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Students in Carolyn Shaffner's second-grade class at Jefferson Elementary don't just learn about kids in other countries - they go out of their way to help those kids who need it.
For four hours on May 1, Shaffner's class and Warsaw's Ramada Plaza Hotel will be part of the Great American Yard Sale at Ramada. Proceeds from the yard sale will go to Childreach, an international, humanitarian child-focused organization.
But Shaffner's students don't stop there. They correspond regularly with two Childreach kids so they can, in their own words, "learn more about their cultures and stuff."
One of their pen pals is a girl named Thushari Gunaratne, from Sri Lanka.
So far the Jefferson second-graders have learned that Thushari "likes music and dancing and she wears a uniform to school," said one student.
They also know where Sri Lanka is on the world map and that it is "shaped like a teardrop," that many Sri Lankans believe in Buddha and that the people in Thushari's village carry their water and "eat rice a lot."
Their other correspondent is Marvin Meji in Guatemala.
Jessica, at Jefferson Elementary, said she has learned that Guatemala is "close to the equator" and that the "temperatures are, like, 80 or 90."
The students also know that Guatemala is on the Pacific Ocean, that coffee is a major crop and, according to Kayla, that the people's clothing color and styles depend on what village they're from.
Part of the learning process for these second-graders is sharing their own lives with their pen pals.
They tell them where they live, about their families and their pets, their sisters and brothers and their schools. They ask them about the names of their friends and whether or not they like sports or specific school subjects.
Even the letter-writing is educational, as the kids first decide what they want to write, read their letters aloud to the class and then type them up in computer lab.
Shaffner's students may be part of the Guinness Book of World Records - the Great American Yard Sale will be put on May 1 by 500 Ramadas across the country. It is expected to set the record for the largest yard sale ever during the one hour from 9 a.m. Pacific time to 1 p.m. Eastern time when it is simultaneous in all U.S. time zones.
To help things along, Shaffner's students also created a cookbook especially for the event. The Jefferson/Childreach cookbook, which will sell for $10, will feature almost 200 recipes submitted by area residents and personalities.
For more information about the Great American Yard Sale, contact Jennifer Tandy at the Ramada Plaza.
