Many teachers say they pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. Kathryn McBride, a special needs teacher, says she spend her summer searching through tag sales for anything that can add to her classroom and help her students, who have autism, succeed.
“Especially working in an inner-city, we spend probably most of our paycheck buying the things that we need for our students,” said McBride, who works as a Self-Contained Autism Teacher at in Naylor Leadership Academy in Hartford.
Donorschoose.org gives you the chance to chip in.
NBC Connecticut and Telemundo Connecticut are partnering with the project to help teachers get the funds they need from their communities.
McBride is asking for art supplies to improve her students’ learn fine motor skills.
“Different types of scissors to cut with, different types of paper so that they’re having the opportunity to strengthen those find motor skills in their hand and that will lead to better grasp of writing utensils and hopefully better writing skills,” she explained.
The project costs $603 and only has nine-days left to be fully funded.
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Time is also running out for Ms. Traver’s “Crazy for Chromebooks,” too. She’s just $271 away from being able to bring her classroom into the 21st century, but she needs to be completely funded by July 27.
Like all teachers who’ve posted projects on donorschoose.org, her project must be fully funded by the deadline or she gets none of the donations that have already been made.
When you click on a project you can see where your money is going.
For instance, Mrs. Satalino at West Bristol School is asking for special chairs to help her young learners get the wiggles out and focus better on learning. She’s listed the items she plans to purchase for her flexible seating initiative on her donation page.
Librarian Caitlin Carbonell says some of the books at Waterbury’s Sprague Elementary date back to the 1940s.
“My students have shown me that they love to read and when they have what they call an “ugly” book, a book that’s been taped over a ton of times or I’ve had to repair it a bunch of times they get frustrated,” Carbonell explained.
Teaching at a Title I school means she’s often looking for ways to fund projects in her library.
“Even in Waterbury and a lot of other cities they don’t have a book budget so you kind of scramble to find money where you can,” said Carbonell.
Among the more than 1,000 projects is Hanover School Psychologist Amanda Gonzalez’s bilingual program. She plans to use bibliotherapy, or books, to support the social-emotional needs of her Meriden students, some who relocated from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
“Often it’s difficult for students to reflect on their own personal lives at that age but they can relate to characters in a book,” said Gonzalez.
The teachers say they are thankful to their caring communities for giving these students the supplies they need to succeed.
“It really makes your heart warm when you see those donors helping to fund your project. It lets you know that there’s still good people out there that care about children and the future of our world,” noted McBride.
After you donate you can leave a message about why the cause is important to you.
Deborah Giddings of Enfield gave to the Dr. Suess project in memory of her mother-in-law who she says was dedicated to making sure children had books. Carbonell wrote back thanking her for the heartfelt contribution.
For more information and to donate, click here.
