How I Afforded 3 Mini iPads - Part 2

You can check out Part 1 in this series where I debated between Donorschoose and GoFundMe here. If you've already decided which route you're going to take...then you're in the right place :)

I am what I like to refer to as a bargain shopper...my husband probably just thinks I'm a cheapskate. There was a time in my life where I might have tried to deny this about myself, but when you always opt for Marshalls, TJMaxx, the Dollar Spot at Target, or the Dollar Store before you even think of name brand places, you've just got to embrace the penny pincher gene. I'm so much of a money saver that even when I had, in a sense, FREE MONEY given to me by friends and family to purchase my class iPads, I was STILL looking for a deal! I tried a few things...

This is by far the quickest and simplest way to save on Apple products. I opted out of it simply because I found a better deal elsewhere. However, if you're just wanting something quick, this is it. Just by being an educator, you automatically save $10 on your iPad purchase. That means your iPad mini goes from $249 to $239! $10 might not sound like a lot, but I *technically* would have saved $30 total if I went this route when buying my 3 minis. For those checking prices on Apple's site right now, you're probably discovering that I did not go with the "latest and greatest." In fact, I am quoting the price of the original iPad mini. It is the cheapest and when you are talking about purchasing things for the classroom, you know as well as I do that cost efficiency is one of your main priorities! 

Also, don't go to your Apple store and ask if they have a super top secret educator discount that they only advertise to people who specifically ask for it - because they don't. I tried...

I drive my husband insane because even with knowing I could save $30 with that discount, and ultimately $60 total by the time I purchase all 6 of my minis, I was determined to find a better deal elsewhere. Father's Day is conveniently around the corner so I've been searching Google and reading all of the rumors about upcoming sales. This is a little crazy requires a lot of dedication, so you might just choose to sign up for e-mails from a few stores that you know have run deals on iPads in the past. I was mostly checking Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. I also checked out my local Half Price Books, too!

Having no luck with my sales detective abilities, I remembered my brother mentioning refurbished items when he searched for his Mac! In case you aren't familiar with refurbs, it's a fancy way of saying it's a used item that had some plastic surgery. When it is an "Apple Certified Refurbished" item, it means the item has passed all of the same tests that a brand new item would have to pass before it is sold. After the piece passes the test, it gets a new casing on the outside and it's packaged into its fancy white box, complete with user manual and power cord. Even more - it comes with the same 1 year warranty that you would receive with a brand new one! I found my 3 minis on here for $209!!! You can't double up with the educator discount on here so that means I saved $40/iPad mini. That means $120 total. That's almost half of another brand new iPad mini!! It was so easy. I chose the free shipping to have it delivered to the store. They e-mailed me when it shipped and texted me when they were available for pickup in the store. You are treated with the same customer service as if you were buying the brand new item in store. I am getting giddy again just thinking about it :)

As I type this, there are no more of these listed on their site.  To my knowledge, refurb items are not kept in the store so you will just need to check this site fairly frequently. You never know when they might add a few more! 

Amazon actually has quite a few refurbished iPads listed. However, I was a tad nervous. There were all kinds of people who left reviews about how amazing their product was when they received it! But there were also multiple people who left reviews about the dents, scratches, horrible battery life, etc. etc. My paranoia got the best of me and I decided against it. If I'm going to get something this expensive as a refurb, I want it to come straight from the tech giant! 

What I did get through Amazon were my cases! I found these for only $10 a piece. (Excuse the quality of the pictures, I just got them today and I was SO EXCITED that I snapped quick phone pics). 

Because I haven't used them in the classroom, I can't speak to the durability. However, they look exactly as they did online, super lightweight, they're soft foam and not hard plastic and the best part (in my opinion) is they stand up! I thought that would be so much fun for the kids as they listen to stories on the minis :)

The reason I included this as a money-saving tip is because by going with this brand and color, I received a buy two, get one free discount! When you are searching for your items on Amazon, scroll down on the product page to where it says "Special Offers and Promotions." This is where I discovered the deal! It wasn't pointed out in any other part of the listing. Even more crazy, this crazy bright orange is the only color they offered the deal on! At least I'll always be able to find them, right?! All in all, I saved $10 on cases by going with these.

Because of all of these ridiculous highly creative ideas from the series thus far, I have acquired 3 iPad minis and 3 cases at absolutely no cost to me. I can't wait to see the difference in my students' learning this year!!

