Making School Supply Wish Lists Come True

School budgets are tight, and teachers often spend a lot of their own money to get the materials they need to provide and enrich education for their students.

Fran Beavers from Maple Grove Elementary, in Des Moines, Iowa, has a great idea for procuring needed items. She posts a “wish list” outside her classroom door. Items needed for the classroom are written on sticky notes and tacked up. Parents take a sticky note, purchase the item or items, and donate them to the classroom. Wonderful!

Another way to get needed supplies is through Donors Choose, an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help classrooms in need. Teachers all over the United States submit project requests, which are funded by families, friends, and complete strangers. When the project is fully funded, the materials are shipped directly to the school. I was able to get all the bins for my classroom library through a Donors Choose proposal, as well as lap-sized whiteboards for my first graders. 

If there are items you’ve been wishing for, one of these ideas may be just the thing to make those wishes come true.