You're on track to get doubled donations (and unlock a reward for the colleague who referred you). Keep up the great work!
Take credit for your charitable giving! Check out your tax receipts
Donate
To use your $50 gift card credits, find a project to fund and we'll automatically apply your credits at checkout. Find a classroom project
Skip to main content

Help teachers & students in your hometown this season!
Use code HOME at checkout and your donation will be matched up to $100.

Your school email address was successfully verified.

See this teacher's page

This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. Surace from Portland, ME is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mrs. Surace is requesting
Fully Funded

Mrs. Surace's classroom raised $213

Worm Composting Bin To Go

My students need 22 different books about recycling, composting, worms, dirt, trash, and pollution to teach the rest of the school how to care for our land.

Classroom photo
Mrs. Surace profile photo
Mrs. Surace Presumpscot Elementary School
Portland, ME Grades 3-5

Did you know that worms can eat your garbage and turn it into healthy soil? I teach third grade at an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound public elementary school in Maine. My students have been actively engaged in a service learning project that started with investigating ways to reduce the amount of food waste in our school. Then we explored possible solutions and started to compost with bins outdoors. Students wanted to be able to teach our kindergarten classes how to compost but thought the outdoor bins would not be safe or accessible to kindergartners in the winter. So they decided to try composting with worms as another way to recycle food. After composting with their own worm bin for three months students constructed three worm bins for the kindergarten classes. They wrote their own Worm Bin Product Manual especially for our kindergarten students to use to learn to compost. The kindergarten students having been successfully composting with their own worm bins for about a month now and my third graders are their experts. Now we would like the rest of the school to have an opportunity to learn about recycling, composting, worms, soil, pollution and taking care of the land. Our own school library has only three books about worms, one about compost critters, and two others on earth friendly topics. We want to lend out our worm bin to other classes so all students can experience vermi-composting and learn how to recycle their food waste. Included with the WORM BIN TO GO will be our Worm Bin Product Manual along with the diverse selection of ecology books we are requesting in this proposal. Please help us teach the rest of our school about being active stewards of our land and resources by funding our request for 22 books so our classes can really "dig in" to learning.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than half of students from low‑income households

250 students impacted 4 donors
Mrs. Surace Presumpscot Elementary School Grades 3-5

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Portland, ME View local requests

More than half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

250 students impacted 4donors

Boost your odds

Add a profile photo in addition to your classroom photo. If you add a photo, it'll show up right here on your project page.

You are more likely to receive funding if you put a face to your name.

Upload a photo

Top rated for efficiency and transparency.

You donate directly to the teacher or project you care about and see where every dollar you give goes.

Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Mrs. Surace is requesting.

See our finances

TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

You can start a project with the same resources being requested here!

Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Trash and Recycling Level 2: Internet Referenced Stephanie Turnbull, Christyan Fox (Illustrator), Designed by Andrea Slane • Barnes and Noble $4.49 1 $4.49
What Can We Do About Trash and Recycling? Lorijo Metz • Barnes and Noble $7.42 1 $7.42
The Life Cycle of an Earthworm Bobbie Kalman • Barnes and Noble $6.25 1 $6.25
Composting: Decomposition Buffy Silverman • Barnes and Noble $8.09 1 $8.09
Worms Eat My Garbage Mary Appelhof, Mary F. Fenton (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $10.36 1 $10.36
Composting: Nature's Recyclers Robin Michal Koontz, Matthew Harrad (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $7.15 1 $7.15
Wiggling Worms at Work (Let's-Read-and-Find-out Science Series, Stage 2) Wendy Pfeffer, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $5.39 1 $5.39
Wonderful Worms Linda Glaser • Barnes and Noble $8.05 1 $8.05
Worm Jill Bailey • Barnes and Noble $7.19 1 $7.19
Earthworms Kevin J. Holmes • Barnes and Noble $7.15 1 $7.15
Earthworms Lola M. Schaefer • Barnes and Noble $5.84 1 $5.84
Garden Wigglers: Earthworms in Your Backyard Nancy Loewen, Rick Peterson (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $7.15 1 $7.15
The Life Cycle of an Earthworm Bobbie Kalman • Barnes and Noble $6.25 1 $6.25
Where Does the Garbage Go? (Let's-Read-and-Find-out Science Book)) Paul Showers, Randy Chewning (Illustrator), Randy Chewing (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $5.39 1 $5.39
Oil Spill Melvin Berger, Paul Mirocha (Illustrator), Paul Microcha (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $5.39 1 $5.39
The Dirt on Dirt Paulette Bourgeois, Martha Newbigging (Illustrator), With Kathy Vanderlinden • Barnes and Noble $7.15 1 $7.15
Why Should I Recycle? Jen Green, Wendy (Editor), Mike Gordon (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $6.29 1 $6.29
Recycling Rhonda Lucas Donald • Barnes and Noble $6.25 1 $6.25
Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids Gail Gibbons, Gail Gibbons (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $7.19 1 $7.19
The Adventures of an Aluminum Can: A Story About Recycling Alison Inches, Mark Chambers (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $3.59 1 $3.59
The Three R's: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle Nuria Roca, Rosa Maria Curto (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $6.29 1 $6.29
The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story about Recycling (Little Green Books Series) Alison Inches, Pete Whitehead (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $3.59 1 $3.59

Materials cost

$141.91

Vendor shipping charges

 $14.19

Sales tax

 $7.10

3rd party payment processing fee

$2.13

Fulfillment labor & materials

$9.00

Total project cost

$174.33

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$38.27

Total project goal

$212.60

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $212.60

3 Donors

-$212.60

Donations toward project cost

-$174.33

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$38.27

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

View complete list Show less

Project Activity

Project Activity
Back to top

DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Surace and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

See how DonorsChoose works
{"pmaHash":"","showProjectRecommendations":true,"leadGenEnabled":false,"hideTeacherDetails":false,"schoolState":"ME","teacherPossessivePronoun":"her","PMsManager":null,"schoolGradeType":{"id":2,"name":"Elementary School"},"TeacherPMForms":{},"completingDonationAmount":0,"teacherHasClassroomPhoto":true,"proposalURL":"https://www.donorschoose.org/project/worm-composting-bin-to-go/361699/","mayHaveReplacements":false,"numStudents":250,"isEquityFocusV1":true,"teacherScreenName":"Mrs. Surace","isEquityFocus":true,"proposalHash":"306700796","isApplePayMobileOnly":true,"progressBarPercentage":100.00,"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"photosPublished":true,"queryString":"","DonorPMForm":null,"shouldTrackEquityFocusV2":true,"schoolCity":"Portland","teachersOnPage":[371705],"isTeacherViewingTheirOwnProject":false,"minimizedLeadGenEnabled":false,"proposalId":361699,"proposalMessageFormModel":null,"numActiveProjects":0,"verifyShowPhotos":"","eligibleToBeCopied":false,"schoolId":65281,"schoolName":"Presumpscot Elementary School","authorIds":{"371705":{"owner":"Mrs. Surace","donationSalutations":{}}},"displayedPercentFunded":1.0,"proposalsOnPage":[361699],"pmaId":"","teacherProfilePhotoURL":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp371705_orig.jpg?crop=3024,3024,x0,y786&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1697753033656","teacherHasProfilePhoto":true,"currentWorkflowStatusCode":21,"teacherChallengeId":34124,"isApplePayEnabled":true,"fundedByTarget":false,"activeProject":null,"donorIdsForImpactPhotoCheck":["NDI2OTcx","MjY1MDM=","NDgyNjk2"],"teacherId":371705,"schoolCounty":"Cumberland","fullyFunded":true,"isStudentLed":false,"isExpired":true,"schoolStateObj":{"code":"ME","name":"Maine"}}