Para Usted Q’enqo … for YOU!
Just LOOK at these happy, smiling faces … working together to be the best FOR the world!
Today was a MAGICAL day … we came together to be the best for the world. HOW, you ask? Well, today, the Battalion Park Grade Threes ALL worked toward a COMMON goal … to bring MORE books to the Q’enqo Peru Library. This project has been THREE years in the making. We’ve worked HARD with our partners at Mosqoy. Over that time, we’ve helped them to turn a run-down building into a fully functioning library in a small rural weaving village in the Andes Mountains. We learned all KINDS of lessons – some EASY, some HARD.
THIS year, we are COMMITTED to helping Ashli and her crew to CONTINUE to bring books … AND supplies to Q’enqo. We are SO committed that students chose to do chores, donate birthday and allowance money and even ask their families to help out! Today we banded together … and held a “FUN”d-raiser! We’d like to share our thoughts with you:
“Hmm … which one should I choose? To put more books in the library? Give them better clothing so they stay warm? Give Q’enqo arts and math supplies … or a part time librarian? I’ll choose … books! Books! They only have about 40 books in the Q’enqo Peru Library … which Grade 3 students helped to build or raised money for! Anyways, I think I’ll bring $20 for which ever one gets chosen.” ~Tommy
“Woosh! I swoop a 50 dollar bill out of my piggy bank. “Mom I want to give 50 dollars to Q’enqo Peru!” “Come here, darling.” What now? Is she really going to tell me I can’t donate, I think, running to her room. “What?” “That’s a lot of …” “I know,” I say dreamily, trying to convince my mom! As soon as school starts, Mrs. Renton says we are going to count all the money we have raised for Peru, but first we must watch this video about Q’enqo. “Okay?” “Okay!” the class answers. Once the video is on and everybody is listening I am blown away by how poor everybody is and I can almost feel the sadness rushing through my brains. And, I hope you do too because then you will help Q’enqo Peru too! We raised $494.00 in our class!” ~Ella
We QUICKLY discovered that it is FAR easier to count money once you’ve SORTED it. Creating a T-chart ALSO helped us to organize our work!
“Click, clack, click, clack. We walk into the school. I remembered I brought money for the donation. We counted the money. It was $494.00. We took a picture of each one of us as we held up letters. Mrs. Renton took lots and lots of pictures. On one, we did normal faces with smiles. By the way, have you ever counted that much money in your LIFE?” ~Nick
“You will not guess what we did! We got to wear hats all day because we are raising money for Q’enqo Peru for books for the library. We raised $494.00. I feel really good about the money that we raised for Q’enqo Peru. All the Grade Three classes in the school did it. I hope the money goes to the library! I hope you raise money for a good cause too! Have you ever been so happy in your life ever?” ~Tyler
“Today our class had hat day. Hat day is a kind of day when people wear any kind of hat. We also did a fund-raiser. We’re trying to raise money and send it to a library in Peru so they can get MORE books. Where is the library? In Q’enqo Peru, of course! We’ve raised $494.00. I think the money we raised would change the library forever. In the afternoon, we took pictures of us holding up words that spelled Para Usted Q’enqo … that means “For You, Q’enqo!” After, we counted all the donations. Have you done a fund-raiser?” ~Amro
“Guess what? Today, we fund-raised for Peru! We had $494.00 in our donation jar! The $494.00 will buy more books for the library and it can buy some supplies too. Last year, the Grade Threes raise some money to build a library in Q’enqo Peru. We looked at some pictures and I saw that the library in Q’enqo was really bad because there were holes in the floor and chairs were all flipped over. (That was before the LAST two groups of Grade Threes started to work with Mosqoy!) Do YOU think fund-raising is good?” ~Joyce
“Whoa! This is a lot of money, I thought in my head as Mrs. Renton was taking out the money our class had raised for Q;enqo. Our class counted all the 20 dollar bills, 50 dollar bills, 5 dollar bills, all the loonies, twoonies and the one 10 dollar bill. We raised, as a class, $494.00. Did you know that if you brought an ordinary dollar from Canad into Peru it would be worth $2.52 Nuevo Sol? We raised money so then the people would buy some books for their library and some art and math supplies. We wore hats today for the fund-raiser. I think it was a GREAT thing to do for Q’enqo.” ~Chelsea
We wonder just how MANY more books we will be able to get onto the Q’enqo Library shelves?
