This is a teacher website roundup for novice and veteran educators alike. Personally, I discovered a lot of these useful pages later than sooner, but now they are bookmarked favorites I frequent regularly! Hopefully, you find this list just as helpful.
NAEIR.org
Teacher Membership is FREE! Licensed teachers working in a classroom qualify as well as others with proper documentation (home school teachers, paraprofessionals; school counselors, social workers, psychologists, etc.) Once approved, you can shop the site for discounted supplies. The National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources, aka NAEIR, receives extra inventory from big businesses like 3M, Sharpie, Expo, and many more. You don’t pay for the materials but instead are charged a small shipping and handling fee based on your order total.
I’ve literally received over $800 worth of NAEIR merchandise for less than $150. Not kidding. Quality stuff, too! I now have enough Post Its to last the rest of my teaching career, Expo markers for each student to receive their own tenfold, and countless other knick-knacks that have made my classroom better on a budget.
Firstbook.org
First Book is a nonprofit that provides new books and educational resources at low cost to schools. If you are an educator at a Title I or Title I eligible school, health care provider, school support personnel, librarian, early learning professional, community program or afterschool staff, or you serve kids in need in another capacity, you qualify for membership.
As a first year teacher, your classroom library may be limited or outdated. First Book is a fantastic resource to diversify your bookshelves… and for less. Last year, I paid roughly $2 per Who Was..? title from the popular Penguin Book series. They even carry Spanish books for bilingual readers and hardcover books at paperback prices. For even more ideas on buying books on a budget, look back at one of my older posts.
DonorsChoose.org
Donors Choose helps connect financial donors with classroom teachers in need of resources for meaningful educational experiences. Teachers create shopping lists for a classroom idea, post them to the platform, and solicit monetary donations to fund and fulfill their projects. I’ve had over $4000 worth of materials donated to my classroom this way. Definitely something to look into!
AchievetheCore.org
Achieve the Core is a website run by Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to improving student achievement. They have a Coherence Map that shows the connection between the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. I used this website ALL THE TIME in my early years of teaching to map out my math instruction.
Standards relate to one another, both within and across grade levels. When I switched grade levels and moved to fifth, the Coherence Map helped me get a “big picture” view of the student learning experience. I could easily see which foundational skills had been taught in fourth grade for my current lesson and reteach/fill gaps as needed. I could also see how my current fifth grade lesson would later be built upon in middle school.
ACTIONABLE STEPS: Check out the above-mentioned teacher websites and bookmark them for later. Veteran educators: did I miss a good one? Let us know in the comments below!
