For nearly two decades, Roz Strand has dedicated herself to teaching early childhood special education—meeting her students exactly where they are and celebrating every strength they bring into the room. Now teaching first-grade special education, she builds a classroom shaped around patience, possibility and understanding.

As she explains, “the majority of my kids have various needs and a lot of strengths,” and those needs often show up in very real, tangible ways throughout the day. In Roz’s world, learning isn’t linear. Big emotions happen, supplies break, and lessons pause so she can help her students navigate their feelings with care. 

“Shouldn’t our kids have markers even though they get mad sometimes, even though they might break their crayons?”

Roz knows that essential supplies—Expo markers, whiteboards, crayons—aren’t just fragile tools, they can make or break a day. “It’s difficult for some of my kids to have Expo markers,” she says, explaining how big emotions can lead to broken supplies, met with an ongoing need for replenishment in her classroom. “Sometimes we have big behaviors… so we run out of them faster, because things get broken whenever we have big feelings.”

But she doesn’t see these moments as setbacks. Instead, she sees them as opportunities to teach resilience, self-regulation, and connection. Because even when incidents like this occur, it’s still critical to be able to give her students the same opportunities as everyone else. “Shouldn’t our kids have markers even though they get mad sometimes, even though they might break their crayons?” she asks, because to her, the answer is always yes. “We can work through our big feelings together,” she says—a belief that shapes everything she does.

But navigating those moments is only possible when she isn’t worried about running out of the basics. That’s why Kids In Need Foundation (KINF) has become essential. With support from KINF’s Teacher Resource Center, Roz doesn’t have to worry when supplies run out or when emotional moments take an unexpected toll on her classroom. “Kids In Need makes it so that we’re not as stressed about those things,” she says.

For Roz, having access to free essential supplies isn’t just about replacing markers—it’s about giving her students room to grow, express themselves, and work through their challenges without scarcity standing in the way. Most of all, it’s the reassurance that while her students work through their big feelings, she never has to face those big challenges alone. “We have help, and you can’t teach anymore without help. You cannot teach alone.”

“Whenever I was a really young teacher, you know, I wanted to give everything to these kids, and I absolutely did, and I went into debt. I went into debt over them,” 

Roz Strand has poured her heart into early childhood special education for 18 years, guiding first graders through days filled with growth, challenge, and discovery. But her journey as an educator began with a lesson many teachers learn the hard way: how much of themselves they give—financially, emotionally, wholeheartedly—long before anyone is there to give back.

“Whenever I was a really young teacher, you know, I wanted to give everything to these kids, and I absolutely did, and I went into debt. I went into debt over them,” Roz recalls. She spent thousands on books, toys, and classroom materials, determined to make her classroom a place where every child had what they needed. “My classroom was my home and I practically lived there.”

Eventually, the weight of that giving became impossible to carry. “And then I realized this won’t last.” She had to choose sustainability over sacrifice, teaching herself to stretch every resource, repurpose every object, and imagine entirely new ways to keep learning going strong. One memory she often shares shows her ingenuity: with only one ruler for her students, she measured inches on each child’s shoe, giving every student a ruler of their own. They loved it—and so did she. For years, creativity became  a skill, and resilience became a necessity.

But even resilience has limits. After so long carrying that weight alone, the support of Kids In Need Foundation has been transformative. “I’ve learned how to do without for so long that whenever you get help like from Kids In Need, it just takes the weight off.” With access to free, dependable supplies, Roz doesn’t have to choose between her students and her own stability. Instead she gets to focus on what matters most: her students’ growth, confidence, and joy in learning.

“Thank you so much. You have no idea how much we use all of these things every single day.”

Because in Roz’s classroom, every supply is more than a tool—it’s a reminder that when teachers are supported, students can thrive without compromise.

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Every day, teachers show up for their students with passion, creativity, and dedication—but too many of them are doing it without the supplies they need to create the learning environments their students deserve. No teacher should have to choose between giving their students the best education possible and paying out of pocket for basic classroom materials.

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