the need to provide hi-lo
reading material for your reluctant readers.
Grantmakers love this stuff! See how many creative grants
you can write to gain materials for your classroom.
1.
And the number one way for teachers to save money is: Combine curricula. You could
get a book on rainbows to use during the science block, another one on
cooperation because you find a number of your students lack this quality,
and a third on alliteration for your literacy corner. Or, you can buy one book that satisfies all
those qualifications. Go to Entelechy Education, LLC for examples of books
in a new series that combine STEM topics with character education, in a
literacy curriculum.
When you use these five suggestions and your own
creative ingenuity, watch your resources multiply with a minimum of expense and
effort. With the money you saved, you
can get some storage bins to hold it all neatly!
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