Thursday, April 19, 2012

6th Graders raise money for Water Well project


In our Digital Thinking class with Mrs. Kelland, the 6th Grade has been brainstorming ways that we can make a difference. We began by talking about things in the world that were important to us--animal abuse, hungry children, the environment, etc. After seeing the Traveling Teacher blog created by Mrs. Gross, we decided that provided clean drinking water for people in developing countries was a cause we could really get behind.
Our first step was to do research. Each Sixth Grade class divided into groups to find information. The groups we could choose from were organizations, engineering, global correspondents, ambassadors, and water health. Each group found information and presented to the class so we could be more aware of what was happening. Then, we began to brainstorm about what we could do to help!
Then, we chose new groups based on what our interest and expertise areas were. We could choose from creating fundraisers, choosing the organization to donate to, designing a public service announcement, and writing for the Grizzly Gazette and GFSGrizzlies twitter. Each group has been focusing on our areas. Our group all decided to work on Grizzly Gazette which is the Garrison Forest Middle School blog. The Grizzly Gazette is now being updated  more frequently and usually has something interesting to read or look at. We will be posting pictures and notes about different school events to keep everybody updated. We want everyone to know we are trying to make a difference!
For fundraising, the Sixth Grade had a lot of ideas about what we could do to help. We went through and selected ideas that we thought would work. The fundraising group chose to do a restaurant night and a bake sale. Our restaurant night will be on Wednesday, May 2nd at Mia Carolina Restaurant in Glyndon, MD. The restaurant is owned by Caroline Cohen’s father and has excellent Italian food. 15% of the profits from that evening will go towards our cause and to benefit wonderful organizations! We encourage everyone to come. Stay tuned for more details about the bake sale.
On Tuesday, April 17th Water for People organization volunteers, Ms. Cidney Scanlon and Ms. Dana Woher, traveled to Garrison Forest from Washington, DC to talk to the Fifth and Sixth Grade about the use of water and how we can help countries that do not have clean water like we do. They talked about how much water we use and how we can cut down on our water supply. An example of how much water we use is in our clothes (shirts, pants, etc.), food (tomatoes, beef, etc.) and paper consumption. For example, every time you ride in the car or take a bus you use water--lots of it. Cars and buses need water in their engines or they won't run. Imagine not being able to get water when ever you wanted it. Now imagine that when you do get water that it is not clean and makes you sick. What would you do if this was your life? Well some people really do live this way, so why don’t you try to find ways that you can help? We will update next week with our progress. Thanks for reading!


By: Eve A., Semira N., Camryn C., Lexi S., Madison W., Cara Z., Emily W., and Natalie N.