UPDATE: My project has been fully funded!!! Woo hoo!  I can’t wait to get started cooking in the classroom!  Thank you for supporting me!

I’ve always been a huge fan of creating experiences for kids in the classroom, and I tend to like the messy stuff.  I love to paint, do shaving cream, break out the play-doh, plant mini-gardens, and COOK!  Yes, you read that right.  I actually cook with my kindergarten students every year.  While some kids have great experiences in the kitchen with their families, not all families love to cook or spend time in the kitchen.  Cooking and baking are two of my favorite hobbies, so I will happily spend time cooking with my kindergartners.

Well, here comes the problem.  You see, when I moved schools I had leave the convection oven behind.  It was purchased by another teacher who used grant money designated for the building.  Leave the building… leave the convection oven.  Here we are on the doorstep of spring, and I can’t do my favorite cooking unit with the kids.  It’s killing me, friends!  I can’t even begin to tell you how many reading, writing, science, social studies, and math lessons come from this unit!

Enter… DONOR’S CHOOSE

Have you heard of it?  It’s a website where teachers can post a project and ask the public to help fund it.  I’ve been teaching this unit for years, so I have collected all of the cooking and baking supplies, as well as cook books, that I need for the unit.  The only thing that is missing is the oven.  I found a great convection oven through the Best Buy Education link on Donor’s Choose.

With tax, processing, donor’s choose donation, and shipping it will be just under $300.  It’s portable and can sit on a rolling cart, which means I can share it with other teachers in my building.  (At my old school it was a very popular item at many different grade levels.)

Are you interested in helping me purchase this?  If so, for the next 4 days Donor’s Choose will match any dollar amount (up to $100) that is donated to this project.  You need to enter the code SPARK at checkout.  If you are willing to help me out, I will be your best friend forever!  Here is the link to my project, if you’d like to help.

Thanks, friends!