“I wonder how much money I’m going to donate? I think 20 dollars, as Mrs. Renton explains that we are going to “fun”d-raise for Q’enqo Peru. After school, I was still thinking about the “fun”d-raiser, wondering how much money we were going to raise in our class. I was thinking we will at LEAST get $200.00. but … no … we got $494.00! $294 MORE than I THOUGHT it would be! I actually brought in 20 dollars out of the $494.00. All that money is going to books. Don’t leave … because I still have to ask you a question! Have you ever been this excited in your LIFE?” ~Danny
“Wow! I can’t believe how much money my class raise for Q’enqo Peru’s library! This is how much we raised as a class $494.00! I STILL can’t believe how much money we raised … but … we STILL haven’t counted the OTHER class’ money. I’ll be shocked if we get to $1000.00 for Q’enqo’s library. I have a question for you. If you were to raise money as a school, or a family, how much would your goal of money be to raise? How would you do it?” ~Jayden
Working cooperatively in small groups, we had to sort, record, count, calculate and figure out the total amounts!
“Guess what? Today was special hat day. We are raising money for the Q’enqo library to help get MORE books! Guess what? Our class raised $494.00 for books and supplies for Q’enqo. I raised my money by doing chores around my house. Have you ever been to Peru or Q’enqo? I am SO proud of how much we raised for the library. I am so happy for what we are doing for the library! I bet all the kids are happy to see more books in the library! Have you ever raised money for the library in Q’enqo Peru?” ~Rayann
“Guess what I did? I made a crown. I made a crown because today is hat day. we wore our hats and donated money for Q’enqo. They need the money for books. They don’t have so much books in Q;’nqo. The money we got is $494.00. I feel happy because I like to help the school of Q’ENQO PERU!” ~Dimitri
$494 bucks! That’s a lot of money for 25 kids and 1 adult to raise in 1 week! we raise all that money to give to Q’enqo Peru to buy books and supplies for the library. But, that’s not all … we also got to wear special HATS. I didn’t. Mine was soaking wet because I fell in the snow yesterday. We could have used that money to buy things for ourselves but we gave it to a different community in the world. It makes us feel really good that we are helping people in need. All five grade three classes collected money for Q’enqo and we are going to count it all. How much money would YOU raise?” ~Christopher
“Today we all wore hats to school. We made donations to Q’enqo for books and supplies. Altogether, we donated $494.00! One class. $494.00! That IS a lot. Well, I didn’t do any chores around the house, but I still donated $15.00 in total. When we look at the picture, it was hard to find me because in one of the pictures I was kinds of covered! Still, it was fun looking for me!@ I feel great that we donated SO much money. If you never do good things for each other, you might want to start. I feel really proud of us. I hope Q’enqo now has a library like we do in Calgary!” ~Lauren
It was TOUGH work doing all those calculations! It made our BRAINS hurt JUST a little! But … it was a GOOD hurt!
“Guess what I did today. I wore a hat because the class donated to the Q’enqo Peru library. Not everyone brought money for the library. Our class mad $494.00 for the library. Our class got 2 $50s, 14 $20s, 1 $10, 18 $5s, 4 quarters and 3 dollars. If you add them all together, it equals $494.00. I was the only one that brought in 10 dollars. $494.00 is a lot of money for the Q’enqo library. The class decided to donate. Have you ever donated to the Q’enqo library?” ~Constantine
“In the morning we were wearing hats in school. Usually we don’t wear hats in school, but today is a special day! Today is hat day. We get to wear hats and bring donations. All the Grade Three classes in our school are doing this today. Donations go to a library in Q’enqo Peru. Then, a person called Ashli will get the money and buy books for the library. We do this because the kids in Q’enqo can read some books. Altogether in our class we raised $494.00! That’s not much money but it is a LOT in Nuevo Sol, (Peruvian money). $494.00 is about $2000.00 Nuevo Sol! Hey, before you go, I have a question for you. Have you ever raised more than $50.00 in your life? We have!” ~James
The SORTING was the EASIEST part of calculating our final donation amounts!
