Say Thank You to Teachers in a Way That Matters with the Adopt-A-Classroom Program! #TeachersChangeLives #CGC

For the past six years, I have supported education on 3G2S by raising awareness about worthy causes.  I truly believe that every child deserves the best educational possible, so that he or she can have an equal chance in excelling in whatever they decide to take on in life.  I've always appreciated the amount of patience and caring I see from every teacher who has led my 3 children's classrooms ever since preschool.  I know it's a job I could never do.  It was not until last year, while our twins were in kindergarten, that I understood exactly how extraordinary teachers can be.

I was somewhat of an overachiever, as is my oldest son.  Our daughter is doing very well at school also.  It was last year that we discovered her twin brother, however, was struggling with reading, writing, and speech.  Now in first grade, we discovered that our son has visual tracking, spacial planning, and sensory feedback issues.  This explained why a boy, who is extremely bright and can make very complex connections, is having problems in these areas.

I've met with 10 different professionals who have screened our son to get a clear picture of how he can be helped.  I was very impressed by them all, but especially by our son's classroom teachers, his speech teacher, his reading/writing teacher, and the school psychologist.  They all think the world of our son and are playing a huge part in his succeeding at school.  They also make sure that he doesn't lose his self-confidence and that he knows that he is an extremely smart 7 year old who can make important contributions to the world.


Listen to what these students have to say about the extraordinary teachers in their lives . . .


Because I know that our teachers often spend money out-of-pocket to keep their classrooms running, I never mind contributing when they put out a call for certain classroom supplies, but there is only so much one family with a modest income can do.  However, when many families pool their resources, amazing things can happen!  That is why programs, like Adopt-A-Classroom, are so important.  Regular people like you can help fund not only classrooms that need to replace broken equipment or furniture, but also make ideas for innovative teaching projects come to life.

Office Depot, who has been a longtime supporter of education, has teamed up with Adopt-A-Classroom to raise awareness about how teachers really do change the lives of our children.  In addition to adopting a classroom in your area, you can let your local teachers know how to receive support through this wonderful program . . .

How to Register Your Classroom as a Teacher

• Go to Teachers Change Lives website
• Click on the red box that says "Register Your Classroom," which will take you to the Adopt-A-Classroom website
• Follow the corresponding steps from there

How to Donate to a Teacher

• Go to Teachers Change Lives website
• Click on the teal "Donate to a Teacher" box on the Teachers Change Lives website, which will take you to the Adopt-A-Classroom website
• Follow the corresponding steps from there

Do you know a teacher who could benefit from this program?


I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Classrooms Across the U.S. Ask For Tag Reading Systems via DonorsChoose.org

For years, LeapFrog has been doing its share to support literacy in preschool and early grade school classrooms with the Tag. Give. Read. program.  Since the launch of this program in 2009, LeapFrog has donated over $1.5 million worth of Tag Readers and Tag books to classrooms across the U.S., affecting the education of more than 20,000 students.  One of those classrooms was a pre-K class from one of our very own local non-profit preschools, so I have seen these Tag School Readers in action first hand.

Does LeapFrog want to stop at $1.5 million?  Not a chance!  LeapFrog and DonorsChoose.org continue to work together to get Tag School Reader Bundles into classrooms in need.  If you are not familiar with DonorsChoose, it is an organization that allows teachers to request support for particular classroom tools and equipment that the school cannot afford to provide to them.  Then donors can contribute to the classroom of their choice.  All these donations of varying amounts add up to reach the monetary goal, so even the smallest donations count.

Currently, there are over 200 classrooms requesting LeapFrog Tag Reader systems and books.  You can read about each and every one by going to DonorsChoose.org and doing a keyword search for "LeapFrog."  To make your donation go further, if you decide to support one or more of these classrooms requesting Tag Classroom Readers, LeapFrog will match your donation dollar for dollar and will continue to do so until they have matched $50,000 in donations.

As a thank you for reading about their efforts, you are invited to enter to win the following prize bundle (a $170 value) . . . 

• Tag Reading System in Green (ARV $49.99)
• Tag: Learn to Write & Draw (ARV $19.99)
• Tag World Map (ARV $19.99)
• Tag: I SPY Imagine That! (ARV $13.99)
• Tag: Disney-Pixar Toy Story 3 Together Again (ARV $13.99)
• Tag:  The Penguins of Madagascar Puzzle Time (ARV $13.99)
• Tag:  Disney-Pixar Finding Nemo Lost and Found (ARV $13.99)
• $25 DonorsChoose.org Gift Card

Thank you to LeapFrog for providing a prize pack for our contest prize and for giving me a DonorsChoose.org gift card for taking the time to participate in this campaign.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

Your Chance to Impact Four Schools in Need

Earlier in October, I had told you about the "Bing "Our School Needs" Contest, which was kicked off with Josh Groban bringing brand new musical instruments to a middle school in Queens, New York. This contest gave a chance to schools in need to tell the world why they deserve to win the $100,000 cash prize. What would you have told the world that your child's school needs? Which department needs the most funding? I would have told them that we need to bring back all the staff that was cut this year at our grade school, including the school librarians, the office workers, and the cafeteria lunch aids.

