English

Oral Language 3.1, 4.1

Writing 3.10, 4.7, 5.8

Mathematics

Computation and Estimation 3.8, 4.6, 5.3

Trike-A-Thon

This project allows students to assist younger children in an effort to raise money for a worthy cause. It should be held in cooperation with a child care center with children 3 to 5 years old, who ride their tricycles around a track for a pledged amount per "lap."

Steps To Complete the Activity

After students accept the activity as a class service project, have students form committees to

• Cooperate with child care center staff to arrange the date and place for the trike-a-thon.
• Publicize the event by composing and writing letters of explanation to the parents of the child care students and making posters to display at the child care center and within the school.
• Volunteer to talk to the young children about bicycle safety and etiquette.
• Develop sign-up sheets for sponsors. Sponsors should have the choice of a flat donation or a pledge per lap for a certain child.
• Design certificates for the children who participate in the activity.
• On the day of the trike-a-thon, assist children with their tricycles, count laps completed by assigned children, and serve refreshments to participants, volunteers, and parents.
• Assist with clean-up of the area.
• Assist with counting money and pledges, and set up a simple ledger to total contributions.

Once the project is completed, students should write a report detailing the activity. The report should address the following points in addition to a straight account of the events:

• Did your committee have any problems carrying out your assigned tasks? If so, how did you solve these problems?
• Who was/were the leader(s) of your committee? How were they chosen? Did different people act as the leader at different times?
• Would you want to participate in a similar activity again? If so, what would you do differently the next time?