Sponsored walk

Second grade students from Rivers Oaks Elementary School in Houston, TX, have raised an incredible $10,000 for WaterAid by getting sponsorship for completing laps around their school track.

A chart on the school wall recorded how many miles each student had walked.

For two years running, in the spring of 2007 and 2008, the second grade students of River Oaks Elementary School in Texas completed a unit of work learning about world water issues and took part in a sponsored walk.

First the students learned about places in the world lacking safe drinking water during a four week unit of inquiry entitled "H ₂ O Oh No! Where Did It Go?", which focused on water as a finite resource.

The entire grade level - six classes and approximately 130 students - participated in Water Awareness Day, which elaborated on the learning and gave students hands on experience through speakers and activities.

Students learned about the Action Cycle that encouraged them to choose to act raise funds for WaterAid.

The "Walk to the Well" activity involved students walking a symbolic four miles to and from the well carrying jugs filled with colored water to represent the number of people who become ill or die from unsafe water.

After discovering the unjust distribution of clean water, they took action. For the second year in a row, they gave up their recess to run or walk sponsored laps.

The students collected pledges from family and friends for each lap they ran. Surpassing all expectations, many of the children clocked up totals of more than 20 miles.

Watch a video about the water unit and fundraising walks
below:
 

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