TankTop
Pearl Clutcher
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Posts: 4,831
Location: On the couch...
Jun 28, 2014 1:52:46 GMT
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Post by TankTop on Jul 30, 2014 2:25:43 GMT
And so the parents of said children can't really contribute to your classroom. So that you can teach their kids? The parents of my students do the best they can with what they have. They might not be financially stable, but for the most part they are wonderful,expel looking to do the best they can for their kiddos. I love them for that!
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Post by donna on Jul 30, 2014 2:27:21 GMT
The copiers in my building can shrink down the copies and put several copies on each side of the paper. You can put 4 copies on each side. That would be 8 worksheets.
I was reading this to my dh and he kept saying "HOW?!"
I can't believe you do not have math or language books or workbooks. I think I would be crying if I were told that.
We are here to vent to all you want.
Sign up for DonorsChoose. You can ask for paper there.
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TankTop
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1,871
Posts: 4,831
Location: On the couch...
Jun 28, 2014 1:52:46 GMT
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Post by TankTop on Jul 30, 2014 2:28:41 GMT
Try to ask for some on donorschoose.org You can request things for your classroom and people can donate to your project. When the project is completely paid for, they send your classroom the items requested. You can request nearly anything for your classroom. I've been able to build my classroom library, get an ipad, a 3D printer, supplies for my newspaper club, etc. over the years. They have matching codes all the time and all of my projects have been funded, even though some of them took a little longer than others. It does require you to do a few things like take pictures of the students using the items requested and sending a few thank you cards but it is nothing that over the top. I hope that helps you get through this year. Thank you! I will try this. Question on for you.... I tried this a few years ago and did not get my project funded. How do you drum up interest for your projects? Are they mostly funded by parents?
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Post by donna on Jul 30, 2014 2:29:38 GMT
I have seen people drum up support on FB.
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TankTop
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1,871
Posts: 4,831
Location: On the couch...
Jun 28, 2014 1:52:46 GMT
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Post by TankTop on Jul 30, 2014 2:30:50 GMT
Ok, so. I'm being serious now. Can I help somehow? If you think of any suggestions post them here please.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Jul 30, 2014 2:30:59 GMT
FYI .. You can go he Home Depot or Loews and get 5x8 sheets of 'dry erase' boards . If you awry talk them , theyay even cut it up for you. I think we used poser size for group work and note book size for individual.
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chrissy321
Junior Member
Posts: 72
Jun 26, 2014 2:22:52 GMT
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Post by chrissy321 on Jul 30, 2014 2:33:35 GMT
I have started off a project by donating a little bit of money. Maybe $5 with the match code and my project would be bumped closer to the top of the list. Projects are listed by amount of money the project is and how many donors you have under each category. Then, I could use that towards my taxes, where every little bit counts.
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TankTop
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1,871
Posts: 4,831
Location: On the couch...
Jun 28, 2014 1:52:46 GMT
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Post by TankTop on Jul 30, 2014 2:35:22 GMT
The copiers in my building can shrink down the copies and put several copies on each side of the paper. You can put 4 copies on each side. That would be 8 worksheets. I was reading this to my dh and he kept saying "HOW?!" I can't believe you do not have math or language books or workbooks. I think I would be crying if I were told that. Copy shrinking--- Brilliant! Thank you! Workbooks were done away with last year. They told us to keep a blank to make copies from.
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TankTop
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1,871
Posts: 4,831
Location: On the couch...
Jun 28, 2014 1:52:46 GMT
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Post by TankTop on Jul 30, 2014 2:36:39 GMT
I have started off a project by donating a little bit of money. Maybe $5 with the match code and my project would be bumped closer to the top of the list. Projects are listed by amount of money the project is and how many donors you have under each category. Then, I could use that towards my taxes, where every little bit counts. Thank you for the suggestion! I didn't know it worked that way.
