Cut Costs on Classroom Creations

One of the most daunting tasks for any teacher is the task of decorating their classroom for the school year. Most teachers feel pressured to impress their students and to keep them interested and eager to learn through the energy and visual interest within the classroom. A fun room is necessary to stimulating learning and keeping students excited about school. Decorating a room, however, is easier said than done. Creating a dynamic, exciting environment can be costly and time consuming.  Fortunately, there are wonderful establishes like SchoolOutlet.com that offer quality classroom essentials at affordable prices.

Not only are cost-efficient, reliable classroom items available at SchoolOutlet.com, but we’ve also gathered the top 4 ways to bring lively, fun décor to any classroom without breaking the bank…

1 Pick a simple theme: Choosing a theme is a great place to start when beginning your decorating process. There’s no greater way to get organized and stay on task than by selecting an overall theme or idea for the classroom. The trick, though, is to keep the theme simple. Color themes are a great way to add thematic organization and fun to a classroom without blowing your budget. A fun, creative room filled with blues and oranges is just as interesting as a room decorated head to toe with Hollywood themed objects, or Disney, or the ocean, etc.

2 Printers are your best friend: Printing out elements for the classroom such as signs, borders, name tags, labels and other decorative material will save not only time but loads of money. There’s no need to spend hundreds at a printing store or Party Land when you can create your own signage right from home!

3 Utilize items you already have: Never underestimate what you may already have on hand. Look around your house or even a friend’s (ask first, of course) for essentials like tape, glue, scissors, baskets, construction paper, etc. Also, utilize items you may have laying around or stored away that you make have forgotten about, like old stickers, posters, cool pictures, wall paper or wrapping paper.

4 Think outside the box: There’s no greater tool to decorating on a budget than using your own imagination! Get creative with DIY ideas; scour the internet, magazines or online forums such as Pinterest. Use unexpected items for creative projects like stamps, newspaper cut outs, paper mache, old crayons, spray paint or old tissue boxes. Make a crayon wreath, or wall decals made out of magazine or newspaper clippings. Try making school supply holders or storage units with old tissue boxes or flower vases.

The sky's the limit (and your wallet is thankful) the more creative risks you’re willing to take!

More and More States Offer Bigger Budgets for Preschool

During this time of economic hardship, it's unfortunately not uncommon to see schools cutting back on costs including extracurricular activities, staff and faculty, offering help to allow at-risk children to attend preschool, and even on classroom products and furniture. Most schools are doing all they can to save money, even if that means some large sacrifices. However, more and more preschools have been recently extending their budget. From putting money toward new preschool tables and activity tables to budgeting money towards at-risk children to attend quality preschools, it's good to know that more money is being dedicated to education. One recent case, where more money is being worked into the budget, includes preschools in Ohio where lawmakers are looking to put millions of additional dollars into providing quality preschool education for at-risk children. 

Finn Laursen, Executive Director of the Christian Educators Association International in Ohio, says studies show 3 and 4 year olds who get good quality preschool grow up to have reduced fewer children out of wedlock and more well-adjusted parents. He says that, in turn, saves taxpayers money. Laursen says studies show right now, that’s something Ohio needs. 

"Ohio is ranked the 4th highest of taxpayer burden for divorce and unwed childbearing of all states in the nation," says Laursen. "We have California at the top, New York second, Texas third and Ohio is fourth. That’s not a good distinction. That’s costing 2.7 billion dollars to taxpayers in Ohio each and every year for unwed childbearing and divorce."

There are currently 130 thousand children in Ohio who are eligible for state subsidized preschool, and currently around six thousand children are being served by public preschools. Those who support this plan say it’s imperative to get as many of those children as possible into quality preschool programs as soon as possible.