One project that we have been working on is a fundraising project for Griffin's Friends. Griffin's Friends is a charity out of Western Massachusetts that gives families that have children with cancer an opportunity to have fun for a day or few days. They give them hope and family time to forget their troubles for some time. Students investigated the true meaning of charity and were able to collect 5,000 dollars for the cause. Students then spent their class time on April 16th running around the track for our very first marathon event. Every lap was run for the charity. Students were enthusiastic, empowered and charitable through even their own personal donations. I was so proud and so impressed by each one of them. Here's our story:
On April 7, 2014, Amy Leahy, Amy Canata and I gathered students together in the auditorium to kick off The WSMS Marathon Challenge. Our audience was our ELA2 classes and Amy Leahy 6th grade science classes. In total we had about 350 students. Our two main goals were to get our Middle School students interested in becoming charitable citizens and raise money for Griffins Friends.
We explained to them what a marathon was and that Amy Leahy would be running her first one for Griffins Friends. We explained to them what Griffins Friends* was and who benefited from the money that we would raise. Amy Leahy created a presentation that explained the history of Griffins Friends. We also shared our stories with how we became involved in the organization.
After we gave our Griffins presentation we introduced the WSMS marathon challenge. We told them they were going to get donations from family and friends. To get them fired up we added a competitive element . We split into two teams: Team Leahy/Favolise and Team Canata. Leahy/Favolise took Griffins Blue for their team color and Team Canata took the red color.
For a week Canata and I showed our ELA2 classes short inspirational films on being charitable. We showed a college students who gave her IPAD to her autistic cousin. The girl had seen how helpful an IPAD was for communication. Her story spread and a charitable organization was born. See her story here: IPAD charity
Then there was a film about a boy who went to Africa to help bring clean water to help impoverished people and became very popular because of his soccer ball. The boy learned that the kids were making balls from plastic bags and twine. He saw the joy that a real soccer ball could bring to their lives and another charitable organization was born. He went home to the U.S. and found donors who would supply 100’s of soccer balls to poor children in Africa. See his story here: Soccer Ball Charity
Then there was Evelyn a 97 year old woman who is charitable to her neighbor. Watch her inspirational story here: Evelyn's Story
Then we showed a slideshow on Jack’s journey. Griffin's Friends helped Jack and his family when he had gotten sick when he was younger. We took the students through Jack’s treatments and showed him as a survivor. There is a great shot of Jack at last year’s Boston Marathon 24th mile (where all of Griffins family and friends go to cheer) waiting for his mother, Joanna, who he meet with hugs and kisses. While she was there at the 24th mile, they got word of the bombings at the finish line. She wasn't able to finish the last part of the race. That race would have been a celebratory moment of putting Jack’s Journey to a close. (She just had that moment on Sunday, May 4th as she and Jack finished her first full marathon in Holyoke, MA).
The students looked forward to these short films. At the end of class, as the kids left for their next class I would remind them to go home and “be charitable”.
The students began to show us how awesome they were starting the day after the kickoff! One student asked a few neighbors and his results were incredible. He raised 71 dollars in one day!
I came up with the idea to carry a poster on her cart that had each class total. Of course in the spirit of competition I made one. That started some serious banter in the hallway!!! We would play up the fact “our class is beating your class” and have some classic competition but we would always bring it back to what was really important-the kids of Griffins Friends.
Day after day the kids amazed us! The money was pouring in.
I made a template for a bib number that was fashioned from an average road race. We included the Griffins logo and Middle School Marathon Challenge. Each kid picked a number and stenciled it onto the blank bib.
Leahy made a card that students would carry the day of the race. Students filled in the card with name, bib number and class period. They also told us if they were on Canata or Leahy. The day of the race they carried the card and got it stamped every time they went around.
Canata, Leahy and I hit the bargain stores hard. We collected red and blue pom poms, megaphone, glasses, shoelaces, shirts etc. One day Leahy came into my class with glasses that lit up, a shirt that read TEAM LEAHY and a good ol’ banter. This made the kids go wild. Canata met the kids in front of the building wearing red sparkle star glasses and held a Griffins Friends sign in the air. We all got a good laugh from it.