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MaryC
Full Member
Posts: 213
Jun 25, 2014 21:52:55 GMT
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Post by MaryC on Jul 30, 2014 2:42:42 GMT
Can you copy your "master" worksheets onto transparencies and then project them for students to copy in their notebooks?
Also, sometimes Amazon has good deals on paper and office supplies - if you do swagbucks or other rewards programs you could get Amazon gift cards to supplement your supply budget.
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Post by Penellopy on Jul 30, 2014 2:44:49 GMT
Just another thought. I use to collect all of the empty ink cartridges at work and give them to my sister in law who taught at a low income school. She would take them to Office Depot, Office Max or Staples to get credit for them. Then she used the credit to buy supplies she needed for her classroom.
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Post by kluski on Jul 30, 2014 2:46:57 GMT
Well the good news is you won't have a lot to grade! Seriously, it does sound nearly impossible but I can say these www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C921%2C636&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1406687768706Have been very useful for math and reading centers. You found an idea for pinch cards. Also, spiral notebooks are generally pretty cheap this time of year so it wouldn't be horrible to buy one for every student. If the reusable pockets I listed are too pricey, page protectors are a cheaper option i must say, I will say a silent prayer of gratitude that our district hasn't taken this measure, YET! ETA: also ask local print shops to box and save flyers etc made in error. You can at least reuse the back sides. My FIL used to save them for me for drawing paper for the kids.
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Post by kristi on Jul 30, 2014 2:54:32 GMT
My sister was in a similar situation & she sent out the fund me request to her friends & family. Everyone chipped in $5-25 dollars & it made a difference.
She also put a lot of spelling tests on 1 sheet & cut them into little squares to pass out to the kids every week.
Can you post a wish list on the door of your classroom? Can you mention it at back to school night & request donations?
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,408
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
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Post by SabrinaP on Jul 30, 2014 3:24:33 GMT
What age do you teach? I'm not a copy queen, but no way I could survive on just one box of a paper. I think I could do two boxes though. I teach 6th grade math, so much of my kids' work is on whiteboards and notebook paper. Brad's Deals had this Staple.com deal that would let you double your amount of paper. Picture is small, but you can click one it to make it larger. Attachment Deleted
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Post by mamanay on Jul 30, 2014 3:29:12 GMT
If you buy a piece of shower board at Lowes or Home Depot etc it can be cut down to become dry erase boards for your students. If you google you will see lots of teachers have done this. They have even commented that mentioning that you are a teacher will sometimes get you the cuts from the store for free.
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freebird
Drama Llama
'cause I'm free as a bird now
Posts: 6,927
Jun 25, 2014 20:06:48 GMT
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Post by freebird on Jul 30, 2014 3:41:07 GMT
How many sheets per day would be enough
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Post by meridon on Jul 30, 2014 3:54:40 GMT
We haven't ever gone to this as a school or district, but we are given a certain amount of classroom funds to buy paper and copies with and that's it. I know a teacher in my building went to local businesses and got them to donate paper so he could use that money on other stuff and he would put little cheeky things at the bottom of the copies like "this test brought to you courtesy of Joe's Pizza" or whatever the name of the local business was. The business got a receipt for their taxes and some advertising, I guess. This was a high school, so I know some of the students probably did frequent the businesses or tell their parents about it and they did.
Ironically, I think our admin made him stop because it made the school/district look bad because he was given resources to buy the paper with, he was just trying to stretch his resources, as all teachers do!
Does your district have a PR/community outreach person who could get corporate donations? Or someone in your PTA who might have business connections? Or what about churches in the area? Where I am, many of the local churches will request copies of the school supply lists and take up items for students. They just need to know you need paper instead. And that's an excellent point about the cost per copy for using the copier. I bet most parents don't realize that teachers have to pay for the copies they make. At my old school, it was two cents a copy. That adds up in a hurry!
