Hello and thank you for clicking on my fundraising page for my kindergarten classroom! I work at the Ridgemont Early Literacy Center, a specialized program based out of Ridgemont Elementary, a Title I school in Fort Bend ISD. I am going into my second year of teaching and am switching grade levels from first grade to kindergarten. I am excited but a little nervous for the transition, but I want to start preparing so I can have the coolest classroom with fun, hands-on learning opportunities, and so I'm starting to think about the changes I can make.

 

I was so lucky last year to have an outpouring of support from family and friends, and I truly appreciate all the resources I had help to acquire. However, I soon realized I didn't even fully know what was needed. One of the biggest things I learned this past year was how unprepared I was. While I had ideas for things I wanted to do, there was a whole range of things that never would've occurred to me that I needed or that were even a possibility! I also didn't realize how quickly elementary classrooms run out of supplies such as pencils, tissues, paper, wipes, crayons, and erasers - I ended up having to buy a lot of those throughout the course of the year, and even so, "we're out - ask a friend if you can borrow theirs" has become a common refrain. Another thing that I didn't realize would require so many supplies is hands-on learning opportunities, such as stations or classroom projects. I ended up spending a lot of money on stations and materials for projects, and I would've liked to do many more interactive projects throughout the year, but one big obstacle to that was finances. While I was lucky to have a lot of support from my parents in acquiring certain station materials, it's a big financial undertaking to give the kiddos the resources and opportunities they truly deserve. 

 

This is something I have been working on all year. In addition to family support and spending my own money, I also applied for and was awarded a grant from FBISD for 10 wobble chairs for my students (so enough wobble chairs for likely a little less than half of the kids). I am so excited for this to kick off next year and be part of my flexible seating plan. However, I would still like to have other flexible seating options including back pillows for reading, as well as a beanbag chair. There are a lot of 

 

With that being said, I am hoping to raise funds to enhance my classroom and make it an awesome community space that is hands-on and interactive at all times. I have been brainstorming tons of ideas and I would love to see those come to fruition. More details on that below. Before I get there, here is a breakdown of how I plan to use the funds I am budgeting for:

 

Crayons - $10

If I do not reach this goal, I will prioritize the necessities that I was constantly running out of throughout the year such as pencils, paper, expo markers, chart paper, etc., and I will do my best to be resourceful with the rest and try to acquire what I can from where I can! :)