OVIEDO, Fla. – Earlier this month, Meaghan Bohn and Corin Plucinski created a wish list through Amazon to help Seminole County teachers collect school supplies.
Bohn and Plucinski then posted it on a neighborhood Facebook page where anyone in the community was invited to buy one of the school supplies on their list.
[TRENDING: WATCH: Fight forced evacuation of parking garage at Universal Studios, Orlando police say | Car crashes through Daytona Beach toll booth, drives into ocean, injuring 4, officials say | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]
A few weeks later, teachers working for Arbor School of Florida in Seminole County said they still need more than half of the items on their list.
Bohn said she received some cleaning items, but she’s still in need of dry erase boards, markers and sensory toys, among other specific items.
Plucinski said items like wine corks or unused pizza boxes are also helpful for projects she’ll be doing with her STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) class students.
“I have a lot of cleaning supplies purchased, which was amazing. Those get really expensive, and that’s another thing that’s super hard for parents,” said Meaghan Bohn, a lower elementary special education teacher. “For my class, the life skills kids, I’m looking for tools because generally, you know, trade is what the kids will go into that I teach.”
She said starting early with children with disabilities is key.
“You know, if they start in middle school... by the time they graduate, they stay in school until they’re 21, they’re going to have a trade, they’re going to be ready. We’re doing these like setting our table, so plates and forks — all different stuff — and then we’ll do dishes later, so I have a lot of that kind of stuff on my list,” Bohn said.
Corin Plucinski, an upper elementary special education teacher, said while she’s seeking everyday classroom items, she’s also in need of craft supplies.
“The regular pencils and markers and all that that our parents are buying for the school — we use that in the class. But also, I have more science, technology and pairing-based items that I need in our class,” Plucinski said. “(We use) a lot of consumables like masking tape and duct tape and glue and hot glue and, you know, all that stuff that we’re going to be using for a lot of our engineering and technology kind of projects.”
To purchase school supplies for teachers, visit Bohn’s wish list here and Plucinski’s wish list here.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: