The cost of 10 boxes of #2 pencils and 2 electric pencil sharpeners from Quill Corporation is $152, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I am a NYC Teaching Fellow at an elementary school in Brooklyn that is in Corrective Action status because of our low test scores. My third grade students face many challenges; thirteen of my students are English Language Learners and four are holdovers who are repeating the third grade.
At the beginning of the year, I decided to purchase all of my students' supplies for the school year because I understand how such a list can be a financial burden on our school's families. I bought everything on sale and asked parents to give me $10, which was a fraction of the cost. I even bought composition books that were on sale for .10 each while visiting my family in Oregon and had them shipped to New York. Only six parents paid, but I felt relieved I wouldn't have to worry this year about having basic supplies for instruction; I know that if we need papers, folders, or markers, there is an ample supply in the closet.
It is hard for those who are not in poorly funded schools with low-income students to understand how difficult it is to have something so fundamental as pencils, especially sharpened ones, for everyone. I know I never imagined such an obstacle.
This year I really wanted to be prepared. I bought an electric sharpener and my aunt donated another. (The manual sharpeners don't stay screwed into the wall—I guess because the wood is too old). I also bought about 200 pencils. The electric sharpeners died — first the one I bought about a month ago and then the one from my aunt two weeks later. Then, between my class, after school and Saturday programs, the precious supply of pencils ran out. It's like my well has run dry.
At our school, we can submit a supply request list monthly. I always ask for pencils and I usually get about five. My students don't come prepared. I aim to teach them responsibility and preparedness, but I also know the reality is that they have working parents and most are latchkey kids. I struggle to get a dollar from them for something as cool as a pen pal project.
I subsidize my student's education — not just with the extra time I put in, but by covering the costs for publishing parties, for books for units of study I'm supposed to carry out, and for fieldtrips they can't afford. Please help me provide the quality of education every student deserves — give them a sharpened pencil, whenever they need it.
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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 Ms. H. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
