‘The Giving Box’

SUTTON — Sutton Elementary School teacher, Nicole Kelpe asked her students simple, yet profound questions: “How does our community help us? How can we as a classroom help our community? Why is it important to give back?”

After discussing what it means to be in a community, the students split into groups to brainstorm ideas. They researched topics and went over their finding with their teacher. She guided the concepts they discovered and took them on an educational journey to roll up their sleeves and do some hands on learning- this is the driving principle behind Project Based Learning (PBL). Venturing forth in their “Giving Back” project, the students completed a series of projects including a food and clothing drive, a bake sale / fundraiser for the Mat-Su Animal Shelter, researching how much it cost to feed family, and lending aid to teachers down the hall by giving them the “gift of time,” meaning they gave them an hour break by taking over their class. One of the largest investments of their time was the creation of the “Giving Box,” a handmade community cabinet filled with donated items. The idea was to create a lasting resource for their community, a known place to pick up assorted necessities like food, clothing, toiletries, and so on. Located inside then Sutton Library, everything in the container is free to pick up.

“It was eye opening for them. They didn’t realize how much of a need there was,” said one parent named Brenda.

With some help from a parent, the class constructed a portable food pantry, coated in blue with a glass door up front and an original poem painted on the side. With the goal to explain the Giving Box’s purpose and make a clever rhyme, students, Sammy and Shaylea worked together to scribe,

“Giving Box

Please give something when you have extra to feed,

And take something when you are in need.

It’s all free.

Put something in me,

Take something out.

But giving is all it’s about.”

To start off the box, the students brought donations to class. They took the box to the Sutton Library and filled it up with assorted clothing items, tooth paste, tooth brushes, soap, and nonperishable food. There is no limit or qualifications for obtaining items.

“You can just come and get things. You don’t have to be poor. Maybe the roads are icy and you don’t want to drive to town,” said Shaylea, a fifth-grader,.

The Sutton Food Bank is only open one day a week, so having a donation pick up/drop off center perpetually open to the public seemed to them like the best lasting addition to the community. The class plans to move the box to the Sutton Post Office since the lobby is always open. They are still working on getting approval from the postmaster. Kelpe said that their goal is to set in motion the idea of: ‘give something when they have it, take something when they need it.’

She said it’s been done in other communities and hopes it takes hold in this one.

“The idea is that the Giving Box works like a little food pantry that never closes,” Kelpe said.

Kelpe’s class is one of a few PBL based classrooms in the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District. Her class contains third, fourth, and fifth graders in one room. Instead of the standard curriculum, her students utilize real world applications. The learning experience is meant to be more customized and at their own pace, similar to homeschooled students. In fact, in addition to their own unique projects, they also use the same program as OdysseyWare used at Mat-Su Central School. OdysseyWare is a state-approved, online program for the core subjects. This is Kelpe’s first year attempting the widely-used teaching method and this is the children’s first year learning this way.

“She’s fun. She doesn’t make us do paperwork all day,” said one fifth-grader, Tori.

The Giving Back project is one of many themed projects the class will be engrossed in this year. Earlier in the school year, the students focused on native and wild plants. They made field guides and even collected plants to break down into oils to make salves, lotions, lip balm, and other products to raise money for their big field trip at the end of the year. They plan to go on a class trip and are still deciding if it will be in Juneau, Hawaii, or some other location.

Shaylea likes doing things her way. She does a lot of research on her own and get things moving. This is why PBL appeals so much to her.

“I like PBL. You actually get up and move around and use your brain,” Shaylea said.

Kelpe felt that the projects brought her class together, becoming closer as the information had “more meaning.” She felt that one of the key advantages of PBL was that instead of subjects like math, science, history, art and all that being separated and isolated from each other, the projects connect the dots and show how everything is connected, just like a community. Just in time for Christmas, her students seemed to have learned their multifaceted lesson on Giving Back to the community.

“It’s a choice we all can make. We all have something to give, no matter where you come from or how old you are,” Kelpe said.