School Supplies

Quick Links: 

Click here for the District 186 & Salvation Army List 

Click here for Cindy's Classroom List 

A few days ago, my friends Sarah and AnneMarie encouraged me to make an Amazon Wish List for my classroom, and at first, I shrugged off the idea. I don't have any big project ideas for this year, so we don't need anything special when we begin next week.

But then I remembered that I had thought about buying erasable pens to give my kiddos. My Alumni from the last several years know how much we love erasable pens -- and they certainly fit our philosophy of how mistakes are a part of learning.

Before clicking "Add to Cart," though, I had decided that they were too expensive for me to front the cost myself, and in the end, they felt frivolous. We don't *need* erasable pens to do our job well; they'd simply make it a bit easier and certainly more fun.

And that's when I realized this is where my amazing community here might like to help. I can't make this happen on my own, but perhaps you all would like to help in a small way.

So I started to make an Amazon Wish List this morning...and then the story took a new turn.

As I fiddled with my Amazon Wish List, I got a call back from the Salvation Army of Springfield. Yesterday I'd called to ask when I could help them sort their school supply donations for the junior and senior high schools of Springfield District 186...but the director called me to say they received so few donations that they didn't need more volunteers to sort them.

I sat on the phone, staring at my Amazon Wish List, hearing her say they didn't have enough donations for kiddos who really need them. And so, my amazing community, I'm here to ask for your help in a different way.

I've created an Amazon Wish List for us to send school supplies directly to the Salvation Army, who will in turn send them to the District 186 schools. I've included items that I know kids need to be successful, items they might not have if we don't help.

And of course I included those amazing erasable pens -- because all students should have the chance to make mistakes and learning a little more fun.

I did include my own classroom's wish list here, too, but please know nothing on my list is as high a priority as the 186 list. But I could hear Sarah and AnneMarie in my head asking me to post it if I'd left it off.

Before I even click "Post," I am SO grateful for a loving community who has supported me in the past and who I know will step up to help kiddos here, too. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Quick Addition: All items have been assigned arbitrary "needs" numbers simply to make the purchasing process easier. Without the numbers I enter, it defaults to needing only 1 of each. I really don't need 10 of anything, and 186 likely needs more than 20 of all of them. I'll adjust the numbers if necessary later, but for now, they help us as people make purchases. Thank you!