Students take on pet project

Lindsay Sandham

Some hungry pets in Orange County will be fed, thanks to Wendy

Jawor’s first-grade class at Harbor View School in Corona del Mar.

For most, the 100th day of school is probably just another school

day, but for the first-graders it marks a major milestone.

“For the 100th day of school we went into counting and doing math

and all sorts of activities with numbers,” Jawor said. “So we thought

we’d combine it with a service project and help animals and shelters

in the area.”

Her class started collecting pet food donations Jan. 14, and

Renee Carleton of the Pet Food Bank planned to come to the school

today to pick up the more than 800 cans and bags.

The Pet Food Bank is a local organization that collects animal

food and brings it to the neediest animal shelters.

“This is our third year that we’ve done this, but this year we’ve

had so much extra support,” she said. “Our principal’s just been

wonderful. We’ve had probably twice as much as we get normally.”

Every day since the project started, the kids have been counting

the donations, learning place values and how to carry numbers in

addition and subtraction. They also got some practice in marketing

and public speaking by making posters and visiting all the other

classes to promote their pet food drive.

The students moved the food out of their classroom and into the

school’s multi-purpose room Tuesday.

“It was fun carrying them up and down,” said 7-year-old Claire

Robertson of Newport Beach. “I’m so glad there’s going to be some

happy pets -- there’s going to be some real happy pets.”

Bonnie Robertson, 7, of Newport Beach also said carrying the food

was a lot of fun.

“I learned how to count by twos,” she said.

Jawor said the 100th day of school is a big deal to the

first-graders because of a program called Math Their Way.

“It’s teaching patterning and place value and all sorts of math

concepts to children through the calendar,” she said. “They’ve been

counting for so long and 100 is a big number.”

Harbor View Principal Mellissia Christensen said the initial goal

for pet food donations was 100, and the number kept growing and

growing.

“This is the most generous school I’ve ever seen in my life,” she

said. “It’s part of the culture here I think. You know people are so

generous, because they have so much more than most people.”

Jawor said this is the third year her class has conducted this

drive, and every year the numbers have almost doubled from the year

before.

“It’s truly because of our principal,” she said. “We would have

never have gotten this far without her.”