If you have any other money-saving tips, PLEASE comment below because this girl still has 3 more to go ;) 

How I Afforded 3 Mini iPads - Part 1

For those of you using Common Core, you know about the technology standards and how much pressure there is to help your kids meet all of them (and the mathematics, ELA, and science standards, as well!). I made a diligent effort to incorporate technology through interactive PowerPoints that I designed for individual lessons, Computers as a Literacy Center, watching videos, etc., etc., etc.!

I saw my kids becoming independent with technology so the Kindergarten team decided we would utilize the school's available iPads for an end-of-year research project. The students worked so hard throughout the year to become researchers...and they LOVED it. They would not stay off of fun websites like PebbleGo and Brainpop Jr. even during indoor Recess! We decided as a team that we would have the students research an insect independently and we would use Tellagami to present it to the class. 

"It'll be fun!" they said. "The kids will love it!" they said. "We can send the videos home to parents!" they said.

That's all fine and dandy until the Big Kids are utilizing every tiny nook and cranny in the school (including both the regular computer lab and the lab in the library) during their Big Kid State Testing :). 

Students and teachers all got a major lesson in flexibility at the end of the year, that's for sure. 

All of this explains why I am so excited to begin next school year with at least 3 mini iPads!!! (At no expense to me!)

(or why I chose to use GoFundMe)

A lot of people have used donorschoose.org to fund their wish list items for their classrooms. I looked into this intently for quite some time and realized it had a lot of benefits:

• It is completely free to use.
• All donations are tax-deductible for your donors (because it is a charity website).
• There is an available promo code that your donors can input to match their donation of up to $100 dollar-for-dollar. I had a friend have her iPad project become fully funded in only a few days because of this! Keep in mind that this code is only usable for two projects a year. 
• Your donors will all receive a note from you as well as picture updates of your students using the product.
• The website purchases and ships the product you've campaigned for to your school. We all know that our time is limited and sometimes locating the products can take a lot of our valuable time! 

However, as with any large purchase, check the policies and fine print. You can click here to read about their Material Ownership Policy. Their policy clearly states that the products are yours as long as you meet their criteria. You need only meet a few of their rules so that they can help you out in a BIG  way. The policy clearly states you must continue working in a public school in order to continually use their product. That's fairly doable for most of us. It wasn't until this next part that I started to get nervous...some districts have rules about donated items. A friend of mine had a lot of paperwork to deal with through our district because she received donated items. Our district has policies that essentially say the donated items belong to the district and not the project owner. She had to have several signatures of approval to ensure her items belonged to her and not the school. Please check your district's policies before you use this site! Donorschoose wants you to be able to keep the item you campaigned for!!

I am a paranoid lady and when I saw the paperwork involved for my friend...I opted for GoFundMe instead. You can see my GoFundMe page to get a feel for how it works. Essentially, it is the same process of identifying your project, creating a page, and sending the link to everyone you know! Here were some of its selling points for me:

• It is free, too!
• Your project does not have to go through an approval process. I signed up, created, and shared my link to friends and family in about 30 minutes. It does take some time for your project to gain approval to appear in the website's search function, however.
• There is no time limit on your project. You could even continue to receive funds after your project completes, unless you choose to close it. 
• You design your own rewards levels. You can see the levels I designed on my page. You know who your audience is..make your rewards appealing to them!
• You don't have to wait until the campaign ends to receive your funds. My project is only half-funded and I have already received 3 of my mini iPads and 3 cases because you can opt to have the funds delivered to your account as frequently as you would like. Bear in mind, because the website is free, they get their funds by keeping 5% of every donation and WePay keeps 3% whenever they send it to your bank account. Keep those percentages in mind when setting your funding goal!
• Because you are receiving the funds, you make the purchase. This means that these will 100% be yours and not the school's! That is a big seller for many of your donors. They want to know for certainty that their dollars are helping you and your students. Your donors don't want to feel like they are throwing money at any random Joe in your school!

Both websites are great (and free!) options. Use whichever one makes more sense for you!

It's official - I'm a newb.

Hey everyone!
My name is Amanda and I'm a primary grades teacher in central Kentucky! I just completed my KTIP year in Kindergarten and I am excited to begin my second year as a first grade teacher in the fall! Like everyone else on the internet, I have a lot of ideas that I would love to share with all of you! 

I strongly believe that a classroom should never be a place where the teacher is the end-all to knowledge. Rather, the classroom is a learning community designed to help everyone (teachers included!) to learn throughout the year. This is also how I hope to run my blog! While I have so many ideas - more than my little brain can handle - I am even more interested in getting to know the immense teaching community online and learn from all of YOU! I can't wait to get started :)

Thanks for stopping by!