The Lemonade Club

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

I want to teach my students creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and community! I hope this project fulfills all of those elements!

I teach fourth and fifth graders in a program called the New Arrival Center.

We call ourselves NAC for short. All of my students are beginner English speakers. I have students who have just moved to the United States and are very excited to learn English. It is hard work, but they are doing a great job! I have students from El Salvador, India, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Honduras, France, and Russia. I teach Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. I have the best job in the world!

My Project

My students need The Lemonade Club, no-sew fleece blanket kits, ribbons, composition notebooks, stickers, note cards, duct tape, markers, crayons, glue, and scissors. Our project will start with us reading Patricia Polacco's book The Lemonade Club. It is about a girl and her teacher who both have cancer. The moral of the story is that if life gives you lemons, you need to make lemonade. For "Critical Thinking", my students will reflect on the book, the lessons it teaches, and what it means to them. The "Community" portion of our project will be that we will make no sew blankets and hairband bows for patients at MD Anderson Cancer Hospital. For "Collaboration", the students will need to work together to learn how to make blankets and hairbow bands. They will need to read directions and use each others strengths/skills to be successful. The "Communication" part will be two-fold. Students will write cards to go with the blankets and hairband bows. Also, they will make lemonade and share with school staff members. The "Creativity" section will be the blankets, bows, cards, and the interpretation of the book.

This project will make a huge difference in the lives of my students.

It will give them an opportunity to help sick children that live in our community. What a sense of accomplishment they will have! My students will have to read, collaborate, and problem solve to make crafts that they have never done before. All of this will be done in a new language! Thank you for supporting a great group of children!