Socktober!

1st Graders at Van Horne Elementary are collecting socks for homeless people and people in need in our community. This all started last week when I saw a tweet about Kid President's Socktober video. I love the Kid President videos and his message to be awesome. I shared this video with Anna Upah, one of the 1st grade teachers at Van Horne, and awesome things started to happen. Anna and her teaching partner, Samantha Happel have taken this little video and created an amazing learning unit.

Students in the first grade class have made flyers, posters, designed t-shirts, mugs, a Glogster and they are making a video. Students are also writing an article for our local newspaper. Students are working in small groups and are so excited about Socktober. Their enthusiasm is contagious. In the Socktober video, Kid President questions, "What are we doing with the Internet?" As part of this project, the parents and adults have reached out via social media to raise awareness of the project and to collect socks. Senders were asked to write a note about how they heard about the sock drive (which 1st graders they are connected to) and from where they are sending the socks. The teachers are posting these notes and putting the locations into BatchGeo so the kids can visually see how far they can make an impact. The students will also be selling t-shirts to raise money to help pay for a women's shelter in Little Rock, Arkansas.

I am so proud to be a part of this learning experience as a parent (I have 2 first graders at Van Horne Elementary) and as a teacher. If you haven't caught the Soctober excitement yet, just wait until you see the amazing projects that are being developed. If you want to send socks, send them to: 1st Graders at Van Horne Elementary 101 Third Ave. Van Horne, IA 52346  - say you heard about Socktober from Mrs. Bange.

Thanks for being awesome!