WASHBURN, Maine — Like many teachers in rural Maine, Tracy Reed would like to have more money for classroom supplies that help students learn with hands-on activities.
And like other educators, Reed, who teaches seventh grade science in Washburn, is turning to online fundraising via the education-focused site DonorsChoose.org.
“Teachers tend to spend a lot of extra money out of their own pockets for supplies,” Reed said. “Budgets are low everywhere. This year, there was no budget for my class.”
Thanks to local donors and others from away, Reed is more than half-way toward a goal of raising $638 to purchase supplies for life sciences activities, including incubators for poultry eggs, butterfly larvae and preserved bullfrogs.
Reed said she’s hoping to have the supplies funded by April so that her students can use the supplies to hatch chicken and quail eggs and butterflies this spring.
“We’re working on life sciences, meiosis, mitosis, and reproduction of animals and other organisms,” Reed said. “If the kids can see it and do it and experience it, they’ll be able to understand it better.”
In her fundraising campaign, Reed explained that about 20 percent of her seventh grade students have learning disabilities and will benefit from hands-on activities on the topics they’re learning about.
“Their science background is lacking and they need all the hands-on experience they can get in order to catch them up to where they should be,” Reed wrote. “The equipment in their classroom is old and much of it is inoperable.”
If the project is fully-funded Reed said her class will be able to use an incubator to hatch chicken and quail eggs. She and another teacher who raise chickens and quail at home will donate the eggs.
The project also seeks to purchase a “Butterflies in the classroom kit” that will let students raise painted butterflies from larvae.
By watching the two different types of organisms grow, Reed hopes the students will have a better understanding of the range of life cycles.
“Through working with and assisting in the hatching of chicks, as well as the process of metamorphosis, they will feel that they were a part of these incredible life events,” Reed said.
This is Reed’s fourth time using DonorsChoose.org to raise funds for her classes. Before this year, she taught high school science in Washburn and raised money for three mini-iPads to use with laboratory programs, miniature rocket kits, and earth science supplies.
Reed said other teachers in Washburn and other area school districts have also turned to DonorsChoose.org in recent years as tightening school budgets have limited the availability of funding.
“It’s a good program and I think all teachers should know about it,” Reed said.
