Meadowlark Elementary Fifth-Grade Yard Sale Raises More Than $4,000 for Sally's Angels

Each year, the fifth-graders at Meadowlark Elementary School vote on an organization to receive the proceeds from their yard sale.

This year, students voted to present the proceeds to Sally's Angels, a nonprofit organization that helps families with children who are critically or chronically ill. The charity is named in honor of Sally Rice, a student at Meadowlark Elementary.

The Fifth Grade Yard Sale at Meadowlark Elementary raised $4,264, and, on Feb. 28, Anna Rice, a co-founder of the organization, came to the school to receive the check.  

So that fifth-graders can make informed decision about a local organization to support, the fifth-grade teachers ask each student to pick a group that he or she feels connected to and, after doing research, to write a paper about it. This year, six students wrote about Sally's Angels.

The annual project began more than ten years ago with Martha Bethel's fifth-grade class.  As a community service project, her class had a yard sale to raise funds for a local charity.  Since that time, the yard sale has evolved into a writing/public speaking project for fifth grade students. 

To give persuasive writing meaning and real world application, fifth graders are asked to research a local charity.   They proceed to write a persuasive writing paper on their chosen charity explaining why the proceeds from the yard sale should be donated to their charity.  With teacher instruction and guidance, students utilize the writing process to write their persuasive paper using research gathered from the local charity.  Students are encouraged to visit the local charity for an eye witness account, but it is not a requirement for the project. 

After papers are complete, one persuasive paper from each homeroom is selected to represent the class.  Papers are chosen based on the persuasive writing rubric.  The authors of the papers present their paper to the entire fifth grade student body.  Following the presentations, fifth graders cast their votes selecting the charity they would like to receive the yard sale profits. This year presentations were given for Meadowlark Meals (a food BackPack program), Hospice Palliative Care, Cancer Services, The Ronald McDonald House of Winston Salem, the Salvation Army and Sally's Angels.

For more information about Sally’s Angels, go to  Sally's Angels