The last few days of school are always a flurry of fun activities. One new activity literally caused the halls of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Elementary to buzz with excitement last Monday. The sight of collapsing cereal boxes throughout the school halls may seem unusual but it was all in service to a great cause. The fun event led to 761 boxes of cereal being donated to the First Lutheran Food Pantry in Clarion.
This impressive effort was led by CGD Elementary Talented and Gifted (TAG) students. The idea was originally planted by TAG Instructor Tanja Jensen. She shared a video with her students of another school who had created a giant dominoes game with cereal boxes. The TAG students loved the idea.
To make the fun project work, they would first need cereal….a LOT of cereal. The TAG kids set out to collect 500 boxes. In a pretty short amount of time, local folks and families had come through. Over 750 boxes were collected.
Then, last Monday, on the second to last day of school, the TAG students got busy setting up a giant domino game. “The students were so excited about it,” said Jensen. “It took them about 45 minutes to set it up. They did all the work themselves.” The cereal boxes spanned several halls in the elementary building, winding all around the school.
When the dominoing cereal boxes were activated, the giant game took about 2 and a half minutes to complete. Students enjoyed the activity and enthusiastically cheered on the collapsing boxes. A video of the event can be seen on the CGD Elementary Facebook page.
After the fun was over, the students gathered all 761 boxes and loaded them up for their final destination – the food pantry. Pantry director Hannah Johnson was more than pleased by the donation. “I am so thankful and in awe of the generosity the CGD TAG children showed,” she stressed. “Their efforts will ensure the Food Pantry can continue providing food to anyone who comes to our doors.”
In the end, cereal box dominoes was a great activity, a worthwhile cause and a fun way to spend the last hours at school.
