Lemonade Stand Offers Life Lessons
Inspired by their month long study of Patricia Polacco’s book, The Lemonade Club, fourth grade students decided to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to benefit cancer research. The book tells the story of a 5th grade student and her teacher who battle different forms of cancer and how each perseveres. It also teaches the importance of compassion as the students in the class rally around their teacher and classmate to support them through their journey. After reading the book, the students wanted to make their own lemonade stand and raise money to help people with cancer in some way. This is a very personal project for one fourth grade student in the class whose mother is currently undergoing chemotherapy and a wonderful way for the class to show their support for him and his family, and many of the students know someone who has, or has had, cancer. The students took ownership of this project – creating the lemonade stands, designing flyers to hand throughout the hallways to promote their stand, writing short speeches that they shared with each classroom in the school. All of the students in preschool through fifth grade were invited to share in the lemonade and encouraged to donate their own change to the cause. After the lemonade stand is closed for business, the students will continue in the learning process as they count the money and then decide as a group how they will be contributing the donation to a cancer focused non-profit.
