I am a kindergarten teacher at Beidler Elementary School. We are a west side Chicago School where 94% of our students receive free or reduced lunch. Our school services approximately 540 students. We are a small but very family oriented school, staff, and community. Throughout the 13 years I have been employed here, I have witnessed GREAT improvements. We have progressed from carbon paper to copy paper; from teaching in isolation to teaching through collaboration; from the ditto machine to the copy machine. Which brings me to the activity I am proposing... Several activities come to mind when I think of having access to a copier however, here are a few that we would accomplish initially: Individual word banks for students to review sight words and other words they've learned throughout the year. This would also be a good tool to use for review over the summer. Another includes copying chapter books. Classroom libraries are limited at the upper grade levels. Whole group read alouds are proven to reinforce and build reading skills and fluency. Therefore, teachers must have a copy for each student. Because of the limited amount of books, teachers receive 3-5 chapter books for classes of 25 students to share. A copy machine would allow each child to have his/her own copy especially for those students who are visual learners. Because of copy limitations, we are able to copy assessments and homework only. We currently LEASE an outdated copy machine that's been with us for quite some time. As teachers, we are allowed 20 (original) copies per week of homework and assessments only; copied by Mr. King (our copy person). He has the JOYOUS experience of trying to accommodate over 25 PLEASANT teachers every Tuesday and Thursday (our copy days). It's really kind of nice to have the personnel available to complete this task for us, but it can also be a little troublesome when you just need a quick copy or copies to keep parents updated! It's also difficult to manage/prepare classroom lessons and keep the lines of communication open with parents/community without having copies available to do so. During our monthly local school council meeting I learned that our school would be cut in State funding and Federal funding. Our principal is GREAT for juggling numbers to keep staff needed to provide quality instruction; however, I'm afraid her task of juggling may be even harder as our schools needs broaden to things like supplies and major essential equipment. To compound matters even MORE, because our copy machine is OLD it has been inoperable for the past 7 weeks. To summarize quickly- MATERIALS NEEDED-COPY MACHINES STUDENT'S PARTICIPATING-540 Students, Staff, Community, and INVOLVEMENT require COMMUNICATION. An effective, functioning, accessible copy machine is NECESSARY to keep the lines of communication open and to continue to allow parents to be involved in their child's education.