My students need basic classroom supplies such as 7 cases of paper, 6 boxes of pencils, 2 boxes of erasers, 1 bucket of magnets, 2 packages of sentence strips, and 10 sets of white board markers.
Prices Slashed! That's always a great thing to hear...unless you're in education and you've just been told your supply budget has been cut again: There was already a 15% cut this year and another 15% for next year is coming. I teach first-graders in a low-income school that houses over 900 students. It is the largest school in the district. I teach a self-contained ELD classroom which means all of my students are learning English as their second language. Most of the parents want to help, but have economic and language barriers. My students love to learn, enjoy helping others, and inspire to become better citizens.
Here's the problem: Along with supply cuts, there are also teacher cuts. This means more students in my classroom next year with less money to purchase the basic needs for school survival. We could really use your help! My classroom absolutely won't function without certain necessary items.
Obviously, paper is necessary to function a successful classroom. In previous years, we were given paper or given extra supply money to buy paper. This is no longer the case and with the meager amount of supply money for next year, I am trying to think ahead and prepare for my students in 2009-2010. Paper helps us make homework, literacy station activities, independent work, letters and stories, assessments, and much more. In addition to paper, my students will need pencils to write with as well as eraser tips to put on after they have erased the eraser down to its very last bit! First-graders are such perfectionists that they want everything perfect and right! My classroom could also use a set of magnets and sentence strips. We do a lot of work on the magnetic white board and magnets are needed to hang the posters, pictures, and word cards up. The sentence strips are great for poetry, word walls, and teaching writing lessons. Lastly, my students would greatly appreciate white board markers. This is one way that we have tried to cut back on paper. The students are engaged and there is a lot of learning present when using white boards as learning tools.
Every morning I meet my student sand I see the excitement in their eyes to start another day of learning. During the day I worry whether or not each student is connecting with the lessons or even understanding the language for that matter. I make sure to give them hugs and praise because it may be the only positive interactions they get all day. Each day when I leave to go home, my job doesn't stop. I continue to think of how I can reach the student who isn't understanding addition or challenge the student who is already reading on a third grade level. I care for these students and I like to "worry" about how to reach them. It's why I became a teacher. Please help out our class, so that I won't have to worry how to get simple, basic supplies. Your help will ensure that I can spend time effectively reaching my students and their needs, rather than thinking of strategies to get supplies or teach without them.
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