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Post by adoette on Jul 30, 2014 3:56:30 GMT
Can you ask families for paper where only one side has been used? Or even local companies. This does not change the fact that this is completely ridiculous.
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Jul 30, 2014 3:56:46 GMT
That is insane. I'd breakdown and buy it, but I'd also have to cut back and I'm sure the school will see the results. I am angry for you. So much time would be wasted trying to find other ways for them to have materials... copy the poem, copy the math problems, copy these sentences off the board etc. Not much homework, no spelling lists typed for accuracy etc. I'm fuming for you.
If I had a union, I think I'd be asking for some support. Are they concerned about the wear and tear on the machines?
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Post by meridon on Jul 30, 2014 3:57:04 GMT
Or can you cheat the system by getting a cheap printer and printing copies from your computer? Or better yet, get one donated? My printer uses ink that is only about $8 per cartridge (for black ink) and if you shrink the pages down so that you are getting at least 2 or maybe 4 per page, that would help.
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,087
Jun 26, 2014 13:42:47 GMT
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Jul 30, 2014 4:11:53 GMT
We were on paper restriction one year, and it was really hard. I taught 5th grade, and we too has no workbooks. Our math books only covered about half of our standards, so we has to find supplemental materials for the rest. We had no science or language arts textbooks at all.
Some of the "little things that helped included making sure that all copies were two-sided. I would put two nights worth of homework on one sheet. Shrinking was also helpful.
For short assessments, I made 5 or 6 copies and placed them in page protectors. I had small groups take the assessments while I worked with other groups. They wrote the answers on their own paper and turned that in for grading. When they were finished, another group did the assessment. I didn't have to worry about answers being marked on the originals because of the page protectors.
The worst part was having students take notes. They are so slow at that age and not very accurate, either. It was hard having them copy notes from the board when parents had no access to textbook material to double check while studying.
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katybee
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,448
Jun 25, 2014 23:25:39 GMT
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Post by katybee on Jul 30, 2014 4:12:49 GMT
I might have missed this part... But I'm assuming you get 5000 copies, right? So it doesn't matter how much paper you get donated... You're still going to have blank paper. In my district, a double-sided copy still counts as 2 copies, even though it only uses one sheet of paper. :/ And I know I've asked you before, but what grade do you teach--- 5th? What subjects do you use the most copies in and for what? We do a lot of note-booking in my school. Have you read Writing in Science in Action by Betsy Fulwiler? She uses a lot of sentence stems, prompts and vocabulary banks and the kids do really deep writing that fits well into an inquiry-based model. She also incorporates a lot of charts and graphs. Barely any copies needed. In math, I print my problems about 10 per page and then cut them apart. The kids glue them in their notebooks and solve them underneath. We don't do a lot of practice problems--- we use a CGI model where we focus on one challenging problem per day. We do computational fluency through games and other activities. For reading response, you can also use prompts and sentence stems. If your kids are older (and I think they are) they can make their own graphic organizers. I have also figured out how to make two copies on one legal size (8.5 x 14) page. It only counts as one copy...and the size is very workable (cut in half, each page is 8.5 x 7). Let's just hope my school doesn't catch on and take away all the 8.5 x 14 paper! My district is also very stingy with copies. I think it's a money thing, but I also think they wanted us to get away from using so many worksheets. But 5000 copies a year doesn't even seem like it would be enough to make tests!
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Post by tidegirl on Jul 30, 2014 4:17:44 GMT
Last year Staples ran the deal (similar to the OfficeMax deal listed above.) If you bought a ream of paper you would get a rebate for the full amount back. You can ask friends and family to do this and donate the paper. I think your best plan would be to eliminate as much paper from your lessons that you can (not only short term but long term as well.) I can't imagine being limited by not only paper but number of copies. Lots of good ideas: white boards, sticks, group projects (you can ask newspapers for their old end rolls), skits/other public speaking activities, if you have access to a few computers-glogsters/prezi/wordles etc, for science stem projects made with odds and ends, spiral/composition books. Good luck. This will be a great resource for all teachers. I believe less paper (not a sheet a day though ) benefits everyone in the classroom.
