erin's script

Your child will participate in a process that involves researching and employing a fundraiser. After the students have established the animal that they believe will be the best fit for their class and the materials required for care and maintenance of the animal, they will establish a goal for the fundraiser. They figure out this dollar amount by gathering data on the costs pertaining to the pet, and then organize them into a spreadsheet in Excel. This is an excellent opportunity for young children to learn the basics of this program, how to organize data into a chart, and exposure to computers in a way that they generally aren’t used to.

After establishing the students have established their goal comes the fun part- figuring out how to reach it. The students will again do some research, but this time they will be investigating different fundraisers using various search engines such as yahoo kids and kids click. They will be partnered up in groups of three and look into two different fundraising approaches. Each team will present their best finding to the class, including the start up costs required. The class will then vote for the fundraiser that they believe will help them best achieve their goal!

From here we make a plan for when, where and how to conduct the fundraiser. This also includes any parent help that they may need, signage, use of a parking lot or lobby, and any other resources that may be called upon to make the fundraiser a reality. The students will also create a chart to track their progress to their goal. All of this requires extensive team planning. I will create the teams responsible for the main components, but the students will lead majority of the aspects of planning. I will serve as only the project manager and to offer support.

As far as the actual fundraiser goes, it is a great way for students to understand the work it takes to make a dollar. This could maybe even lead to shorter birthday lists- not likely- but maybe. But really, it instills a sense of responsibility and respect in a child for both hard work and what it means to take care of a living being. Students also get to work together on accomplishing a common goal- something that will help build lifelong skills such as working as a team, problem solving and planning. I look forward to this experience with your child.

To complete the entire activity, the class will create a website to document the whole experience. It will include the video logs they have created and presented to the class, project journals, plenty of information and photos of the classroom pet, and anything else the students want to share. The students will update the website on a semi-regular basis, informing readers of anything happening with the class pet. This is a great way for the students to learn this technology (something that I have only just learned as an adult) and for you as a parent to see what is going on in your child’s classroom.