Every teacher wants their students to walk into the classroom feeling ready to learn.

But being ready requires more than an engaging lesson plan. Students need pencils to write with, notebooks to capture their ideas, markers and colored pencils to create with, and all the other everyday classroom supplies that make participating in learning possible.

For Minnesota educators who visit Kids In Need Foundation’s (KINF) Teacher Resource Center in Little Canada, having those resources available means they can focus more of their attention on helping students learn—not on what their students may be missing.

“Not everybody can come in with their box of crayons and their markers,” one educator shares. “But I have everything then that I can provide. And we all have what we need to succeed, to learn, to have fun.”

School Supplies Help Every Student Participate

Something as simple as a missing pencil can change how a student experiences a lesson.

Without the right supplies, students may have to borrow from a classmate, wait for their teacher to find an alternative or miss out on part of an activity altogether.

Teachers see that impact firsthand.

“Those are the things that I wanna make sure that kids have so that they can participate in whatever we’re doing and never feel like, ‘I can’t do this because I don’t have the supplies that I need,’” one teacher explains. “I never want a student to feel unprepared.”

KINF’s Teacher Insight Survey shows just how widespread these challenges are. More than half of students begin the school year without all required supplies, according to educators surveyed by KINF. Teachers also reported that 64% of students run out of supplies by the second semester and cannot easily replace them.

And access affects much more than preparedness. More than 95% of educators surveyed said access to supplies is important for student class preparedness, interest in learning, class participation, confidence, self-esteem and social engagement.

When students have the tools they need, teachers can spend less time navigating supply shortages and more time creating meaningful opportunities to learn.

Free School Supplies for Minnesota Teachers

That’s where KINF’s Teacher Resource Center in Little Canada, Minnesota comes in.

Eligible Minnesota educators can shop at the Teacher Resource Center for free once each quarter, giving them ongoing access to school supplies and classroom resources throughout the year.

Minnesota educators are eligible if they teach at a school where 70% or more of the student population is eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).

Inside the Teacher Resource Center, educators can find resources for their classrooms and students—from everyday essentials like pencils, notebooks, folders and markers to other supplies that can support lessons, activities and classroom needs.

For teachers in the video, that experience can be difficult to describe to a colleague who hasn’t visited yet.

“You try to tell them just how awesome it is, but they don’t get it until they come back,” one educator says, describing new teachers returning with carts full of supplies.

It’s the moment they realize just how many new possibilities they can bring back to their students.

Giving Teachers More Freedom to Teach

Access to free classroom supplies can change what teachers are able to offer their students.

“It just kind of speeds along the curriculum and helps all the kids have access to what they need,” one educator shares.

Pencils. Markers. Colored pencils. Folders. Notebooks.

They may be everyday items, but they give teachers the flexibility to plan lessons around what will help students learn rather than around which resources happen to be available.

That support can be especially meaningful for educators who are just beginning their careers and building classrooms from scratch.

“The first time I went to KINF, it was just a complete game changer for my classroom when I didn’t have many resources at all,” one teacher recalls. As a new educator, they were “using a lot of my own money.”

The Teacher Resource Center offers another option: instead of teachers continually reaching into their own pockets, eligible educators can return throughout the school year to replenish supplies and find resources for their students.

A Resource Teachers Can Return to Throughout the School Year

Classroom needs don’t end after back-to-school season.

Pencils get used. Markers dry out. Notebooks fill up. Supplies break or disappear. New lessons require different materials.

And as educators shared in KINF’s Teacher Insight Survey, many students don’t have easy access to replacement supplies at home.

Allowing eligible Minnesota teachers to shop for free once a quarter helps make the Teacher Resource Center an ongoing resource—not simply a one-time boost at the beginning of the year.

That means when a student needs a pencil, a teacher can have one ready.

When an activity calls for markers or colored pencils, more students can participate.

When folders or notebooks need replacing, teachers have somewhere to turn.

Most importantly, students don’t have to feel singled out because they arrived without something they need.

Read More Educator Stories

Join the Mission

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.