Crowd Source Funding for Teachers...what?!

Ok. I know you have all seen a billion GoFundMe links on Facebook and everything and many of you may be familiar with crowd source funding for your classroom and could probably offer WAY more info than me but I wanted to share a few things.

For the last 5 years, the 4th grade teachers at my school have planned a big field trip to Austin, TX (the state capitol) for our students as their major field trip. It costs around $10,000 to do this trip so we normally do a ton of fundraising. The first year we planned this trip was definitely a learning experience and I think we have perfected the schedule and such since then (more on that in a later post). 

So this year, I thought I would try out DonorsChoose.org for funding for our trip. If you aren't familiar, Donors Choose is specifically for teachers to offer projects that will benefit their students. When you are first starting out, they suggest you proposing a project that isn't a huge dollar amount so that you can actually be funded. (If you look into it further, this will make sense...) 

My first project was for Scholastic Storyworks magazines for all of my students in my gen ed classes. Y'all. WE LOVE STORYWORKS. It was about $700 or so for the project and Donors Choose offers a donation match the first week of most projects so if people donate $50 it's like $100! My kids get so excited every month when we get our magazines AND we even got the online subscription so I have used the articles to add questions to our assignments through Google classroom. (check out the pic from my Instagram-and come follow me!) @ckandrews8809

THEN, I put in the big project: $7000 which would pay for the charter buses we take to Austin. (It's about 3 hours from our area to Austin and school buses just won't cut it.) We posted the project in November and through donations from our students parents, teachers, teachers' family members, and then one huge donation from Wells Fargo (shout out!!) , we were able to get our buses completely paid for. You guys. This. is. huge. Our field trip is going to be OFF THE CHAIN...and it's Friday so be prepared for pics!

Meanwhile, I helped one of my teammates post a project to get hygiene products for all 140 4th graders including deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, etc. It was funded in just a few days and we were able to get these items to all of our kids (and trust me, the 4th grade teachers thank these donors immensely, especially after morning PE)

Well, after our Austin field trip project was funded, I get a message from my amazing cousins in California who had their donation matched by Google (since one of my cousins works there) so I had $200 to spend on another project. I decided to put in for blank books for all 140 4th graders so that they can write their end of year stories in these hard-cover books. AND IT WAS FUNDED IN LESS THAN A WEEK! Thank you Google and the anonymous donors who funded this $800 project. 

Moral of the story? People: There are companies and individuals out there with better paying jobs than we have (duh) who are incredibly generous and who would love to help if you just ask! Basically, Donors Choose is a place for these people to go and see exactly where their donation goes! My kids are so excited every time I tell them that we have a project funded. I highly encourage you to check it out...look at the other projects if you need inspiration! Or email me if you need help :) 

Have you posted any projects? Give me some good ideas about Must-Haves for my class! 
Hope to hear from you soon! 
-C

5 for Friday AND Currently

I'm doubling linking this post with Doodle Bugs Teaching and Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade (2 blogs I totally love!) 

It's already May. Seriously?! Where has this school year gone? Oh yea, I spent 10 weeks of it at home sleepless and frazzled  cuddling with my precious baby. Anyway, I'm totally digging Farley's design for this month's currently.  

Listening: Pretty self explanatory. I typed up my Currently stuff while students were working on their CARE books and just listening to the conversations they have with each other is super entertaining. They are often slightly creeped out amazed at the amount of "stuff" I know about their personal love lives (I could write a whole separate post on this topic...) but I love to give them "independent" time and just sit back and observe. :) 
Loving: Personally, global warming has served me well this year. I loved our super cold winters and I'm not complaining about pleasant temps in early May. Hit me up in August and I'll be hating the heat, but it's Texas and it's what we Texans do..complain about the heat but make fun of other people who can't hang with it. 
Thinking: May is one of my favorite months. It starts off with my hubby's birthday on the 8th and ends with mine on the 31st. And I love birthdays. Seriously love them. 
Wanting: I'm not really a shopaholic but it does make me happy during stressful times. Buying new shoes or a purse can make my week. I need a good shopping trip. 
Needing: Listen, I've been trying to eat better (less fried foods, etc.) but I am CRAVING a Zaxby's chicken salad. It's my favorite fast food place (don't tell Chicfila) but there is only ONE within an hour of my house. Texas needs more Zaxby's. PLEASE.
Surprise: Go visit this fabulous blog. It is for the art teacher at my school, Alex Alkire. We went to Elliott together (and are both back to teach at our old school!) and she is just fabulous. Not only is she a talented art teacher who the kids LOVEEEEE but she is just a cool person. Super talented. AND she and I trick 90% of the kids at our school into believing we are sisters... :) Check her out!! 

OK, on with the 5 for Friday: 

I think this technically happened last week but we found out our positions for next year. (At our school, there is A LOT of moving around with looping and such so you never really know where you will be...I mean, within reason. I both love and hate it. haha) Anyway, I will be teaching 5th grade reading next year for all of the monolingual classes and I get to teach Gifted and Talented again! It is totally one of my passions so I am excited! 

 Also last week, we went on our 5th grade field trip. I love field trips. I love planning them and everything. This year we went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. It was really great. The Indiana Jones exhibit was AWESOME! Everyone got a tablet and got to participate in this field trip with the tablets and it was just so fun. We could have spent hours in that one exhibit but we had a packed day. I was super excited because they were going to have a Wizard of Oz exhibit and had advertised the ruby slippers and everything BUT we got there and it was a replica of the slippers (lame...) and that exhibit was geared toward younger kids but they did have cool stuff in the gift shop! :) 

 You can totally tell that we have passed the majority of the state testing at our school. I came out at 5:15 the other day and my car was the only car in the parking lot, with the custodians. #endofyearsyndrome

 Last, but certainly not least...look how big my cutie is getting. 

Phew, that's it. What a long post but it catches you up on all the juicy details of my life this week. Have a great weekend! Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'! 

Caitlin