Join a Postcard Exchange to receive a postcard from all over America!

You might want to participate in a fantastic activity for your classroom - a postcard exchange. Here is how it works: a teacher organizes an exchange, and finds 50 different teachers to sign up - each teacher represents one state in America. 

Each teacher works with their classroom to collect 50 postcards representing their state. They also brainstorm together what would be interesting to share about their state and town.

The teacher organizing the exchange shares the addresses of all involved, so each teacher can easily print out and glue down the addresses onto their postcards.

On a certain date in the school year, each teacher involved in the exchange has to mail their stack of 50 postcards. What happens next is amazing! Your classroom will receive a postcard from every state!

Besides making a fantastic bulletin board, your students can learn so much with a postcard exchange. They can learn facts typed up on the postcards, see what interesting places there are to visit in each state, learn the locations of states as you track which postcards have arrived, and they can also learn about their own state as you have your students help you write a few paragraphs that will printed and glued onto all of the postcards that you will mail out.

To save on postage costs, I ask my school or district to pay the postage. I also ask each student to try and bring in 3-4 postcards. For those students that can't get to RiteAid or the local drug store and buy postcards, I have them pay me a quarter for each postcard I have bought.  Many of my students are thrilled to pay a few quarters for some postcards to mail out. Don't buy the extra large postcard size, or your postage will be higher! 

For the past 16 years, I have been running a very popular and successful postcard exchange. The reason many people stay with our exchange for years is that everyone who signs up participates! It is very disappointing to belong to an exchange where you only receive 20 postcards instead of 50, due to low participation. 

Our postcard exchange takes all elementary grade levels, from kindergarten - sixth. I will send you labels so it is very easy to mail your postcards out. Our exchange has a few extra locations!  - You will receive in early December a postcard from each state, one from Canada, and one from Washington, D.C. too.

If you teach in the states we need, please send me an email to join our exchange!   We need teachers from these states only:
Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont, Wyoming

Be sure to include your email address and your school mailing address so I can begin corresponding with you! If we don't currently need your state, email me anyway, so I can try and add you in case a space opens up next year!

If you don't see your state listed, there are other exchanges you can join. Try the Post Office posts at ProTeacher, and the Classroom Project posts at Teachers.net

BizWorld Inspires Children to Become Tomorrow’s Leaders

What are the skills that the Leaders of Tomorrow need? Being problems solvers, collaborators, creative thinkers, and flexible. BizWorld provides all of this through cooperative learning, simulations of running a business, and "selling" a product. Students work in teams to start and run their own small business in a simulated friendship bracelet company.

I love BizWorld, and you might love using it in your classroom too! The Caring Classrooms Giving Community is offering a BizWorld kit valued at up to $300 in our big celebration contest this weekend! Click over to the Caring Classrooms Contest page to learn how to enter. 

This is what the BizWorld kit looks like

Students and parents are given BizBucks to go bracelet shopping as the culminating project in the BizWorld Bazaar! This is the most amazing 15 minutes you will ever experience!

The BizWorld bracelet program can take several months to do if you follow the script in the Teacher Manual. I select my favorite parts so my program lasts around one month. Perfect to relieve the testing at the end of the year stress!

The students learn how to be entrepreneurs as they create companies in the friendship bracelet industry. The kit includes a Teacher Manual, stock cards, BizBucks, 80 bundles of bracelet string, 30 students packets for students to write in, and 5 company packets for each company to complete.

Here are some of the activities I love for my students to do: Apply for a job after reading a classified ad, raise money from a venture capitalist (the teacher and/or a parent), design the product (friendship bracelet), build prototypes of the bracelet and then begin manufacturing, calculate the finances of running a business with salaries, rent, a loan from the bank, advertise the business by creating signs, slogans, and making a commercial, and finally - selling at the BizWorld Bazaar!

The Teachers Manual provides everything you need, plus there are also PDF files to print whatever you need. Even if you know nothing about financial literacy, the Teacher Manual has an easy to use script that makes you sound like an expert!

