National PTA + Google Be Internet Awesome Grant!

My PTA is super rad. They're very involved (in all the right ways!), and are willing to go along with ideas that teachers come up with. For example, last year PTA painted the basement hallway outside my room with green paint for doing green screen video projects! 

So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that my PTA jumped on it when I saw a grant opportunity posted by National PTA and Google, and I asked the PTA to apply. Right before winter break, we received notification that we had won! With this grant, we were awarded funds to host a parent night to facilitate discussions about internet safety and digital citizenship. 

The PTA was beyond helpful in setting the event up, organizing the event, and getting supplies together for hosting. I volunteered to host by facilitating the main presentation. You'd be surprised how different it feels to present to a group of parents as opposed to a group of 6-8 graders! 

We had an awesome group of facilitators for our small groups, comprised of both teachers and parents:

We spent some of the money on snacks and fun swag for the evening, like pens, notepads, and webcam covers! We even designed our own special "Be Internet Awesome" logo for the night. 

One of our dads came and photographed the evening's events, and the results were amazing! Check out some of the shots here:

Although I was nervous about presenting, I think I got a lot better as the night went on! After our large-group presentation, we split into our smaller groups and had discussions about various aspects of digital citizenship. Each group created a poster, and then presented to the whole group:

I learned so much from this event, and I'm grateful to National PTA and Google for giving us this opportunity! I can totally see us hosting these events at all of our district schools in the upcoming years., and I'd love to help other teachers host these events at their own schools!

Do I look like I know what I'm doing? (I hope so!)

We use the Be Internet Awesome curriculum in our school at the 6th grade level. In 7th and 8th grades, we also use parts of the curriculum from Common Sense Media and EVERFI Ignition courses.

How do you teach digital citizenship and internet safety at your school? 

- Mrs L.

Threadless Artist Shops: Put the FUN back in FUNdraising!

Last season, before I retired from roller derby, I was the marketing coordinator for my league. One of the projects we started was to create a Threadless Artist Shop to complement our other league merch offerings - we were able to offer special designs without having to carry additional inventory, as all of the products from Threadless are print-on-demand. Also, the packing/shipping/delivery is all handled through the Threadless company. There was literally no work we needed to do beyond uploading designs and getting the word out!

So, what's the catch?

The profit margins are considerably smaller with a Threadless shop. You can actually set the price yourself to make as much/little as you want per item, but keep in mind that if you set your prices too high, no one will actually buy your stuff! Threadless sets a "base" price of each item that covers the costs of the item + printing. You get to decide how much you want to add on top of that price, and that's your cut.

There are a TON of items (not just t-shirts!) that you can create and buy in a Threadless shop: sweatshirts, tanks, cell phone cases, water bottles, mugs, STICKERS, throw pillows, leggings, notebooks, zipper pouches, tote bags... and more!

from top left: sticker sheet, tote bag
center: zip up hoodie
from bottom left: leggings, kids t-shirt

That's nice. What's it got to do with school? 

Well, you (yes you, as an individual) can open up your own Threadless Artist Shop for FREE, and you can use it in a variety of ways:

• Extracurricular clubs can design their own shirts! You can buy as few as ONE item. 
• A bonus PTA "spirit wear" shop to complement any other merch/fundraiser apparel sales that might already exist. This is how we use it at my school!
• Subject areas/departments can create their own coordinating apparel.
• Student Council could open a shop to sell merch to promote specific events/activities.
• Create "Class of..." designs for each grade level, and use them in conjunction with school spirit competitions! 
• Open a shop to post student-created designs from a class assignment. Students are way more motivated when they can see a functional end result ("Wait, we're going to design a shirt you can ACTUALLY BUY?!") 

I actually began our school shop for selfish reasons. I wanted a school spirit shirt in black, but alas, there were none. So I DIY-ed it with the help of Threadless:

I couldn’t believe there were no all-black spirit wear items. What’s a #gothteacher to do? Answer: make your own! 😂🖤👍🏻 #ramones #parody #sandburgspartans #instagram #sandburg205 #creativetech pic.twitter.com/cmMQJJRJ5F

— Jennifer Leban (@mrsleban) September 7, 2018

You can check out our own Sandburg Middle School Threadless Artist Shop here for more inspiration, or to grab some merch of your own! All of the proceeds from our shop go to our PTA, who then invests the funds in our MakerSpace!

What fun ways does your school raise money? Maybe try your own Threadless Artist Shop! 

Note: I am not a representative of/do not make any money from, nor was I asked to endorse Threadless in any way. I just really like their stuff, the process is super simple, and they're a local Chicago company that I like supporting! 

- Mrs L.