I have had the privilege of having a classroom set of Apple iPod Touch to use with my students this year. I’m going to be blogging about our experiences in the next several weeks but before I do, I thought I would cover how YOU could possibly get some for your classroom. Already you may be thinking, “Yeah right!”  So instead of a classroom set, lets start with trying to get one or two!   I have a couple ideas on how you could manage this.

1. Scholastic Bonus Points

For the first time this year I received some significant book orders and bonus points.  Significant enough that 3 weeks ago I ordered an Apple iPad 2 from the bonus points catalog!  Twice a year Scholastic offers 6,000 bonus points with a 200 dollar order. (Usually September and January) I stumbled across Laura Candler’s fool proof way to get a 200 dollar order and it worked! In my classroom, I actually get both Lucky and Arrow catalogs so this year I sent out  the Lucky catalog in the beginning of January and got some orders and put in about $40 to make sure it was $200. (6,000 bonus points) Then I sent out the JANUARY Arrow at the beginning of February. (usually there is a 3 month ordering window) I again had to order some with my own money to get it up to $200, but that brought me over the 19,999 bonus points for the iPad 2. It should be here soon!

2. Donors Choose website

Have you visited this awesome website yet? DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy to help students in need through school donations. I have had several projects fully funded this year and the chorus teacher at my school had her project fully funded which happened to be two iPod Touchs. You can then buy the headphone jack adapter to hook up to 5 headphones into one iPod. (10 bucks at Kohls!) It is very easy to get started and they do most of the work for you.  After the project is funded you are expected to post some pictures and send out some thank you notes.  I know a teacher from North Carolina who has had over 15 projects funded!  Go for it!

3. JUST ASK!

I don’t know how things work in your district, but in my district the technology department does not just show up with expensive toys for the fun of it!  We have to ask.  If you don’t ask, how will they know?  This is how I managed to get my iPods.  We have a specific site on our school website where we make requests and ask for things.  I asked for threeyears in a row for a classroom set of iPods.  Before you ask however, do some homework.  Tell them HOW you will use them, explain how the students will be engaged, Tell them why they may improve test scores, talk about the standards, maybe even how you could collaborate with them. Don’t be afraid to ask!

Check out my iPod Touch morning routine worksheets on TeachersPayTeachers!

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