Furnace Woods Students Deliver Their Appreciation to Teachers

Interpersonal communication, counting money, and other life skills are some of the important lessons learned by students in Lindsay Giacomantonio’s class at Furnace Woods Elementary School. Those lessons were carried out of the classroom and into the hallways Monday when the students delivered iced tea, lemonade and cookies for Teacher Appreciation Week.

The students sorted order forms, collected donations, poured drinks, and delivered pre-packaged cookies to teachers and other staff members. They also knocked on doors and took refreshment orders in person.

“This is something different for them,” said Ms. Giacomantonio, who coordinated the effort with STEAM teacher Megan Boyle. “We are working with them on saying please and thank you, counting money. These are the kinds of skills we teach them and this just took that outside of the classroom and made it fun.”

Students appeared very engaged throughout the process. They pushed a cart that had a cash register to store the money and had four containers filled with iced tea and lemonade. They were all eager to pour and serve beverages and deliver the sweets to their customers.

All refreshments were funded by the Hendrick Hudson Elementary PTA and prepared on Monday morning by the students. The donations collected will go toward a Field Day activity for the class.

Throughout the process, the children and their teachers discussed why fellow students and staff members celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week.

“We talked about what this week means and why we say thank you to teachers for all that they do for us,” Ms. Giacomantonio said.