The third grade was studying the geography of Europe when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in late February. The day after the invasion, students approached Teachers Vicki Shelter and Kristin Hayman and told them they wanted to find a way to help the people in Ukraine — and so began discussion of a fundraiser. But first, the teachers and students educated themselves. The students read articles about the situation on Newsela, a news website for young students, and discussed what they were learning.
During this learning phase, third grader Madison Long received a letter from her great aunt who lives in Kraków, Poland. She described the influx of refugees and how the Polish people were helping the Ukrainian people. This letter — described as “poetic” by the teachers — further motivated the students. They decided to make and sell buttons to raise funds for Ukraine, and formed committees to concentrate on specific aspects of the project: letter writing to administrators to ask permission to undertake the project and to update them on their progress; button design and crafting; advertising; research and goal setting to set fundraising goals, explore organizations to which they could send the money; and, presentation — a committee that created a presentation for the Lower School to describe what and why they were launching this service project.
After obtaining permission to move the project forward, the Design Committee presented their designs, third graders selected a few designs to focus on, and button making began. The Advertising Committee began to make posters to place around Westtown’s campus. The Presentation Committee made announcements at Lower School Gathering. The Research and Goal-Setting Committee determined that Save the Children would be the recipient of their fundraising efforts. They set a goal of $2500.00.
The Writing Committee got busy and secured permission to have a table at Spring Fest; they also wrote to parents asking them to help make baked goods. Head of School Chris Benbow came to third grade to share his support for the project. Finally, the day arrived. The students sold buttons, baked goods, lemonade, and jewelry that they had made in Metalsmithing, an afternoon club taught by Martin Moon ’09. It was a busy and successful day.
The fundraiser, which also included bake sales and a table with buttons and baked good at Spring Fest, was highly successful as well, with third graders making nearly $2300. The Long family decided that they wanted to buy the remaining buttons and send them to Poland to give to the Ukrainian children now living there. The students were very excited to have their buttons sent to Poland and the family’s contribution helped them reach their goal. Teachers Shelter and Hayman recently received word that the buttons have arrived in Poland. The class also received matching donations from GlaxoSmithKline, so, in the end, they collected $4500.00 for Save the Children. Well done, third grade!
