The hallways and classrooms at Model Elementary School were transformed into a dessert shop last week as third-grade teachers partnered with Crumbl Cookies to give students a lesson they won’t soon forget.
The students used cookies and supplies donated by Crumbl in Rome, Georgia to learn about division, multiplication and sentence structures.
“They’re still learning. They’re just doing it in a more fun way,” third-grade teacher Kimberly Chan said.
Credit: Rachel Hartdegen
Credit: Rachel Hartdegen
The day was planned by teachers Chan and Pamela Payton in collaboration with the local shop. The idea for a Crumbl Day came to Chan over the summer while she was scrolling through social media. She saw influencers partnering with businesses and getting free things or sponsorships and thought it was a great idea.
“I just thought, if they can do it, why can’t we,” Chan said. “It started as a really small idea, and it exploded.”
As teachers, Payton and Chan understand the importance of keeping their students engaged. Over the years, they started what Chan called room transformations. Once a month, they decorate the room with a theme and build lessons around it.
“One of our main goals, especially as a third-grade teacher, is to make kids love learning,” Chan said. “If they don’t enjoy it, they’re not going to grow.”
When Chan had the idea for Crumbl Day, she immediately went to her partner in crime, Payton. After talking to Payton and making a plan, Chan contacted local businesses to see if anyone would sponsor a day.
Crumbl Cookies was quick to respond and thrilled with the idea, Chan said. They quickly started planning, and the local business went all out to help plan it.
Credit: Rachel Hartdegen
Credit: Rachel Hartdegen
The Crumbl employees who helped, Kathi Scheff and Jason Watson, were involved in the entire process. Chan said they would call with new ideas every week.
When Payton and Chan presented their idea to the rest of the third-grade teachers, they were eager to join in. The team was excited to put this together, and Chan was excited to introduce the teachers to a fun style of teaching.
“She and I are the only two that worked third grade last year, and the other three were within a different grade level or at a different school,” Payton said.
Each teacher had similar decorations in their room and the same lesson plans, but they took different approaches. In some classrooms, students were grouped on the floor using blocks for math problems and designing cookies on lap desks. In other rooms, students were grouped around desks, working in teams to find errors in the reading material.
“It has been a wonderful experience,” Chan said. “We have loved it and the kids had so much fun already today.”
Credit: Rachel Hartdegen
Credit: Rachel Hartdegen
Crumbl Cookies donated food, decorations and outfits for both teachers and students. The third-grade teachers also partnered with Fast Printing & Signs, a local business that helped create some of the decorations for the classroom.
“In Floyd County right now, one of the big things is getting the community involved with school and education,” Chan said, “We’re trying to reach out to businesses and see if they want to collaborate with us.”
Credit: Rome News-Tribune
Credit: Rome News-Tribune
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