The voting phase of the "Our School Needs" Contest has begun. You actually only have until Sunday, November 7th to cast your votes to help decide who will win the $100,000 grand prize and the three $50,000 runner up prizes. Yes, I did say "votes" . . . plural! You can vote for up to five entries everyday, but you cannot vote for the same entry more than once within 24 hours. If you are among the first 30,000 voters, you will receive a $3 giving code for DonorsChoose.org . Check out the 15 contest finalists now and cast your votes! My personal favorite is the entry for a library for the Bear River Charter School. I suppose that my 1st grader is lucky that his class gets to visit the school library once every other week because they now have to share a librarian with another school in our district. This school has no library at all. This is your chance to make a difference in the quality of education for many children.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bing and received a gift card and DonorsChoose.org giving code to thank me for taking the time to participate.

The Bing "Our School Needs" Contest

Due to recent budget cuts, our son's school has undergone quite a few changes this year. For example, the principal is calling on parent volunteers to work in the office and as lunch aids in the cafeteria because there is no longer sufficient paid help. Each class is now only allowed to visit the school library to check out books every other week because they now share a librarian with another school in our town. Although volunteering is a temporary solution to this difficult problem, schools should also focus on fixing things that have an obtainable permanent or long-term solution. That is what the Bing "Our School Needs" contest is all about. This contest, like organizations such as DonorsChoose.org, are giving educators and students the chance to think of solutions to their existing problems and then giving them a way to achieve these solutions.

Watch this very fun video to find out how to enter to win $100,000 and other cash prizes for your school . . .

In summary, a student or a teacher needs to include in their entry a story, a photo, and an optional video about one thing their school really needs. The entry must be submitted by someone 18 years or older. Entries are then rated by the public and those that make it to the final round will be voted upon.

This is the last week to enter the Bing "Our School Needs" contest! The deadline for entries is Friday, October 22nd, 2010. Voting begins on October 27th. Click on this link to read the official contest rules.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Bing and received a DonorsChoose.org giving code and gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Bing's Teacher Appreciation Website Teams Up With DonorsChoose.org

We have always tried to teach our 6yr old son to appreciate his teachers and school in general. "Santa" even left a Donors Choose card in his stocking last Christmas so that he can learn about how many teachers are not fortunate enough to have much-needed equipment for their classrooms or even have the basics, like pencils and binders.

Last month was Teacher Appreciation Month. In honor of teachers everywhere, Bing's Teacher Appreciation Website has made it their goal to spread the word about the wonderful organization that is DonorsChoose.org . When you share a brief story about one of your or your children's favorite teachers, you will receive a $5 DonorsChoose.org giving code to use towards helping a classroom in need in the United States. You can share up to 5 stories about five individual teachers. That means you could have $25 to use on Donors Choose to help one or more classrooms.

Sharing a story could not be any easier. You need only provide the teacher's last name and the school in which he or she teaches. Then you have a chance to tell in what way this teacher positively impacted you or your child's life. The most difficult part was trying to say what I wanted to relay in only a few sentences. For my first teacher to recognize, I chose my son's kindergarten teacher. She is an amazing teacher, who made sure my son's first year of elementary school was an extremely positive one.

I invited my son to decide where our donation should go on Donors Choose. There were several ways to filter the causes, so that you can narrow down your choices more easily. We looked for teachers making requests in our own state. Then we chose a category. My son selected the category of special needs. Last time we made a donation, he chose the category of literacy. As I was reading all the requests to my son, he saw this picture on the computer screen below where I was reading.

This picture accompanied a request for jiggler massagers for a special needs classroom containing students with Autism spectrum disorder. My son was sure this was the teacher we should help because these students really must have these jigglers and I wholeheartedly agreed. I know my son chose this cause because of how fun and colorful the jigglers looked, but he will understand better later on how much good we did when we get to read letters of thanks and photos from this classroom we have helped.

If you are a teacher or know of one whose classroom is underfunded and cannot afford much-needed supplies, you should encourage them to make a product request on DonorsChoose.org . Every teacher deserves to have their jobs made less difficult by having adequately equipped classrooms.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Bing and received a $100 DonorsChoose.org giving code to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me a thank-you gift certificate.

Shop 'n' Share: Shopping My Favorite Stores Through the Box Tops Marketplace

I have been shopping through the Box Tops Marketplace for almost 3 years. I started when my son began preschool when I learned that my online purchases from participating retailers could financially benefit his school without my spending an extra penny. The only thing I had to do was remember to enter the retailer's website through the portal on the Box Tops website. That's all I have to do to have a predetermined percentage of my purchase be donated to my son's school.

The donation percentage of my purchase made through Barnes & Noble is one of the more generous ones offered at 6%. My purchase came to $30.33 before sales tax (plus shipping was free because my Barnes & Noble purchase came to more than $25), so $1.82 was donated to my son's elementary school. That may not seem like much, but that $1.82 put together with my online purchases throughout the year along with those of other parents will add up quickly.

By the way, did you know that BarnesAndNoble.com carries toys and games and even bargain books? I was very surprised and pleased that I placed my order on December 22nd and received it two days later. I bought the newer version of this Leapfrog Fridge Phonics toy because the twins managed to lose three of the letters from Jake's old set.

I also found this large board book for just $5.38. I'm going to save this for one of the twins' Easter baskets.

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While we are on the subject of Box Tops for Education, I found something very cool that is new to the site. It is something called my class essentials, where school teachers can register for specific things they need for their classrooms above and beyond the disinfecting wipes and the paper towels they normally ask parents to donate. This is more for things like reading books, workbooks, flash cards, and other learning tools. I really think all parents should make sure their children's teachers know that this registry is available. I was surprised to find that only one classroom had registered for items out of all the classes in my son's K-5 elementary school.

Thank you to Box Tops for Education and to Barnes & Noble for providing me with a $25 gift card to shop in order to benefit my son's school through the Box Tops Marketplace.