In February, Karen Acres fourth grade students learned about the Great Depression and Dust Bowl during their Social Studies unit. With that, they learned about the hardships people face when it comes to the scarcity of resources. They connected that unit to their Project Based Learning (PBL) by focusing on a current-day hardship: hunger in the local community. The students heard from guest speakers from the Urbandale Food Pantry, UCAN, and Meals from the Heartland. They also learned about other programs such as Backpack Buddies, share tables, and community gardens.

After learning more about those programs, the students voted on a project they wanted to do to help with the fight against hunger. Overall, Meals from the Heartland was the top choice. They then hosted a school-wide-coin-drive that raised $711.24 for Meals from the Heartland. On Friday March 1, the fourth graders helped package 22,500 meals into 104 boxes to feed 86 kids for one year. See more stats here: Karen Acres Impact Report

This was such an impactful and educational project from our Karen Acres fourth graders. What a huge accomplishment! #KAPride #grateful4U

• Tweet