One of the best benefits of being a blogger is being able to give back. I started this blog to write and then one of the side benefits was all of the philanthropic opportunities that have come my way. I feel like Oprah sometimes but of course, on a much smaller scale.
Ever since my children began attending public school several years ago, I have made it my mission to see what I could provide for the classroom so the teachers did not have to spend their own money.
Teachers are really incredible! They touch so many lives every day and open the doors to opportunity in every way, shape and form. I’ve gotten to know my kids’ teachers over the past few years and have seen first hand their incredible contributions.
With school budgets cuts, teachers are taking matters into their own hands by purchasing their own classroom materials. According to the National Education Association, teachers are spending about $1,000 each year on supplies for their class, which is pretty astonishing. Can you imagine if your job asked you to bring your own tape, scissors, and paper? There would be a backlash, but somehow, teachers have silently picked up the tab…until now.
That’s why I’ve joined the Max Moms for Teachers program to help create awareness and give back to teachers. The Max Moms are working in collaboration with the national “A Day Made Better” cause founded by OfficeMax and nonprofit Adopt-A- Classroom to help erase teacher-funded classrooms. Annually in October, they host a national event that recognizes and rewards over 1,000 teachers with a total of $1 million in school supplies to help alleviate the financial burden and thank them for their hard work.
This is actually my second year participating in the event.
Last year we got to surprise my son's beloved Kindergarten teacher with a generous $100 gift card from OfficeMax. I was so excited to be able to do this. This teacher was just switched from Kindergarten to fourth grade because they really needed her there. So she had to build a new classroom for herself. This required a lot of resources.
This year we surprised my daughter's Kindergarten teacher and her assistant from last year. They were just thrilled and my girls had so much fun sharing the box that we were sent.
We picked Mrs. Spears because she is passionate, dedicated and she works hard to make certain her classroom has everything they need to succeed. It was my pleasure to present her with these office supplies.
NATIONAL SURPRISE EVENT
This year’s national surprise event took place today on October 4 at 10 am local time where 1000 teachers nationwide were surprised in their classrooms with a total of $1 million in school supplies from OfficeMax. What a huge, amazing surprise!
How you can Get Involved in A Day Made Better.
Disclosure: I am part of the Max Moms for Teachers campaign and was not compensated for this post. The school supplies were provided by OfficeMax as part of its cause for teachers. I just love giving back to teachers whenever I can.
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Each of my 3 younger kids were lucky enough to have Mrs. Wilson for their 5th grade teacher. Her passion for teaching and CARING about her students comes forth in with her choice to volunteer as a mentor afterschool…even as she has two of her own children in waiting. She became MY daughter’s mentor at a time when she desperately needed some guidance when school and social situations became overwhelming for her. Mrs. Wilson is Dedicated to a fault. She believes every student has the SAME chance at success, no matter what. She will put in the time and effort needed in order to help each child fulfiull their goals. You often will find her afterschool working late. I know for a fact she HAD to be Innovative with classroom funds and be creative in making hand created learning tools. When cuts came, she has along with other teachers in our district given of her own income so that our kids had what they needed to best learn the cirriculum. Parents did try to donate too, but many were hit hard with economy too. Mrs. Wilson definitely goes above and beyond for her kids…OUR KIDS!
My son’s teacher is young and very passionate about teaching. She is very motivated for the students to learn and is innovative in the respect that she’ll try new techniques and incentives to encourage the children to participate in class. She is great about responding to my emails and having parent-teacher conferences to discuss your child’s progress.
My son’s teacher is passonate about teaching because he loves to see kids learning new things. He is very dedicated to teaching as he uses individual approach to every child and helps them do their best at school. And he is innovative, because he recently got an electronic smart board for his class to make learning process easier and more fun
I admit it. I am biased but my mom is the best teacher I know. She is an ESL teacher in Brooklyn’s public school system. She is 76 and has no intention of retiring any time soon. She is 1) Passionate because she writes grants for the school to ensure the school gets extra funds. She is super 2) Dedicated in that she gets to school before 7 am and leaves at 430. This si over an hour and a half before her first students arrive and about 2 hours after her last students leave. She is 3) Innovative in that last year she wrote a grant for a summer program for ESL students. She won the grant and she worked this summer implementing the program (and wasn’t even paid for her work).
I posted on facebook http://www.facebook.com/ADayMadeBetter/posts/258269054209672
mrs faulkner as her philosophy is to teach with love
debbie jackson
djackson1958 at hotmail dot com
My son’s Kindergarten teacher is”:
1) Passionate: because she worked with each student based on their current skill set and doesn’t give up
;2) Dedicated: She has been teaching this grade level for several years and it is definitely not an easy job
and 3) Innovative: She has fun projects and new ways of learning for the class. On Johnny Appleseed day I volunteered and we made applesauce and sampled different kinds of apples.
The teacher I would like to nominate is passionate
My 3 year old niece has juvenile diabetes. My niece’s teacher had never given insulin shot before, which my niece required throughout the day, but she was willing to learn so that my niece could go to pre-school and be a “normal” kid. My niece’s teacher was so nervous but she spent a whole week learning and now she’s a pro and my niece loves her! What a great teacher!
hendymartin1 at yahoo dot com
Posted a comment on “A Day Made Better” FB page as Hendy Martin
https://www.facebook.com/ADayMadeBetter/posts/262772853759292
hendymartin1 at yahoo dot com
She is very passionate about her subject (music). She loves music and has a knack for passing that on to her students. She is very dedicated and patient and puts all of her effort into making her students better musicians. She is always trying to find new ways to bring across important points.
The teacher i want to nominate is passionate– she is a special needs teacher and takes time to connect with the kids to know more about them and be supportive. She’s my best friend and also talks about her kids.
She’s dedicated as she always goes beyond what she needs to do to ensure the kids have fun and learn at the same time, even if it’s at the expense of her time and money.
She’s innovative as she thinks up new ways to engage the kids, and depending on each child’s disability, she will come up with games and activities for each of them to enjoy and learn.
I’d love to gift her with more resources to teach her kids.
yuukiimi(at)Gmail(dot)com
Extra entry: facebook post https://www.facebook.com/ADayMadeBetter/posts/262914670411777
I’d nominate my kids art teacher! He’s fun and loves art as much as I do! I think art is really important and it’s a bummer that schools don’t have funding for it anymore. My kids have art once a week. I think that’s sad. Their teacher does what he can to enrich them as much as possible. He spends money out of his own pocket in order to expose the kids to as much creativity as possible. i feel bad that he tries so hard to teach, but just doesn’t have the time or tools to teach as he’d like to. I’d love to donate this to getting him the supplies he needs to truly teach my kids!
coriwestphal at msn dot com