Woodland Elementary West Comes Together to Prove There is No Small Change
A week of lessons in awareness, giving, positive behavior and some classroom math at Woodland Elementary West added up to nearly $2,500 in coins to support for hurricane relief provided by the Salvation Army.
Special education teacher Betsy McGuine spearheaded an effort, held November 27 through Dec. 1, in which first through third grade students at the school were asked to donate spare coins they had to the relief effort. Each classroom collected coins, which ended up taking an hour for bank employees to count.
"I was amazed at how much money we collected,' she said. While there was a district-wide effort for Woodland families to help with Hurricane Harvey victims, the goal here was to raise awareness in youth that there are people outside of their day-to-day lives who are suffering and need help," she said.
"We wanted to foster compassion and kindness as well as make a positive out of the negative effects of the hurricanes. Even if you brought in one penny you could be involved," McGuine said.
Teachers were asked to relate the donations to ROAR behavior of Respect, Ownership, Acceptance and being Ready to learn. ROAR is part of a district-wide behavioral framework Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) theme Woodland has been using for eight years. The matrix linked goals, class discussion, incentives and how to make good behavior part of the routine in conjunction with supporting the donations for hurricane relief.
"At least one teacher challenged her students to use their math skills by counting the $157 collected in their classroom," said McGuine.
For the week, students were asked to bring in a penny on Monday when they were also allowed to wear pajamas to school; wear neon clothing on Tuesday and bring a nickel; wear shiny or unique clothes on Dazzling Dimes Wednesday; bring a quarter and wear crazy hats or socks on Crazy Quarter Thursday, and donate any value of currency on Friday, which was mismatched clothing day.
Elementary West Principal Ryan Wollberg got into the spirit for Dazzling Dimes Wednesday by wearing a multi-colored retro shirt to school. "I am so proud of the students and the giving was phenomenal," he said.
A letter from the school explaining the donation was sent, along with a cashier's check for the donations to the Salvation Army. McGuine is hopeful the school will receive a response from the non-profit organization that works to improve social conditions.