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Friendship
Through
Education: |
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Sunnyside
Elementary School in
Rural Eastern
Washington State
Raises $2205.89 + $100 matching funds for
more than SEVEN Friendship
Through Education S.O.S.
UNICEF School Kits
to provide school supplies for 560+
Children in Afghanistan!!!
...and here’s how they did it... |
When the students at Sunnyside Elementary School in Pullman, Washington joined the Friendship Through Education Schools Outfitting Schools effort, they set a goal of raising enough funds to provide school supplies for the same number of children in Afghanistan as there are children at Sunnyside School...that meant getting school supplies for 352 children. They did the math to realize that would take 5 UNICEF kits and, at $300 per kit, they would need to raise $1500.
Sunnyside School set about meeting this goal with leadership from the Student Council along with the first and second graders in the classroom of iEARN teacher, Mrs. Rennebohm Franz and the Principal, Mrs. Watters. Inspiration for starting to raise funds came from the offer of retired iEARN Teacher David Egan to match the first $100 dollars raised by Sunnyside with a contribution of $100 from his family. Coins started arriving at school and soon the first $100 was raised!!
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Here's the big jug first and second graders used to collect Sunnyside School's SOS coins! |
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First
and second graders created colorful posters showing all the school supplies
that came in each kit and the supplies for teachers that came with each
kit. They
put the posters of school supplies up in the school front hallway with
their writing about the SOS story for everyone to see and learn about
the project. They made another set of posters to use in presentations
to the school and community organizations. Look below to see their posters!
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Mrs. Lancefield’s
Third Grade class created coin collection boxes from oatmeal cartons
so each class would have a container for the money they were raising.
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The Student
Council, with mentoring of Fifth Grade Teacher, Mr. Johnson created
flyers that went home with each student to tell them and their families
about the fund raising project for schools in Afghanistan. At an all-school
assembly the student council and Mrs. Rennebohm Franz’s class presented
the details of the project to their schoolmates.
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The Sunnyside
Principal, Mrs. Watters, contacted Pullman community service organizations
to schedule presentations about the project by students!
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The Student
Council officers and students from Mrs. Rennebohm Franz’s class
prepared and gave presentations to the local Kiwanis Club and to the
local Lion’s Club to ask their support for the project. Each organization
decided to sponsor a school kit. Mrs. Rennebohm Franz and her students
gave a presentation to the Pullman Kiwanis Club at their monthly luncheon
meeting.
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As ‘word’ about Sunnyside
School’s work for the SOS project traveled in the Pullman community of
25,000 people...coins, dollars and checks started coming into the school to
be added to the many coins the Sunnyside children were bringing for SOS! A
local technology business, Schweitzer Engineering, raised funds among their
employees which were then matched by the founders of the business to provide
funds for almost two kits!
The Pullman community is a place with a big heart...it
is a place where people care about making sure children get excellent school
opportunities...for example, every fall a local bank collects crayons, notebooks,
pencils, pens, etc. for children in the local schools who don’t have
supplies. In the SOS project, the Pullman community showed how they care about
making sure children in Afghanistan also are getting the school supplies they
need to learn! As the children at Sunnyside brought coins to school for SOS,
they inspired the community. As the children saw the response from the community,
they became even more inspired to bring more coins. There has been great community
support for the efforts of the children at Sunnyside School to make a difference
in the world!
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The Sunnyside
School PTA, knowing how important school supplies are for children to
learn, enthusiastically donated to the project. They thought it was
very important to support this wonderful opportunity for Sunnyside School
students to help others.
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As first and
second graders counted coins and added up the dollars for the SOS kits,
they learned to check and recheck their math. They learned about decimal
points between dollars and cents and they have grown in enthusiasm for
what’s possible when everyone joins together to help in this project!
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First
and second graders have used their writing and reading skills to prepare
and present reports on the SOS project.
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Washington
State University College of Education students helped the first and
second graders prepare writing and posters for the SOS reports and presentations.
A Washington State University student helps three Sunnyside students
create a poster list of the teacher supplies that come with each SOS
kit.
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As the coins
keep coming into school, Sunnyside Principal, Mrs. Watters helps a first
grader count the many, many, many pennies!
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By Tuesday,
May 14th, the Sunnyside School not only met their goal of providing
5 school kits for Afghanistan but also raised enough funds to provide
a 6th kit and have funds toward a 7th kit!!! Sunnyside Schools has raised
over $2100 for SOS!
As the coins continue to come in, Sunnyside school students will
continue to contribute to SOS. Their hope is that other schools across
the country will join Sunnyside School in the journey with to help schoolmates
in Afghanistan have school supplies!
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To join Sunnyside School students in helping with the Friendship through Education Schools Outfitting Schools Project, go to: To learn more about Sunnyside Schools participation in SOS , take the link at the top of the Friendship Through Education website that says "Read More" ... To learn more about iEARN go to http://www.iearn.org |
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Return to School Year 2001-2002 Index Page ***All documents on our classroom web pages are copyrighted. The text and images are for educational use only. Please honor the integrity and original ownership of all text, design and images. We request that you not replicate the webpage designs nor publish the images and text without permission. For permission contact Kristi Rennebohm Franz at kfranz@psd267.wednet.edu |