Teachers in the back: Mrs. Canata, Ms. Favolise (Me!) and Mrs. Leahy
The money still was pouring in. Here are some great stories of students:
1. A boy who was given 20 dollars for his April trip to Mexico decided to donate it to the cause.
2. A eighth grade boy broke open his penny bank, counted and bagged 50 dollars. He asked his parents if he could donate to the cause and they were so proud of his generosity.
3. Another eighth grade boy went to houses on his street. The houses he went to were the same houses that during this winter he went to, on his own and voluntarily shoveled their driveway. He didn't do it for money he did it because he was being neighborly. He raised $153, the most money out of all our students.
4. An eighth grade girl was at a family wake. She told her family members what was happening at school and raised over 100 dollars.
5. A seventh grade boy who has a very difficult time being still. He sometimes finds himself in trouble because of it. He also showed a lot of grit and got turned down many times but kept asking people. He was our second biggest fundraiser.
6. Two sixth grade girls who have grandparents in a 50+ community went around and talked to their grandparent’s neighbors.
7. A sixth grade student made a fund jar to put up at her dad’s work.
8. A mom of a 6th and 8th grader works in family-run business. She asked her co-workers and her patrons to donate.
9. A few times one of my students gave me his “cookie money”.
10. A student with mobility issues ran and walked 1 mile around the track. She told me how she promised her mother that she wouldn't give up during the marathon. She also commented on how she doesn't understand how others who are healthy and able wouldn't want to help such an amazing charity.
11. An eighth grade student asked his dad to pass his pledge sheet around the office to get as many donations as possible.
The day of the marathon: April 16, 2014
That morning I woke up and looked out the window and got a big fat ugly surprise- more snow! Many days prior were sunny and seasonable. That wasn't the case for our day. We were grateful that is wasn't raining which would have prevented us from doing it. We would've had to postpone it until after vacation.
Jack from “Team Jack” and his mother, Joanna joined us for the entire day. It was funny to see some of the students look at Jack as a star. They had heard so much about him that they felt like they knew already knew him.
Period 1 was our test run. I arrived to kids who were excited. We QUICKLY face painted, decorated ourselves with red bandannas, pinned our bib numbers and got outside to endure some REALLY cold wind. Again, the kids surprised us. They were awesome. They all lined up at the start line and we took pictures, said some motivational words and blew the whistle. As cold as it was the students were gritty and determined to get around that track as many times as they possibly could.
Every time a runner would make it around the track we had a student-volunteer stamp his/her card. Some students made it around the track 10-12 times!
I am so proud of all the students who participated in this event. It was much more successful than any of us could have imagined. Thank you to all who helped us!!!
* Griffin’s Friends is a group of volunteers dedicated to providing support to children with cancer. Founded in 1994 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Griffin’s Friends is named for Griffin D. Kelleher, who passed away at 14 months of age after a courageous battle with cancer. His legacy is this special group which supports, in a unique way, children in treatment for cancer and their families.
It was an amazing day - - Here's an idea of what's going on back in the classroom:
8th Grade students were very busy working on their time capsules. Some of the artifacts that students were to supply in their time capsules were:
- A homemade graduation card for high school graduation
- A letter to themselves in the 6th grade
- Favorite photos of friends
- A hand tracing with quote and explanation
- A measurement of height with yarn
- A recent newspaper clipping
- A cd with favorite song list
- Quickwrites/Journal
Students also included writing assignments that they have written throughout the year in my class. Here are some pictures of their awesome time capsules:
Here are some amazing graduation cards to their future selves:
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Some Hand prints:
7th Grade Students have been busy working on their self portraits. These portraits required a lot of outside research on symbolism and meaning. Students were able to write about their lives and what is most important to them currently. Their narratives were both powerful and informative. Here are some photos of their portraits that accompanied their narratives:
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