Washington Elementary Fourth Graders Paying it Forward

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Fourth graders and college students are working together to pay it forward with handmade blankets.

“We’re going to take it and push it through and flip it.”
 
That simple instruction is the key to making a tied fleece blanket.

Fourth graders at Washington Elementary joined forces with Concordia college students to benefit not just each other but also the community.

These college students are education majors getting some hands on experience.

They started the day with a literacy lesson explaining how the fleece was made.
 
“They were made out of plastic bottles. That was really weird to me. I never knew that,” says Elley Kemper.
 
All scissors were ready at hand to start trimming the blankets.

The three finger rule or ready to go measured paper were used as a guideline.

The class project manifested its way out to the halls…and into their hearts.
 
“I feel really good because i knew that I was helping out some people,” says Rowan Durgun.
 
Jordan, who is a senior at Concordia, believes it is important to get kids to start giving back at a young age.
 
“The younger we get to them and tell them how important it is to help others, is just going to make everything else better. It just feels really great that we’re the people influencing them to be better people,” says Jordan Gamradt.
 
Focused and determined, the students at Washington took this project seriously.

This one day activity will serve to be a lifelong skill.

Whether you’re a fourth grader or college student coming together to pay it forward has no age.

The class’ goal was to make eighteen blankets.

They surpassed that with a final count of twenty eight.

The fleece blankets are to be donated at the Emergency Food Pantry in Fargo.