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AMS students learn sweet lesson
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Nicholas Moore (right), a special needs student at AMS, was responsible for measuring out the correct amount of flour for each cookie in a jar project. Marlene Shippoli (left) lended a helping hand when she was needed.
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Marcus Timmerman (right) and Deb Thompson (left) used teamwork while decorating the finished cookies in a jar.
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Matt Rovder, in his classroom assembly line, was responsible for measuring out salt and baking powder, and closing the jars tight.
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After a busy and messy day of measuring out sweets for their cookie jars project, the students and helpers of Melanie Humphrey's special needs classroom at AMS shared some relaxed smiles.
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With the funds raised by the cookie jar project, the students were able to go Christmas shopping for their families and buy lunch for themselves at Wendy's. Jordan Mitchell (left) and Kyle Murkich (right) were full and happy after their lunch.
By SARAH FOOR
To Melanie Humphrey’s Austintown Middle School special needs classroom, making cookies in a jar on Dec. 16 was more than just preparing a sweet treat.
The 90 jars of flour, sugar, chocolate chips, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda raised $600 for Humphrey’s classroom that will fund excursions and field trips to teach her students valuable real life skills.
“My students can’t be tested with a pencil and paper,” Humphrey explained, “so we test through the alternate assessment system. I provide real-world tasks that relate to academic content standards, and their grades come from successfully completing them.”
In an organized assembly line for the cookie jars, each student was responsible for counting the correct amount of their ingredient, utilizing math skills. The money raised from their jars provided a Dec. 17 field trip to Dollar General and Wendy’s, where the students budgeted their money to buy gifts for their family and lunch for themselves. As the students ate the meal they each purchased independently, student Marcus Timmerman shared that he bought a jigsaw puzzle for his mother, while Jordan Mitchell settled on a coffee mug for his grandma.
At the end of the class lunch, Humphrey was proud of the motivating and functional learning the cookie project provided.
“It’s a gift that keeps on giving. These funds allow our class to learn by doing and provide for ourselves.”