GREAT FALLS – Aside from math, science and reading, Giant Springs Elementary School fourth-graders were taught another lesson.
“It makes me feel happy knowing that I did something to help someone that really needs it,” student Shayla Opitz said.
The lesson was in volunteering and giving back to the community.
“Some of them I think are pretty excited about putting the quilt together, and some of them are pretty excited about being able to help someone in the community,” teacher Alissa Kline said.
The students will do so by donating a quilt to an organization called Project Linus. The project gives blankets to children who are seriously ill, traumatized or in need.
“I love seeing them so excited about what we are doing. I love seeing that they are excited about what we are doing in math, and it’s not just a worksheet in the classroom and that they see that there is real life application,” Kline said.
The students designed the quilt by using geometry and then piecing the shapes together.
“As teachers, we try to connect what we are doing in the classroom to real life. Sometimes it’s hard for students to see that, unless they actually get to experience it. My dream was to be able to bring things like sewing and cooking into the classroom so that students can experience that real-life math,” Kline said.
The project was funded by the Great Falls Public Schools foundation.
Volunteers were from Quilt A Way.
Reporting by Elizabeth Transue for MTN News
