As you may know, a teacher's job is never done! A teacher must find creative ways to make classrooms come alive without spending their own cash. Knowing how to prosper in the classroom by using recycled goods, using materials efficiently, and contacting donors are great ways to kick-start projects for the classroom. Teachers also find ways to use the resources given and make the best out of them. Often times, you must bring materials from home because the school is out of certain school materials. The schools have a yearly budget which they must balance to ensure money is used wisely and efficiently. With all of the working staff in the school, the materials provided by the school aren't enough to last very long. Here are three elementary schools from different areas in LAUSD and the budget used on supplies and materials:
Total School Budget (Yearly) Material Budget
Total School Budget (Yearly) Material Budget
- Noble Avenue Elementary : $6,246,347.00 $9,739.00-(0.16% of the school's budget)
- Rosemont Elementary: $3,871,930.00 $7,820.00 - (0.2% of the school's budget)
- Topanga Charter Elementary: $2,097,092.00 $4,828.00 - (0.23% of the school's budget)
Click Here, to visit the webpage where you can see and compare all of the different LAUSD schools and their budget used on general supplies.
The Los Angeles Unified School District gets $6.8 billion to educate its 650,000 students, plus another $5.2 billion to build and maintain schools. Sharing supplies with the 30+ teachers in the school can be tough to get around since supplies are limited.
BE INSPIRED: Here, is a school in Arizona who is a top performing school in the state but has one of the lowest per-pupil budgets. Because the students are the main focus, teachers find ways to creatively use materials and resources given to them to be successful.
3 Quick Tips for Prospering in the Classroom:
1. Make the best of what you have: It may seem like common sense, but treat your supplies like they’re not replaceable. For instance, put plastic sheet protectors on student’s worksheets so that they can write on the plastic, then wipe it off, which keeps the sheets ready for reuse year after year. Print out classroom set handouts on colored paper to indicate that students should not write on them, so they can be reused as well.
2. Use the web: Rather than sending home flyers, create an online blog for the classroom to access where you can post newsletters, homework assignments, and other information for students and parents. Also, using less paper in the classroom and replacing it with small individual white-boards will save you money and tress.
3. Just Ask: It’s surprising what you can get by asking. There are a lot of businesses and organizations that support education and want to help. Things you can ask for (and will likely get) include school supplies, volunteer hours from: senior citizens, high school students, clubs such as Kiwanis or Rotary), and books. Can’t hurt to try.
Luckily, http://www.donorschoose.org/ makes it possible for anyone to help a classroom in the United States in need. Public school teachers from all over the country create classroom project requests, and people give any amount to the project that inspires the most or feel a connection with.