Kindergarten students at First Steps & Beyond Inc. worked hard to create a fundraiser for the Red Deer and District SPCA last week.
The children baked cookies, served hot chocolate and collected money for the local SPCA to help teach the children the importance of giving to others.
Teacher Tamara Stasyk said it can be a hard concept to teach children, but the students were getting the idea. “We’re really trying to incorporate the community, leadership, citizenship and responsibility into their learning,” she said.
“The kids are getting it slowly. We’re going to do some more fundraising and take some stuff to the Christmas Bureau as well, and also to the food bank. We’re trying to teach them about all of the things that less fortunate people need at this time of the year. We get so wrapped up in the commercial aspect of Christmas, so we’re trying to teach them that it’s not all about presents and getting more than other people.”
Stasyk explained that as part of the enhanced Kindergarten program at First Steps & Beyond, part of the curriculum is getting the kids involved in community. She said the kids gain a lot from these types of activities.
She said the children were given the option of how they could help the community and landed with a bake sale.
“We’re doing an enhanced Kindergarten program, so we try to incorporate all aspects of the community and this is a leadership program for them. They chose to raise money for the SPCA. In doing that, they decided a lemonade stand would be too cold, so they decided to do hot chocolate and cookies. We actually baked the cookies in class in a turkey roaster oven, six at a time – it was a long week of baking,” she laughed.
The children worked hard to bake and had fun participating in the fundraiser.
Evan Geurtson, 5, chatted about his experience.
“We raised money for SPCA so we can buy leashes and collars for the animals and dogs. Sometimes the animals need those things so animals don’t run away,” he said. “We made monster cookies. We crumbled them into balls and baked them. The best part was testing them.”
The kids will be heading down to the SPCA in December to hand over all of the profits from the fundraiser.
First Steps and Beyond, which recently celebrate its fifth anniversary, is inviting parents to the school on Dec. 3rd at 7 p.m. for a parent information night on the enhanced Kindergarten program. There will be information presented and opportunities for registration for next year. Stasyk said they hope to boost their attendance to 10 children for 2016.
kmendonsa@reddeerexpress.com
