Boxtops for Education

Ever notice this image on the top or side of the package on an item you have in your pantry or cabinet? It shows up on many many items that some people use every day! This little coupon can earn a local school $0.10.

Now I know what you are saying. "What good can $0.10 do?" Well, it can do wonders. The reason is that if every person saves every one of these little coupons and sends it to a school, then the school coordinator can use the money generated from these coupons to purchase items for their school. Last year, our school raised over $1300 that our librarian used to purchase new books and other educational items for the school library.

If you purchase an item that has this coupon on the side, please cut it out and send it to me for my school, or if you have a child in school, send it to their school. If you have a friend, relative or co-worker with a child in school, perhaps their school saves them too. All I ask is that you do not throw this money in the recycling bin! Please pass it on.

Additionally, (and here is the 'no-cost-to-you-method' of helping!) you can go to the Boxtops For Education Website. There you can enter to win a variety of sweepstakes that can earn additional boxtops for your favorite school. If you don't have a local school that is your favorite, feel free to use mine!

Donors Choose has Challenged All Teachers!!

You all know that I am currently teaching 6th grade in Tennessee. Most of you also know that I have benefited greatly from donations through DonorsChoose.org. I have received many wonderful resources for my classroom through donations. My students are working hard and learning every day through the generosity of others, including many of you!

Donors Choose has challenged all teachers associated with the site to collectively get 5,000 people to give to projects. If that happens before October 31st, then DonorsChoose will provide an additional $100,000 worth of funding to projects!

You may have children in school whose teachers have projects on DonorsChoose. If so, contact the teachers and get their links if you are interested in donating to a worthy cause. (remember all of your donations are tax deductible!!) You may have a friend (other than me!) who is a teacher with a project on DonorsChoose. Regardless of who you support, supporting a teacher's project on DonorsChoose is supporting the education of our young people, who are the future of our country.

Please help! Visit: How Does History Effect What We Do Today
or: What Did He Do To Become Famous?

and support one of my classroom projects. Please also forward this to others to spread the word. If you have your own blog or website, I would love it if you could support my projects by posting this information on your own blog or website!

Thanks in advance for your help in supporting both me AND the DonorsChoose.org teacher community!

Vince bought me a Pony!

Here she is! A 1966 Ford Mustang Coupe.

Well, this is a cool way to upcycle something!

While I am sure there are other creative individuals out there doing this or similar activities, I just wanted to comment on this one today.

I subscribe to the Ideal Bite which provides information about how to be 'greener'. Usually what I dislike is that they will promote the purchasing of 'green' products. Now, I know that if I had to buy something to replace a completely worn out item, I would buy used or upcycled items. I just don't believe that every 'green' product marketed is necessary.

Okay, that said, onto today's Ideal Bite! Belts. Everyone needs a belt and if I had to replace mine, I love the idea of one that use to be something else! This company, Alchemy Goods, is based in Seattle. Their slogan is "turning useless into useful"! They make belts, wallets, bags, purses and other items out of old bike inner tubes and old seatbelts. Cool, huh?

Thank you Sonic!

I never thought I would be thanking a fast food restaurant for anything!

Sonic is currently running a promotion called Limeades for Learning. During this promotion, Sonic will fund $500,000 worth of projects on DonorsChoose.org.

Most of you know that I have been working with DonorsChoose.org since last year. I have set up five different math and social studies projects and have been truly blessed to have received funding for all of those projects! Three were last year, and I received reference books on religion and mythology as well as a series of individual Math games. Recently many of you helped me to get my Document Camera project funded (which is a WONDERFUL addition to my lessons. Thanks!)
My most recent project was another series of group math games focusing on Probability and Algebra.

I had registered as a Sonic Teacher and was busily promoting the Sonic program in my classes and within my circle of friends. Well to my pleasant surprise, my Math project was funded last Friday! YAY!

The way this Sonic program works is that each drink has a code on the side of it, sort of like the Subway Scrabble or McDonalds Monopoly games. Folks can take these Sonic codes and go to Limeadesforlearning.com and vote for their favorite project. My Math project received 82 votes and we were funded! Since Sonic is giving away $100,000 each week, I was really excited to see that my project squeezed in!

My current pending project is for a series of Ancient World Maps. I would love for my students to be able to see and understand what the areas looked like during the time periods we are studying, as opposed to what they look like now. They would also benefit from seeing the actual names of the ancient civilizations and empires on the maps!

So, Thank You Sonic.
And, Thank You to everyone who has voted for a project, will vote for a project, has donated to a project or will donate in the future! The education of our children is a community effort. Together we can achieve greatness!

What I am doing when I should be doing something other than what I am doing!

These are the four finished Sun Bonnet Sue blocks I am making for a lady here in town. There are 20 blocks all together, and I have finished all but the sleeves and bonnets on the remaining 16. Of course, I have several other projects of my own pending, and a project for a lady in California!


This is the floor of my studio bathroom, I use it to rinse out and dry the Drink Pouches that I send to Terracycle. My classroom earns $0.02 for each one! Of course this is just a small portion of what is occupying the room! Just another activity to keep me busy. These represent all of the efforts I take to recycle items in my little town.


Finally, a photo of the lone Silica Gel pack that I did not send to my sister! It represents the efforts that we take to reuse as many items as possible! I even have my friends at the thrift store saving these!

Rewards!

For many years now, I have belonged to MyPoints (www.mypoints.com), which is a site where you can earn points for shopping on-line, as well as for reading email advertisements. Over the years, I have earned many gift certificates for shopping for items I would have bought anyway.

So, the point here is that I recently earned a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com and went shopping for some items I needed in school. I found several puzzles that worked on spatial skills and a set of math blocks that I need, as well as a few math books. Unfortunately, the total came to over $50. Darn.

So, I put everything on hold to think on my purchases a while.

Then I paid my credit card bill and realized that I earned reward points on that card! What is really cool is that when I purchase items on-line through MyPoints, and use this credit card, I earn reward points through two programs!! Yay!

So, I redeemed some points and got another $50 Amazon gift certificate.

Today, I went back to Amazon and reworked my shopping cart. My puzzles, books and blocks should be arriving soon! Yay!