Craft Fair Philanthropy

 As I continue to go through the files on my desktop, I found these gems. At the Christmas Craft Fair, many Churchill students (including some of our very own Rainbow Eggheads) sold crafts that they created. Even more incredible than that is that many students made crafts and sold them to help local and international charities.

Molly made lightboxes and sold them to raise money for CHEO.

Skye and her friend created pet profiles and sold them along with photos of animals to raise money for the Humane Society.

 Clara sold bracelets to help UNICEF support people in the Philippines.

The kindness and creativity of Churchill students never ceases to amaze me!

Alex's Lemonade Stand - Family BBQ Version!

After watching the Alex's Lemonade Stand video as a class, several students jumped right into action!

Oceanna, Clara, Hannah, Kaleigh and Skye brought in supplies (lemons, lemonade, a pitcher, cups, a table cloth and signs) and they, as well as other Rainbow Egg Heads like Jackson and Kaleigh, got straight to work!

The lemonade sold out before the end of the Family BBQ and they raised more than $50! In addition to that, the students explained the cause eloquently and passionately to countless families. I was one impressed teacher!

What an amazing start to what is sure to be another thoughtful, philanthropic year!

Also, Skye had another fundraiser running at the same time for her Genius Hour project with Sharky and Kaitlyn, more info to come on that soon with a guest post from Skye!

The lemonade was a welcome, sweet treat on a beautiful, sunny evening!

Hannah, literally enjoying the fruits of her labour!

Oh yeah, after we sold out, we have a quick, fun Macarena Flash Mob!

Should We Bring Elephants into Our Classroom?

I found yet another cool opportunity on Skype in the Classroom. Scientists in Thailand have offered to share information about the elephants they're studying via Skype with classes all over the world!

There is a big time difference between our countries, and meeting live may be tricky. I'm tyring to come up with ideas of what we could request from Think Elephants and then remembered how much better 29 minds are than 1!

What could we do? Students in NYC meet virtually with scientists (and even got to see the elephants via Skype!) after school in the evenings. They even helped the scientists in Thailand develop experiments to test the elephants' understanding!

Check out Think Elephants website. You can read about the work they've done, their educational programs and what they've learned about how elephants think!
 

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Laurie's Presentation!

Laurie's slideshow of Guatemala.

Challenge: Try to figure out what kind of animal the rodent is and try to figure out which breed of dog the funny hairless dog is.

We Give Books - Your Holiday Homework!

Have you read your five wegivebooks books yet? Remember, for every book you read, the Pearson Foundation donates a book to a child in need! Enjoy five books with our username: room209 and our password: steve and let me know in the comments below.

UPDATE: When you are done a book, the website will ask you to submit an email address. You can submit my email address: shauna.pollock@ocdsb.ca

If someone doesn't have Internet access on holiday, he or she can read five books during the first few weeks back!

Also, if you're feeling particularly philanthropic and have some time in the second week of school break, why not visit freerice?

Happy New Year to you all! I'm enjoying my holiday with my HUGE family in Florida, and look forward to sharing stories with you when I see you next week!

UPDATE #2: January 10th, 2013 - So far, our class has donated 33 books! Gabby, James, Camden, Fiona, Miguel and Thomas have each donated some books and I have gotten emails to let me know! Keep it up!