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Post by ilovelucydog on Jul 30, 2014 4:24:17 GMT
Aside from all the great responses and ideas, this thread makes me so sad. I can't believe that teachers have to worry about how to pay for paper for their students. I'm in shock.
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Post by *KatyCupcake* on Jul 30, 2014 4:34:04 GMT
Oh good grief! How are teachers supposed to do their jobs with this kind of nonsense?
I could see this maybe working with high schools that have student access to either tablets or computers where they could use google docs or something, but your situation sounds next to impossible. You've gotten some good tips with the white boards and shrinking to fit 2 to 4 worksheets on one page.
Now I'd want to know what the district office and your admin are going to be doing to go paperless on their end. I can only imagine how frustrating it might be to sit at a staff meeting and get hand outs after being told you don't get to make more than 5000 copies for your students.
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Post by darkchami on Jul 30, 2014 4:48:23 GMT
I agree with using white boards and notebooks to decrease the use of copies. We've been trying to reduce our use of paper in this manner.
I did want to add that if you purchase your own paper or take donations, make sure you know what works in your copier. We found out the hard way that cheaper paper messes up our newest machine. Only certain (more expensive) brands are compatible.
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mvavw
Full Member
Posts: 344
Jun 25, 2014 20:21:43 GMT
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Post by mvavw on Jul 30, 2014 5:56:31 GMT
Don't know if this would work, but instead of thinking of homework (and classwork) "worksheets," maybe you can have a homework "master" sheet. For example, a list of spelling words, 4 or 5 math boxes with each night's homework problems listed that can be copied or cut and pasted into their notebooks, some grammar questions, a writing prompt, etc. With some planning, you could probably fit a full week of homework on a single side of paper (you may even be able to shrink it down to fit 2 weeks per side (4 total per sheet). That would free up the rest of your allotment for notes and exams. Also, this would be a good opportunity for you to teach them how to take good notes. You can always follow up with a review sheet before the exams.
That's a pretty tight limit to have. Hopefully you'll get some good suggestions!
Maria
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Post by fruitysuet on Jul 30, 2014 6:53:20 GMT
Aside from all the great responses and ideas, this thread makes me so sad. I can't believe that teachers have to worry about how to pay for paper for their students. I'm in shock. I agree I feel for you. You (and others) really do not need the added stress. Also for younger students, copying could be hit and miss and very slow indeed taking away actual teaching/learning time. We are having to deal with local government budget cuts across the board in the UK but, thankfully, the types of supplies we have to send our kids to school with are very limited and we are only sometimes asked to contribute extra for supplies such as specialist art books and the items made in the technology classes. I can remember being astounded the first time I read a school supplies thread on Two Peas.
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Post by kelbel827 on Jul 30, 2014 11:30:15 GMT
My office uses a TON of paper (two of us). I work with a girl who copies because she can. We have recycling bins to throw paper away to get shredded. I always use the backsides for notes, or messages. Then I shred. I only print when I have to, and then it's double sided if I can get away with it. Maybe, you could ask local offices if they could save their paper that they would normally throw out? You could use the blank back sides. I would totally give you mine, but I work in a hospital and it's got confidential info on there. Seriously, I could triple your budget in 3 months, that's how much paper this chick uses. She's got a stack of stuff that she's saving right now that is pushing 3 feet high. We went chartless, and that's how she has compensated...using more.
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MerryMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,562
Jul 24, 2014 19:51:57 GMT
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Post by MerryMom on Jul 30, 2014 12:16:46 GMT
Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl and for Christmas I would like a case of copy paper. I will leave out milk and cookies for you.
XOXO, Paperless Teacher
(Seriously, at Christmas, ask for copy paper from your family).
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