Tried it Tuesday: Creating a Donors Choose Project

I'm linking up with one of my BBBs today, Holly, at Fourth Grade Flipper, to talk about something new for me: a Donors Choose project.

Have you heard of Donors Choose?  It is an online charity that connects teachers who need items for their classrooms with donors who want to help children in need.  It is very simple and easy to set up.  If you are looking to have a project funded, you set up an account and Donors Choose walks you through the process of creating a project.  You choose the materials that are needed from various vendor sites, write about why you need the items for your room, and submit.  The project gets reviewed, and when it is approved, you have about four months for the project to be funded through donations.

My library in my classroom is basically nonexistent.  Don't get me wrong, I have books for my students, lots and lots of books that I have collected from Scholastic points, library sales, yard sales, donations, all kinds of things.  But I literally have one rickety book shelf.  When I came to my new school I had to put my books in plastic crates, or keep them in the boxes.  I was so disappointed because I knew that great books weren't getting chosen.  With the "brown box" system, books were also getting thrown into the nearest open box, causing pages to get lost, or covers to be ripped.  When I read about Donors Choose, I knew I had to give it a try.

I mean seriously, look at this space!

So when I heard about Donors Choose, I knew that I needed to ask for some books shelves and a rug to define the space.  I want my students to be readers, and they need a place to find interesting books, and then be able to relax and enjoy a good book.  For the time being, my library looks like this:

Hopefully, my project will get funded soon, and I will have the new shelves before the school year starts.  If you are interested, I would love for you to check out the project.  You can go {HERE} to read about it.  Until Saturday, August 1st any donations made are doubled using the code SPARK.  It's a great tax donation if you are looking for something, and even donating $5.00 helps out a fellow teacher!!  Or, if you are on social media and are willing to share the link, that would be amazing too! 

Thanks to Holly for hosting this!