Posted on Leave a comment

redditgifts for the Teachers

Does this guy look familiar?

Many of you may recognize this guy as the reddit alien.  For anyone out there who hasn’t checked out this social media website, I highly recommend it.  While I spend my free time pining away, my boyfriend is usually catching up on reddit every chance he gets.  Alex is on reddit from the time he gets up until the time he goes to bed!  In fact, if we are out and he has forgotten his phone or it is dead, he thinks that automatically frees up my iPhone for his addiction!  (but I don’t mind babe!)  Alex has been a redditor since around the time the site has been created.  I cannot tell you all the amazing content that you can find on this website.  The reddit community in general is so amazing.  Redditors do the most wonderful things all around the world.  There is something for EVERYONE on reddit.

Alex is always talking about all of the good things reddit does around the world.  For instance, I am participating in redditgifts for the Teachers 2013 , which is an amazing way teachers can get supplies for their classrooms.  Last year’s program rallied up almost $150, 000 worth supplies for the new school year!  Alex, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, emailed me the link to check out in case I needed some things for my classroom.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get some good read alouds for my classroom.  Many people do not realize that teachers actually provide their own books for classroom libraries.  We spend a lot of our own money on our classrooms and unfortunately we do not make a great deal of money for all we do.  I was telling someone the other day that I had to buy something for my classroom and his response was, “well you can claim it on your taxes.”  I quickly informed him that we are only allowed to claim $250 of our personal funds that goes towards classroom purchases.  I spend a lot of time sifting through books at thrift shops to get new books for my classroom.   If there are any Dr. Seuss books on the shelf I always make sure to snag them up!

This is what my classroom library looked like last year.  Notice there is some organization here.  I did have the books in labeled tubs.  The problem was that the kids would not put them back in the right tub.
This is what my classroom library looked like last year. Notice there is some organization here. I did have the books in labeled tubs. The problem was that the kids would not put them back in the right tub.
Here is my classroom library this year!  I moved some stuff around and added a tree because I thought that was super necessary!  I love having a fun place in my classroom for my kiddos to go relax and read!  In the jungle nonetheless!
Here is my classroom library this year! I moved some stuff around and added a tree because I thought that was super necessary! I love having a fun place in my classroom for my kiddos to go relax and read! In the jungle nonetheless!
Notice the tubs have labels with genres on them.  Each genre is a different colored label which matches the colored dot in the corner of the book so the kids know what tub each book goes in!
Notice the tubs have labels with genres on them. Each genre is a different colored label which matches the colored dot in the corner of the book so the kids know what tub each book goes in! I have a big post coming up with specifics about my library code system, so be on the lookout soon for Classroom Library Makeover-Nuckles Edition! 🙂

The reason I am writing this post is to describe my classroom and the supplies that I need for my care package.  I signed up to try to get some good read aloud books for me to use in my classroom. For my non-teacher friends, a read aloud is a book that we read aloud in class.  I love good read aloud books that have a good message for my students.  There is this fabulous author named Julia Cook that writes these amazing life skills books for kids.  Julia’s books teach such real lessons and I would love to have more of her books in my classroom.

I read this book to my class yesterday and they begged me to read it again today!
I read this book to my class Tuesday and they begged me to read it again  on Wednesday!  Since it had a good message, I did manage to squeeze it in!

This book is hilarious.  It is a great story about a boy named Louis that has a hard time shouting out and interrupting others.  His teacher and parents are always getting onto him for interrupting.  Louis has so many important things to say that he just can’t hold it in!  One day, Louis gets a taste of his own medicine.  It is his day to be star student and there are several of his classmates that interrupt him during his 15 minutes of fame!  Louis learns the importance of waiting his turn and that it is rude to interrupt people when they are talking.  My kids LOVED this book.  As you can imagine, I have a few of these so called “volcano mouths” in my classroom, especially at the beginning of a new school year!  This book gave us a chance to talk about real issues that we deal with on a daily basis at school.  My Mouth is a Volcano is the only book in her collection that I currently have.  She has written a ton of other ones that would be a great addition to my classroom!  Click here to see some of her other books.  A few particular ones I would like to get my hands on would be Personal Space CampA Bad Case of Tattle TongueBully BeansBut it’s Just a Game, and any other book in her collection let’s be honest!

If you are one of my teacher friends, you should look into signing up!  If you would like to sign up to send a care package to a teacher in need, all you have to do is click here to get signed up before the morning of September 3rd, 2013!

Thank you reddit for all you do!
Thank you reddit for all you do!

***UPDATE

I received a package on Saturday afternoon from Amazon.  I was a bit puzzled, as I had not ordered anything recently from Amazon.  It was my gift from redditgifts for the Teachers that I signed up for last month!  There was a gift note from the sender that read, “Hope your classroom enjoys these!”  Thank you so much for gifting these amazing books for my classroom!  I am excited to read them to my class!

These are the amazing books that I received from redditgifts for the Teachers.  A big THANK YOU to Rob Hall, who gifted these books to my classroom!
These are the amazing books that I received from redditgifts for the Teachers. A big THANK YOU to the redditor who gifted these books to my classroom!