“5, 10, 15, 20 … 10, 20, 30, 40 … SO much counting for Q’enqo Peru! I mean, I LOVE Peru and helping it, but today I wish I was SICK! There was SO much money we had to count, but it was worth it because we added up to $494.00. Finally, we were done and I got to be in a picture for the blog!!! (I really hoped I didn’t look that bad!) Click! Flash! Great! Just great! Maybe it was my imagination, but I was SURE I blinked! Luckily, Mrs. Renton took another picture and I HOPE the other one didn’t end up on the blog! We had Hat Day, but I didn’t really want to wear a hat. I felt really good that I donated some of my money. I didn’t really need any of my loonies because I almost NEVER use them. I bet YOU would love donating to Peru and doing research on Peru!” ~Rebecca
It was worth EVERY bit of brain wracking addition … to KNOW that we are helping to make a DIFFERENCE!
“Guess what we did? We raised money for the library in Q’enqo Peru. We started this project three years ago, when I was in Grade One. This year, we’ve decided to continue the library project. So far, we’ve raised $494.00!!! On Monday, I think I will bring $2.00. Maybe $4.00, if I lose my TOOTH, that is! (I hope I will!) The money we brought in was 2 $50 dollar bills, 14 $20 dollar bills, 1 $10 dollar bill, 19 $5 dollar bills, 3 twoonies, and 3 loonies. That makes 50+50=100, +20+20+20… =280+100=380+10=390=5+5+5+5+5… =485+6+491+1+1+1=494. WHOA! Math hurts! Do you think you would donate?” ~AJ
“Hi! I’m a Battalion Hawk Blogger! Yesterday our teacher told us to wear a hat. Today, most of us did. If you’re wondering why, it’s for Q’enqo Peru. Almost everyone in the class donated. We raise four hundred ninety-four dollars! We took some pictures too! Hope you like them!” ~Tre
We know that our work is appreciated and we are THRILLED to be continuing this Grade Three journey!
“494 dollars. That’s a LOT of money. Well, it’s even more when you trade it for Nuevo Sol, (the Peruvian currency). Guess what 494 dollars equals … $1246.65 Nuevo Sol. I’m proud of us. Are you? You might be thinking how are you supposed to buy books for a WHOLE library with only 1246.65 Nuevo Sol. Well, here’s your solution. Something that is $ for one thing her, you could get 2 and a half for 1 dollar there. That’ means for all you chocolate lovers out there, you could get 2 1/2 chocolates there and get 1 chocolate here for the same price! Yum!!! So, next time you are renovating, take a trip to Peru!” ~Ben
“Wow. Look at how much money we made. Wait. Let me dial it back a few hours. Okay … now … where was I. Oh ya. So, today my classmates and I wore hats because our whole class did a special “fun”d-raiser for books and other supplies in Q’enqo Peru for the library. Just our class raised $494.00. But, we still have four more classes to go! I bet everyone single one felt really good when they brought their contributions in. Oh, how I REALLY hope that we get enough money for at LEAST 100 books!” ~Chris
What an AMAZING day. When everything was sorted, tallied, recorded in t-charts, checked and RE-checked, the GRAND total for our five amazing classes of Grade Threes was close to $830.00! The day was FILLED with MANY lessons! Lessons in CURRENCY. Economic lessons … discovering the value of a dollar in another country … and how much FURTHER your money can go in a developing country. Collaborating and working together to sort, calculate and count all the donations! Lessons in being the best FOR the world … because, after all … T.E.A.M. means Together Everyone Achieves More! We can’t WAIT to tell Ashli what we have ACCOMPLISHED! SURPRISE!
We wonder:
- Have you worked toward a goal of helping another person or community? We’d LOVE to hear about it!
LR), my own, I just decided to handle the amazing aftifacts instead! When we got some free time, I mostly explored the Ukrainian nesting dolls, also known as matroska. I also did a puzzle that Mrs. Renton laid out. It was super easy! Me, Elijah, Amro and Danny finished it in two minutes. Then, before we knew it … the kit left us just like that … SNAP!” ~Ben
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