From Sea Turtles to Storybooks
The Evolution of a Third Grade Tradition
By Beth Throop ’06, Third Grade Teacher
When I joined the Durham Academy staff 10 years ago, I was delighted to learn that the Sea Turtle Gift Shop was still going strong. As a DA alum, I have vivid memories of my own gift shop from fall of 1996. We third graders stood behind folding tables in the breezeway of the Lower School campus — then on Academy Road — hawking our wares and taking pride in selling our crafts. Rejoining DA as an adult, I thought it wonderful to see such a lasting tradition.
However, after stepping into a lead teacher role, I realized that continuing this long-standing tradition was a bit more complicated. Our students enjoyed crafting items for sale, yet they lacked the larger context for why turtles mattered. The gift shop ran in the fall, but we only briefly studied turtles in the spring. While the topic was engaging, given the distance we are from the ocean, it did not cultivate especially practical knowledge. At some point, a passionate teacher had started the project, imparting their curiosity and love for these sea creatures to the students. But this passion was no longer there.
Three years ago, the third grade teaching team switched the gift shop to raise funds for local pollinators, which allowed hands-on learning for the students. At first, we felt we had found success with this new model! Studying and supporting pollinators also aligned with DA’s sustainability goals. We started experimenting with a field trip and class activities around pollinators’ roles in our ecosystem. What responsive teachers we are, we thought, adjusting our lessons to reflect our current values.
Before we finished patting ourselves on the back, though, a massive twist rocked our plans: a new literacy curriculum in the Lower School. This posed a challenge for two reasons. First, the new curriculum, EL Education, required more classroom time than our previous one — time we took from the social studies allotment. This meant we could devote less time to learning about pollinators. Second, in the new literacy curriculum, second graders study pollinators. This diluted the study of pollinators serving as a signature third grade experience. We felt discouraged, wondering if there was any way to evolve the gift shop experience again.
But the new curriculum also gave us the seeds for our new iteration of the gift shop. In third grade, the first literacy unit focuses on learning access around the world. Students read about the biblioburro, the library donkeys who bring books to remote villages in Colombia. They write about book boats in Finland, the rebuilt train car library in Thailand and the camel library service in Kenya. The discussions we have around these topics raised students’ awareness of their own privilege to have such ready access to books and education. The third grade team felt, however, that we needed to teach students that a lack of books is not just a problem in remote towns internationally; it is also an issue right here in Durham. DA has partnered with Book Harvest to collect donated books on several occasions. What if we also raised funds for the nonprofit via the gift shop?
Once this idea came to us, we started thinking about other ways to evolve the gift shop by making crafts people might find in a bookstore — bookmarks, cards and keychains. Still with an eye toward sustainability, we also considered adding in activities that didn’t involve creating trinkets that might soon be lost. We’d previously tried having a game or two for people to play. What if we had many games, temporary tattoos and a cake walk?
From here, the Fall Festival was born! Spreading out across the third grade pod and into the commons, each grade level from kindergarten to fourth had a time slot to attend the festival. Students could play mini golf, participate in a Rubik’s Cube challenge, eat a cupcake or buy a raffle ticket (prizes: book character stuffed animals). Joy filled the pod!
This new literacy festival gave third grade students and teachers a renewed purpose and motivation. The new theme ties directly into our daily curriculum, and the students clearly understood why we were raising money. Several weeks before the festival, representatives from Book Harvest presented to third graders on the importance of book access and how the funds we raise would make a difference. Since Book Harvest’s headquarters is so close to DA, they also returned to accept our check following the festival. My students have mentioned seeing signs for Book Harvest or spotting its location on University Drive. This connection from school to real-life experiences is the magic we teachers seek.