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FelverAlachua resident and former teacher Diana Felver will be sitting on her front porch this weekend offering over 25 years of accumulated teaching supplies for sale at affordable prices.

After 25 years as a teacher, Alachua resident Diana Felver has amassed a cache of school supplies that could fill a room.  And now that she’s formally given up on returning to teaching, Felver is hoping to pass along some of her teaching aids.

“I want to give teachers the opportunity to buy these supplies at an affordable price,” Felver said.

Felver started teaching in California where she spent most of her career.  After she and her husband, Rob, moved their family to Alachua in 2005, Felver continued teaching for a few years.  She sold off her collection of teaching supplies before the move, but when she later learned that her mentor in California was retiring, Felver purchased from her some 800 pounds of classroom aids.

Every pound was shipped through the United States Postal Service, she said.

“The folks down there at the post office must have hated me because I was down there every day picking up shipments,” she joked.

Her mentor’s collection was similar to her own, and included everything from puzzles and books to puppets and maps, said Felver.

“In California, teachers are paid substantially higher, so when I needed to go out and buy items for my classroom, it wasn’t a big deal,” she said of the teacher pay disparity between Florida and California.  Salaries of Florida teachers fall about $8,000 short of the national average according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Felver spent the vast majority of her teaching career in elementary education, particularly kindergarten through 2nd grade.  Her areas of specialty include clinical education, literacy, special education and early childhood development among others.  And the collection of school supplies she’s offering reflects the diversity in subject matter and materials.

Up for sale are over 1,000 literature books including trade, picture and big books.  She has buddy book kits, leveled libraries, literacy and math games, listening centers and puzzles. Also available are bulletin board supplies, bulletin board trim, pointers, professional teacher books, educational CDs and DVDs, teacher decor, clerical supplies and student supplies.

In her seemingly incessant quest to be organized, Felver has built complete kits around subjects with a variety of materials from books and pocket charts to puppets and visual aids.  Subjects for which she has kits include eggs, bees and ants, insects, pets, ocean life, geography, spiders, bats and many more.

The themed tubs will cost between $15 and $40 depending on the subject matter.  Paperback books will be up for just 25 cents and hardback books 50 cents.

Although Felver is stepping away from teaching, she has plenty keeping her busy.  In addition to being Alachua’s volunteer decorator responsible for keeping the downtown district’s seasonal flags and lighting displays in tip-top shape, she is also on the City of Alachua’s Citizens Advisory Task Force (CATF).

More recently, Felver started a new business called De-Clutter Bugs, a service in which she uses her passion for decorating and organizing to help clients clean out the clutter from their rooms, homes and offices.

The teacher supply sale is slated for this weekend at Felver’s downtown Alachua home located at 14503 NW 148th Place.  The sale runs Saturday, Sept. 3 through Monday, Sept. 5 from 8 a.m. until noon daily.