Service-Learning in Kindergarten!!

Friday, May 4th was the third annual Trike-A-Thon for our kindergarten! It is such an incredible event, I have to share it with you!

The Trike-A-Thon is a service-learning project for our grade level. Our school requires that every grade participate in at least one meaningful service-learning project. Even though we do participate in several throughout the year, this is our main event!

The Trike-A-Thon is a culminating activity to our bicycle safety unit. Prior to the Trike-A-Thon, students take home a pledge sheet and ash their family members for pledges to support them to ride a trike, bike, scooter, etc. around the gym for an entire hour. (We of-course stress the safety of our students is our main priority and that we do not condone students asking for donations outside of family members.)

In addition to pledges, we ask local community organizations for donations to purchase each student a new bike helmet that they can wear for the Trike-A-Thon and take home with them. We find that many of our students do not have helmets of their own.

On the morning of the Trike-A-Thon, we have a State Trooper come to the classrooms to review bike safety with the students. The Trooper also stresses the importance of wearing a helmet and riding with a grown up. For the Trike-A-Thon, we gather in the gym where we have a variety of trikes, bikes, scooters, and other fancy vehicles the students can ride on. Each class forms two lines and the students take turns riding back and forth for an entire hour! Every few minutes the lines switch vehicles so that every class has the opportunity to ride each one.  We also have a teacher who is the MC of the event and who is in charge of the music - so it becomes a dance party as well! The MC starts the Trike-A-Thon by reviewing the hand signals to use when riding your bike.

Monies raised are donated to a local children's hospital. This year we raised close to $1500.00! Which we think is amazing!!  Last year we raised $2500.00! Here are some pictures of our incredible day!!