WEEKLY UPDATES:

November 27, 2007

We all greatly enjoyed meeting and hearing from our guest visitor, Sandra, a Fife High School student from Kenya.  Sandra spoke to us about life in Kenya and also reminded students to value their education. 

Also at our meeting today, students put their creativity to work making beaded bracelets.  These bracelets will go on sale next week.  Club member will be selling the bracelets in the Endeavour office from 11:45 - 1:00 PM.  There will be both children and adult bracelets for sale. There will be something for everyones' tastes, so please stop by and take a look.  The prices are reasonable and all proceeds will benefit Shammah Academy in Kenya.  

November 20th, 2007

Congratulations to our club officers!

Julia - President

Savanna - Vice-President

Olivia - Secretary

Ben - Treasurer

Mikeala - Phligihigahimer (Our special club name for the person who helps Mrs. Merdian clean up after our meetings)

November 11, 2007

Just a reminder - our next can collection day will be this coming Friday, November 16th.

November 6, 2007

At today's Kids for Kenya meeting students discussed what other types of fund raising activities they would like to do this year.  A list was compiled and students then voted for their top five choices.  The top five were: bake sale, make and sell T-shirts, solicit donations outside stores such as Safeway, encourage more participation in the can drive by offering more and/or better prizes, and make and sell bracelets. 

At our meeting today students also decided they wanted to have club officers. Interested students signed up for six different positions.  Next week we will vote.

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead

October 23, 2007

Today was the first official meeting of the Kids for Kenya club. Fifteen students attended our meeting.  Our discussion focused on the world population and developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries.  Students worked on creating large world maps showing where these various countries are located.  We hope to create a hallway bulletin board to share what we learn with all Endeavour students and staff.

October 22, 2007

Mrs. Merdian  and her husband finished the model African hut this weekend, and it was brought to Mrs. Merdian's classroom and set up for all to enjoy.

Other good news -   Mrs. Merdian shipped her old digital camera to Patrick Mutunga, the Shammah Academy school manager. and he has recently sent digital photos of the the Shammah students.  These photos will be shared with Endeavour students.  We are working on setting up penpals with some of these students.

October 16, 2007

Today was the information meeting for the Kids for Kenya club.  The date coincided with the Oct 16th and 17th worldwide Stand Up and Speak Out (against poverty) event - thus Mrs. Merdian registered the club to be participants in the event.  A short video about standing up against global poverty was shown and the Stand Up and Speak Out pledge was read.  Then the students stood up and their photo was taken.  42.7 million people across the world participated in this event, breaking their previous Guiness World Record for the number of people standing up against poverty.  The people participating in this event came from 127 countries with a majority coming from developing countries.

At our meeting today, a general overview of the club's goals and activities was presented.

October 12, 2007

Endeavour students did a great job bringing in aluminum cans today - with a grand total of 135.5 pounds.  Congratulations to Mrs. Irons-Bayliss' class for bringing in the most cans. 

October 4, 2007

On Wednesday, Oct. 10th students who have expressed an interested in joining the Kids for Kenya club will be receiving an invitation/permission slip to attend an informational meeting.  The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 16th from 3:30-4:30 in Mrs. Merdian's room. Mrs. Merdian is very excited to be meeting students who are especially interested in being part of Kids for Kenya.

Remember, next Friday, Oct. 12th, is our next can collection day.

A big thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Olson for their financial donation this week to our fund raising efforts.

September 28, 2007

Today at our 2nd/3rd grade and 4th/5th grade awards assemblies, third graders Lexus, John, and Daveena spoke to the student body about Kids for Kenya - inviting students to join in an after-school club that will be starting soon.  Also at these assemblies, students in Mrs. Merdian's class sang a special song, "K.E.N.Y.A." to the tune of B.I.N.G.O.

"I know a country far away and Kenya is its name-o"

2006-2007 School Year Entries

Week One  (May 28th-1st 2007)  We collected a total of 17 pounds of cans.  Mrs. Ward's class and Mrs. Merdian's class tied for first place with each classroom bringing in exactly 6 pounds. 

Week Two (June 4th-8th 2007) This week we surpassed our challenge of trying to double last week's pounds by collecting a total of 103.5 pounds from the classrooms and additional pounds from other sources such as Hedden Elem. and individuals not directly connected to classrooms. Mr. Reardon's class had the highest weight at 22.5 pounds. 

This week Mrs. Merdian's students began visiting other classrooms at Endeavour and giving presentations about life in Kenya and the purpose of this fund raising activity.  Also we welcomed the news that Mr. and Mrs. Bejarano, the grandparents of one of Mrs. Merdian's students, offered to pick up all the cans and take them to the recycling company!  We are expecting to get .76 cents/pound. 

Can we double the amount of cans collected again next week???

Week Three (June 11th-15th 2007) This week we collected 85 pounds of cans.  We did not exactly meet the challenge put out last week - but on the bright side we had 17 out of 20 classroom participate this week - up from 13 classrooms last week.

This week we finished our classroom presentations.  The students did a great job sharing what they have learned about Kenya - and encouraging others to help. 

On Monday, June 18th the students in Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Steinkraus' classes performed their famous play - The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.  Lexus, Daveena and John, from Mrs. Merdian's class, did a great job explaining our program to the audience and collecting donations. A total of $76.33 was collected.   A big thank you to those who made a donation!