Snowmen and Reindeer Poop - A Fundraising Idea

It was all about poop that week before break... Snowman and Reindeer that is!  

Our school has a Holiday Shop where kids can bring in money and buy gifts for their family members.  In addition to the mugs and jewelry, teachers and grade levels are allowed to sell candy (basically the one time this happens during the year), so my team hopped to it trying to raise extra funds for our upcoming field trip.  My contribution were these poop bags.  I made 200 of them and they sold out within a couple of days... $200 coming straight to our grade level just from poop!

The Reindeer Poop were scoops of chocolate covered raisins, and the Snowman Poop were scoops of mini marshmallows with a tablespoon or two of those mini pastel mints sprinkled inside.  Size wise I used snack size ziplock bags with the cute labels stapled over the top.  We also sold Elf Vitamins (Skittles), and Candy Cane "Build your own Reindeer" kits.  

Are you allowed to sell anything in your Holiday Shop?

The Day I Let My Students Dye My Hair...

This fall my grade level had our walkathon (like we always do).  We sent home a letter asking families to please consider supporting our classrooms, to raise enough money for our big field trip and for enrichment activities.  The walkathon came and went, and the money started coming in... but it didn't look like we were going to raise enough... so we offered a little incentive if we reached our class goal.  This year we decided to let the 2 top earners coat our hair with colored hairspray (the stuff that they sell in the Halloween aisle).  My hair was a lovely shade of purple, pink, and orange... it was nice and crispy afterward, and took 3 washes to get it all out.  :)  Will I do it again next year? Of course!

Do you do any incentives to raise class funds?  

Easy Fundraiser

I like things to be easy.  At the beginning of the year, a fundraiser needs to be easy to fit into a hectic schedule.  My team used to do a Spell-a-thon to raise funds, but that meant we had to then grade the 100 word spelling tests.  Not necessarily fun.  So we switched to a Walk-a-thon, and it has worked out great.  

About a week before the walkathon we send home this note to the families:

It has some donation supplies on the bottom of the form, asking for bottles of water, or a treat to share after the walkathon.  My big thing is to be able to give each child a water bottle when they walk.    

On another sheet of paper we have the sponsor log.

Then we make a big deal in class and on email that our students will receive rewards for bringing in donations.  Every $25 that a student brings in will earn them a homework pass.  The top 3 earners will win a gift card to their choice of places (Target, Coldstone, Starbucks, Menchies...).  

On Walking Day, I label the tops of the water bottles with their class numbers, and then put the bottles and an index card on their desks.  When we head outside they bring both items with them.  The water bottle is put near my corner of the blacktop so when they come by to get a tally mark on their lap (index) card they can also get a drink.  

We have 4 classes, so each class takes a corner of the blacktop.  Each teacher also chooses a different color sharpie to make tally marks on the cards, and the kids know they are only allowed to come to our corner to get credit for the lap.  If kids want to take a seat, that's fine.  But the competitive spirit usually makes some kids want to get as much as possible.

In 4th grade we walk for 45 minutes.  Our first grade buddies walk for 30 minutes during theirs.  Some years we have music blasting, some years it's a little quieter.  The kids still have fun!  All in all though it's a very easy fundraiser to complete.  

What do you do to raise money?    

Five on Friday!

Five for Friday! Today I'm linking up again with Doodlebugs Teaching to share my 5 random things from this week.

1. Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss

We celebrated today after we did our regular assessments. The kids wore their PJs, brought in their blankets, books, and pillows. They then set up shop and read. Sometimes by themselves, sometimes with a partner, sometimes full class. That was the morning, and this afternoon we watched a little movie complete with red fish and gummy eggs as a treat. This Readathon was also a technology fundraiser for my class. Here is the letter I sent home in case you are looking for ideas.

2. Figurative Language Rainbows

This week we continued on with figurative language, this time adding examples and color to a Figurative Language Rainbow. I am so proud of myself for figuring how to make a rainbow on PowerPoint.

3. Writing Writing Writing

The state writing assessment is next week and my students have been working hard on their paragraphs. I am so thankful that the Rainbow Edit is working for this group.  I think that alone has helped make them into better writers.  Now I don't have to remind them to include indents, capitals, punctuation, details, topic sentence, and spelling.  

4. Girl Scout Cookies

I want to personally thank the Girl Scouts at my school for providing ample opportunities to purchase boxes of cookies. I want to thank my husband for preferring a certain kind that I can't stand, and for being supportive in purchasing boxes for the cupboard and for the freezer.

5. Last but not least, I want to thank you for your support when I posted this picture on Facebook.

It was nice knowing it wasn't just my class that the moon affected this past week.

Hope you had a great week!

Winter Wonderland

5:40 pm on a Friday night and I was back at school after going home for an hour and a half. Winter Wonderland was about to begin at 6 pm and I needed to grab all the crafty type stuff from my classroom.

What was my grade level selling? An experience... Seriously though... It was an experience. We were the only craft station set up.

Now picture this... I am not alone as I walk in the dark to my little portable. I have my 3 boys with me. My 2 oldest are arguing about who gets to push my toddler in his stroller (which he isn't happy about riding in). I get to the classroom to grab my rolling cart with the supplies loaded on and we trudge on across campus to the gym.

We drop off the supplies at the grade level table and head to the staff room (3 boys and stroller) to grab a gigantic piece of red butcher paper to use as our tablecloth.

Our supplies? A 100 pack of white 4 inch tiles from Home Depot, a box of colored sharpies, a Costco pack of white tissue paper, a package of brown paper bags, and a pencil box to use as a cash box.

It was a simple project but the kiddos loved it. We bought the tiles at 16 cents a piece, and sold them for $2. We made money for our field trip and for enrichment. The kiddos made gifts for their relatives and gifts for themselves.

We didn't really have to do anything. Not like last year when I came home wearing so many shades of glitter. We just watched kids decorate tiles, and wrapped them up for safe traveling.

It was a good night.

My husband did meet us there to take the boys around to the different tables. My toddler fell asleep - a very late nap - and we had to wake him up when it was time to visit Mr and Mrs Claus. They were visiting from the North Pole and made the trip to take pictures in our library. My 1st grader who is terribly stage shy decided at the last minute to get up on stage with his class to perform/sing to Jingle Bell Rock, and I was glad that my phone camera was in my pocket so I could record the moment. Yes, a good night, an exhausting night, a money maker of a night, a memory filled night.

Happy Friday!

5 more school days!!! :)