A few years ago, I introduced Kind Kids Club in my classroom. Each year the kids learn how great it can feel to help others. They also learn the value of working as a team to accomplish even more. Most importantly, they learn that no matter how small you are, you can still make a difference!
Our class “missions” are usually pretty simple. We’ve made “Get Well Soon” cards that the nurse can give sick students before they go home and hidden surprise bookmarks in book in our library. We’ve done a stuffed animal and book drive for a local group who makes welcome bags for children in foster care and a food drive for our school backpack program.
All of these have been valuable learning experiences, but NOTHING compares to the project we just finished! A group of four teachers, including myself, heard about a sophomore girl in our district who was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her name is Blake and she’s been named “#BraveBlake” by her family and friends. She’s earned that name as she’s handled her daily struggles with Hodgkin’s lymphoma with such strength which she gets from leaning on God to guide and support her. You can read more about her journey on her Facebook Page.After learning more about her we knew we HAD to help in some way. So we decided to use our economics unit to turn our classrooms into cafes to raise money for her. The kids would learn first hand about consumers, producers, supply and demand. Plus, we would tie in our Kind Kids Club and they would be helping someone else.
We spent an insane amount of time planning and working through the details. Our end result was better than our wildest dreams – we were shocked to see how smoothly things worked the day of our cafe!
Sneak Peak: Our final total!!
Isn’t it just amazing to see their faces? My heart was literally exploding on this day.Below you will find posts explaining how we organized, planned and implemented our cafes so you can try it in your own classroom! Believe me, this will be one of the most impactful projects you’ve ever done!