The Art Component is amazing: designing a logo, slogan, prototype, ad campaign, posters, and a commercial.

The Math Component is great: Students work in their Profit and Loss statements to see how their business is doing, and they happily count up their BizBucks at the end of the Bazaar to see what their profit is. They also learn that they have to "pay back" the entrepreneur who invested 20% in their company, and they have to pay for Billy's salary even if he didn't work very hard.

You need to replace the string each year, and BizWorld will provide it to you for free if you have your students complete an online Pre and Post Assessment test.

Visit the BizWorld website to learn more!  

How to Write Lots of DonorsChoose Proposals and get them Funded!

I was featured in a DonorsChoose blog on how to be successful in funding projects!

Laura Candler had asked me last year to write an article about DonorsChoose for her great blog, Corkboard Connections.

One Key Tip to getting your DonorsChoose projects funded: When there is a sponsor match, immediately submit a proposal that is not too expensive so you can realistically get your project funded in a few weeks!  Then have every friend and family member donate small amounts to your project so you have lots of donors!

Be sure to sign up for Laura's Corkboard Connections, the DonorsChoose blog, and my blog too!

Get Paid to Teach your Students Programming with PwC's Earn Your Future Curriculum

PwC has a great way for you to earn a DonorsChoose gift card valued up to $1,500! PwC wants students to get a financial education through PwC’s Earn Your Future curriculum. The curriculum’s modules are available at no cost online with topics ranging from saving and investing to credit and debt and paying for college.

For every two modules (6 modules maximum) a teacher delivers to 15 or more students, the teacher will earn a $500 gift code to DonorsChoose.org. Teachers can earn up to $1,500 in DonorsChoose gift codes!
   
After teachers register through the PwC-CEE Online Assessment Center, students can take the pre and post assessment required for each module.
   
After all requirements have been fulfilled, DonorsChoose.org will send the teacher a gift code that can be redeemed on the classroom project of their choice (including their own!).

Teachers can register for the online assessment center starting Tuesday, September 8!

Teachers can review the EYF modules then select one based on grade level, topic and students’ interest.

Go to this link to get started. There are dropdown menus so you can look over the curriculum available to teach. $1500 in DC gift cards sounds great to me. I can differentiate my classroom and have my 15 students that are fast finishers work through the modules.

http://www.pwc.com/finlit
   

Jumpstart your DonorsChoose Project and get all Donations Doubled Today!

TODAY ONLY! All donations to your project will be DOUBLED if you enter the code JUMPSTART thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Maximum donation per donor is $1,000. DonorsChoose credits will NOT be doubled, but donations via credit card, Amazon Payments, Google Wallet, or PayPal will be doubled. SHARE this with friends and family!

Here is how to help the DonorsChoose giving page that I administer with Laura Candler, Caring Classrooms, get credit while you are making a donation:

When you look at the URL for your project, just add the following to the end of the URL:

?challengeid=304297

Refresh your screen, and then you will see that Caring Classrooms gets credit for your donation. If you don't see Caring Classrooms when you donate, it just means you did not refresh your screen.

Here is an example:

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/fluency-for-first-grade-fighting-illini/1640884/

becomes:
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/fluency-for-first-grade-fighting-illini/1640884/?challengeid=304297

Free Field Trip to see the New Malala Film!

Just announced by DonorsChoose! Free field trip to see the film, "He Named Me Malala" for middle school and high school public school teachers! Share this information with your friends!

"With the upcoming theatrical release of HE NAMED ME MALALA
in October 2015, the social action campaign accompanying the film has launched a program that will fund middle and high school field trips to see the film and learn from Malala’s story.  If you are a full time employee at a U.S. public school and spend 75% or more of your time with students in grades 7-12, you’re eligible to request a field trip to see HE NAMED ME MALALA in just seven easy steps!"

Here is the PDF to learn all about it!
http://www.donorschoose.org/docs/teacher_instructions_malala_7.23_jmeditsincorp.pdf

Get Authoriztion Forms Signed for your New Students - DonorsChoose Projects Need Them!

