Hausner's 6th Graders Donate New Books to Disadvantaged Students In San Jose

Sixth grade students at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School extended their learning of sacred spaces to help others.

Throughout their project-based learning (PBL) unit on sacred spaces, students created their own sacred space in their classroom – complete with poetry and Tibetan prayer flags – and then devised a way they could make someone else’s space sacred.

Students collectively decided on purchasing new books for a 4th grade classroom at Olinder Elementary School in San Jose, which began the school year with only 35 books.

They wrote letters to students in Ms. Khuu’s classroom to get acquainted with their peers and to find out what books they’d like.

The culmination to this rewarding PBL unit which began at the start of the school year, will take place on Thursday when students meet their pen pals at a park adjacent to Olinder School, proudly donate their books, and get to play with their peers.

“This PBL was a tremendous success not only because it connected subjects spanning from humanities and Hebrew/Jewish studies to STEM, but also because it taught important life skills like how to collaborate to achieve desired results,” said Annie Lefkowitz, 6th grade humanities teacher at Hausner. “We’re proud to share that our 6th graders exceeded their goal to raise $1,000 to purchase new books!”

Applying strong problem-solving skills, students evaluated different ways to raise money and collectively agreed to hold a book sale.

The 6th graders took ownership for every aspect of the project, from discussing whether to donate new or used books (agreeing everyone deserves new books regardless of their means); making a list of students’ favorite books; determining how much they need to raise to purchase these books; collecting books to sell; planning and promoting the book sale; sorting and pricing books; and running the sale.

“Students demonstrated a good understanding of the diversity of their patrons at their book sale as they astutely helped parents find books, and then gently worked with our youngest students to pick out the perfect book,” Mo Fisch, Middle School Jewish Studies teacher at Hausner explained.

During their debriefing to evaluate their PBL, students shared how they learned how to make decisions, such as pricing the books; that kids everywhere are pretty much the same, and love good books; and that they feel more aware of different kinds of situations that are happening around them.

-Image and information courtesy of Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School.