Free Printable Lesson Plans: Money-saving Apps, Cashback Rewards, Coupons, Educator discounts for teachers (plus FREE stuff!)

Hello my omschooligans! Here at the Omschool, we're thinking about back to school. Teacher Omi has created a guide to saving money on supplies and materials for your classroom or homeschool. I've linked to cost-cutting apps, cashback and rewards programs, coupon extension and educator discount programs. And keep reading for bonus freebies!

Comparison shopping, cashback apps and rewards programs

Top Cashback & Coupon Browser Extensions

Rakuten: Best for standard, reliable cashback percentages across thousands of online retail and school supply stores.
PayPal Honey: Automatically tests and applies working promo codes at checkout for online orders.
Capital One Shopping: Great for real-time price comparisons to check if art supplies are cheaper at another retailer before you buy.
TopCashback: Passes 100% of affiliate commissions back to users, making it a strong alternative for high baseline cashback percentages.
Coupert: An automated coupon tester and cashback tool with a quick rewards turnaround cycle.
Swagbucks: Earn cash back and gift cards for online shopping, browsing, and taking short surveys.

RetailMeNot: A popular destination for crowdsourced coupon codes, printable store coupons, and cash-back offers.

Mobile Apps for In-Store & Receipt Savings

Ibotta: Ideal for getting cashback on everyday household essentials, retail goods, and classroom supplies by scanning receipts or linking store accounts.
Fetch: An effortless rewards app where you simply snap photos of any shopping receipt to earn gift card points.
Upside: Useful for getting automatic cashback on everyday travel essentials like gas if you are driving to physical stores or supply warehouses.

Shopping sites with educator discounts

Meijer: Offers a year-round 15% discount on eligible in-store school and home office supplies (including items like paper products, classroom storage, writing utensils, and kids' apparel). To redeem, educators can present a valid school ID at their local customer service desk to receive a paper coupon.

Staples: Offers periodic in-store educator appreciation discounts (such as 20% off purchases with a valid teacher ID) alongside rotating seasonal welcome offers, free supply kits, or rewards programs. Promotions can vary by location and time of year, so checking local store offers or the Staples app is recommended.

Scholastic: Provides a 10% welcome discount for new educators who sign up for an account on the Scholastic Teacher Store (valid for purchases up to $500). Teachers also gain access to ongoing classroom rewards, special book collection sales, and recurring promotional discounts like bulk paperback deals.

Michaels: Offers a 15% discount on your entire purchase, including sale items, for verified educators (online and in-store via Michaels Rewards).
JOANN: Provides a 15% teacher discount via a Teacher Rewards program, which covers craft supplies, fabrics, storage solutions, and classroom decor. It is available to verified K-12 teachers, higher-education staff, and authorized homeschool educators.
Blick Art Materials: Features a Preferred Customer Program for art educators that provides a 10% discount on art supplies, paper, and classroom materials.
Office Depot / OfficeMax: Offers a "Give Back to Schools" program where schools receive 5% back in credits for qualifying supplies when teachers link their school ID at checkout, alongside periodic high-value teacher coupon events (such as 20% back or percentage-off promotions).
Hobby Lobby: Offers a 10% discount on select merchandise purchased with a church, school, or organizational tax-exempt form or check.

Ways to Save at Amazon and Walmart

Seasonal Back-to-School Promotions: Walmart occasionally runs limited-time promotions, giveaways, or temporary teacher appreciation events around the back-to-school season, though these vary by year.
Walmart Business Account: Educators and homeschool organizations can set up a free Walmart Business account, which provides access to quantity/bulk pricing and tax-exempt purchasing capabilities for classroom needs.
Everyday Savings Tools: Because there is no standard teacher ID discount code, shoppers typically rely on general platform features like Rollbacks, Flash Deals, or stacking cash-back apps (like Ibotta or Fetch) to lower the cost of classroom and art supplies.

Amazon Business for Education: Educators, schools, and homeschool operations can sign up for a free Amazon Business account. This provides access to quantity discounts (bulk pricing), multi-user accounts, and tax-exempt purchasing options for qualifying educational supplies.

Amazon Devices (ID.me): Occasionally, specific sub-departments like Amazon Devices offer targeted promotions or small cash-back incentives for verified teachers through verification networks like ID.me, though this doesn't cover general store-wide items.

General Deal Stackers: Since standard teacher discounts aren't available, maximizing savings on classroom hauls usually relies on combining everyday platform features like Amazon Coupons, daily lightning deals, warehouse open-box deals (Amazon Resale), or stacking external cash-back extensions and apps.

Value-added FREE money-savers

Here is a list of top websites offering free printable lesson plans, activities, and worksheets for classrooms and homeschooling:

Share My Lesson: A massive, community-driven platform created by educators and specialists, offering thousands of free, peer-reviewed lesson plans, activities, and downloadable resources spanning Pre-K through high school.
Teacher Planet: Features a robust collection of free lesson plans, customizable templates, rubrics, thematic units, and printable worksheets for K-12 educators.
Teachers Pay Teachers (Free Section): While known as a marketplace, TPT has a dedicated free section featuring thousands of educator-created task cards, worksheets, and complete lesson plans.
The Teacher's Guide: Offers a wide variety of free lesson plans, printouts, seasonal thematic units, and early-childhood/elementary resources.
PBS LearningMedia: Provides standards-aligned lesson plans, interactive media, and printable support materials across multiple subjects with a strong emphasis on STEM, science, and social studies.
ReadWriteThink: Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), this site provides completely free, high-quality lesson plans, student interactives, and printable ELA resources.
Enchanted Learning: Offers thousands of creative craft projects, printable worksheets, and thematic lesson plans designed for early childhood and elementary learners.
Scholastic: Provides extensive free teacher lesson plans, reading guides, printables, and classroom activity toolkits across all grade levels.
Free Printable Lesson Plans (this site!): Features a vast selection of Montessori style interactive games, worksheets, crafts, and printable lesson plans for all ages, subjects and content areas.
DLTK's Educational Crafts: A favorite resource for educators looking for free, hands-on craft projects, coloring pages, and thematic learning activities that tie directly into early childhood lesson plans.