DonorsChoose supplies are being delivered to our schools for many teachers! Get those authorization forms signed, take your photos, write your impact letter, so you are ready for some great offers coming up from DonorsChoose.

There is nothing worse than not having any available spots on DonorsChoose for a new project!

Are you making your Quill list? They usually offer a 50% sponsorship in a month or so, so start putting together the toner, flash drives, paper, pencils list so you can post that project as soon as the Quill sponsorship is offered. High school teachers, get ready for a great opportunity! Remember to sign up for my blog so you keep up with all sorts of DonorsChoose news!

Some of us Have Local Malls that Want to Sponsor our DonorsChoose Projects!

Your local mall might want to help you get your DonorsChoose project funded! Is your school near one of these malls listed below? If so, you can get the mall to help you fund your DonorsChoose project! Go to this link to learn more if you see your mall posted below:

http://kickstartyourclass.com/PREIT® Malls 

Participating PREIT^® Malls:

Arnot Mall 
Beaver Valley Mall 
Capital City Mall 
Cherry Hill Mall 
Crossroads Mall 
Cumberland Mall 
Dartmouth Mall 
Exton Square Mall 
Francis Scott Key Mall 
Gadsden Mall 
Hudson Mall 
Jacksonville Mall 
Logan Valley Mall 
Lycoming Mall 
Magnolia Mall 
The Mall at Prince Georges 
Moorestown Mall 
New River Valley Mall 
Palmer Park Mall 
Patrick Henry Mall 
Plymouth Meeting Mall 
Springfield Mall 
Springfield Town Center  
Susquehanna Valley Mall  
Valley Mall  
Valley View Mall
Viewmont Mall  
Voorhees Town Center  
Washington Crown Center  
Willow Grove Park  
Wiregrass Commons Mall  
Woodland Mall  
Wyoming Valley Mall

Global Read Aloud - The Year of Billy Miller for Second and Third Grade

You might want to participate in the Global Read Aloud. My class is participating in October with a new book by Kevin Henkes entitled The Year of Billy Miller. There are books at each grade level. It is a read aloud, so you don't need a class set. I wanted a class set so we can dig in every year. You connect with teachers all over the world and set up arrangements to Skype or have your students write or blog with each other.

This is an annual event, with a different book each year.

Here is a link to learn more about the Global Read Aloud:
http://theglobalreadaloud.com/

LilySarah Grace Fund = Arts Funding for Title I Kinder-Fifth Grade Classrooms

My focus right now is getting ready to be a third grade teacher instead of a fifth grade teacher, and the charity of my choice, DonorsChoose.

This blog will be a site for you to learn the latest funding opportunities for DonorsChoose. Sometimes the opportunities last just a week or so. Since that is the case, learn about them here first and write that proposal so you don't miss the sponsorship match.

Right now you can get ready with a Lily Sarah Grace Fund grant.

The Lily Sarah Grace Fund is amazing! They help teachers get their projects funded through DonorsChoose. The Stepping Stone Grant is just about to be opened up, but the LSGF has requested that more people follow LSGF on Twitter. LSG funds grants that integrate the arts into an academic subject.
https://twitter.com/LSGFund

The Stepping Stone Grant submission period will open on September 1st. Stepping Stone Grants are funded twice a month. There is a rubric at the LSGF website which you should download and follow exactly! This will be your guide to getting your grant approved.You actually get graded with this rubric. Your DC proposal just isn't able to describe everything needed on the rubric, so there is an extra step to this grant.

You write a DonorsChoose proposal, just like usual. But then you go to the LSGF site and provide info about your proposal once it is posted. That is when you add details that show you are hitting the points on the rubric. You can even submit additional information to LSGF on your project by sending them an email.
The Stepping Stone Grant is for first-time applicants to LSGF and should meet the following criteria:
Grades K-5
Title 1 School
$450.00 Maximum Project Cost (They will pay 100% of this, but just not right away!)
http://lilysarahgrace.org/grants