Kindergarten Students at East Ridge Community School in Owen Sound worked together to make the holiday season merry.
The students raised money for OSHaRE in Owen Sound, thanks to student Isla Nickel.
Teacher Nadine Osborne explained that after baking muffins, Nickel said, “Madame, we should bake something and sell it to make money to give to people who can’t buy food.”
Osborne said that in Kindergarten much of the learning follows an emergent curriculum model.
“Our Kindergarten program in Ontario recognizes that our young learners are capable and competent, and we try to honour that in our classroom. So when Isla presented this idea, it offered a rich learning opportunity for the whole class," she said.
First, the class voted to decide on whether to make cookies or fudge. Then there was a small group discussion on whether to sell the cookies or to put out a donation jar for their charity.
After securing permission to run a small fundraiser from the school administration, the class baked Snickerdoodle cookies last Friday. While the cookies were baking, the students set to work making posters to explain they were raising money to help people who needed food.
The students supervised the bake sale tables near their classroom at lunch and encouraged donations from adult staff members. They raised $49.
To help them reach $50, Osborne said she asked them how many quarters they would need and added four quarters to their jar.
Later on Monday afternoon, the students were visited by OSHaRE. Both Osborne and McKernan said they were very proud of how all the students in the class got behind Isla’s idea and worked as a team to help make a difference in their community.
