Last week, Bethany’s third grade class baked muffins to raise money for a family immigrating from Honduras to Goshen.
Ms. Fast, Bethany’s 3rd grade teacher, learned of this family through church, and found out one child was nine…an age similar to her students. In thinking about their current Bible study – the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt – she started comparing this well-known passage to a modern-day immigrant story. What could make the Old Testament text come alive in a real and meaningful way?
Ms. Fast had her class do market research to determine favorite muffin flavors and decide an appropriate price students would be willing to pay for a snack. Afterwards, the students created a marketing strategy, designed posters to hang around the school, and decided the best way for customers to move into and out of their classroom “store.”
The third grade students baked 96 muffins in 3 different flavors, and sold them for $1.50 each. Their “store” was flooded with eager buyers, and the muffins sold out in record time. Donations were also accepted. The students were so proud of their efforts and raised over $500 to share with the Honduran family joining our Goshen community.
Integrated learning like this is commonplace in Bethany classrooms. Through this one simple project, our youngest students used recent math concepts (like currency and measurement), reading and writing, art skills, and Biblical knowledge to yield a really sweet result!