Our Kindergarten classroom, the Cloud Room, has been on a mission to save the tigers this year.
How it started. It is natural for five- and six-year-olds to engage in lots of animal play. We noticed the Cloud Room children frequently creating dramatic play scenarios pretending to be cats and caretakers of cats. After visiting another classroom, the children also requested cat stuffies for the room.
To gauge the children’s interest level while working on some math concepts, we had the children vote on their favorite animal. The children were given three votes to place on the animal group they most wanted to learn about. Cats won by a landslide!
The Cloud Room regularly creates observational drawings. Given our interest in tigers, it was only natural for us to draw them. When we finished, the children shared their work with the group and had an opportunity to share their techniques or thoughts about the process. They were also able to comment on their drawings and compliment each other.
A few weeks later, we embarked on a more challenging task – drawing a side view of a tiger’s body. Drawing a tiger’s face is similar to our regular practice of drawing self-portraits – a round head, two eyes, etc. – but drawing a full tiger body required Cloud Room children to really slow down and think. It was inspiring to see them overcome their initial reluctance and then take pride in their final drawings.
We discovered a problem. After discussing what we already knew and what we’d like to learn about tigers, it was off to the library. After each book about tigers, we documented something new we learned. Quickly, we had a list of new vocabulary words. Many of these words (poaching, deforestation, human development) made us realize that tigers are in trouble and need help.
How can we help? As we got deeper into our research, we learned more about the threats to various species of tigers. Children and teachers wanted to help! As a group, we decided to raise funds to send to the International Tiger Project to adopt a tiger in the wild. We began making a plan to raise enough money for Cinta’s adoption. To adopt Cinta, the children would need to raise $140. That’s a lot of money for Kindergarteners!
We looked back at the drawings we made at the start of this investigation. What if we put our drawings together on something we could sell? We designed some greeting cards for a “donation only” fundraiser! We asked that would-be buyers donate our goal of adopting Cinta the tiger in exchange for greeting cards.
To prepare for our big sale, the children shared what they learned with an informational display. They wrote facts, vocabulary words, and information about tigers, hoping people would donate to our fundraiser and learn more about the dangers tigers are facing.
We spent three mornings in the school’s front entrance asking for donations for our cards. Some children were eager to sell cards, while others were less excited about the spotlight. Some children advertised our cards outside the school to ensure people knew that a fundraiser was going on inside. The community’s response was overwhelming, with families from all over the school stopping by to purchase cards and support our cause.
After our sales each day, the cloud children helped teachers sort, count, and graph our earnings. Together, our community raised $1,092.52 – well over our goal of $140!
Not only were we able to adopt Cinta, we were also able to donate money to the Henry Vilas Zoo, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the World Wildlife Fund.
We are incredibly proud of our conservationists!
Reflection by Jessica Kardas and Mary Hanks, Cloud Room Co-Teachers
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