On Feb. 17, Lido Elementary School held a fundraiser to help the endangered polar bears. After learning about the animals and the risks they face through an informative session led by Susan Garcia’s class, other fifth-grade students and teachers participated in the effort to make a difference.

The group raised $205 through sales of handmade awareness bracelets and raffle tickets. As a result, $100 will be donated to the World Wildlife Federation to fund research and habitat conservation. Collectively, the classes will also "adopt" four polar bears. An additional $105 will be provided to the Yorkshire Conservation Park to aid efforts in building and maintaining natural habitats.

The fundraiser featured several exhibit displays created and presented by students. They shared their research on polar bears, from basic fun facts to detailed statistics about the threats of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. A conservation station described measures that can avoid these causes of endangerment, and students signed pledges to take conservation steps. Attendees also viewed a video about the students’ experience and played a Jeopardy game.

This initiative tied into the non-fiction research and writing lessons that fifth-graders have been conducting in preparation for the upcoming districtwide assignment, Feature Articles. Students spent time collecting data on polar bears and gathering facts from print and digital sources that they incorporated into writing pieces based on problem and solution or cause and effect structures. Ms. Garcia’s class decided to take their studies a step further through their mission to save the polar bears, and wrote persuasive letters to inform others about the project, planned ways to make a change, designed flyers highlighting the issues and constructing the poster displays.