United hears about middle school carnival

HANOVERTON -- During a regular meeting Tueday, the United Local School District Board of Education heard about the recent carnival hosted by the eighth-grade class to raise funds for its annual field trip to Washington D.C.

"The driving question we came up with was 'how can we create a carnival game that is both fun for students in grades K-through -five to play and profitable for our student school fundraiser to go to D.C. at the end of the year?'" eighth-grade teacher Alexandra Thomas said.

The students were placed into teams by Thomas and eighth-grade teacher Ryan Burd. As part of their authentic learning experience, each team had to design a unique carnival game, research the potential cost to build the games and potential profitability, and then physically construct the game. Students also had to write letters requesting sponsorship or thank you letters to raise money to build the games in the first place.

"If we could tie their own learning to their own outcome," Burd said. "Each kid's game, whatever they profited went right into their, not necessarily their pocket, but kind of their pocket, because it's going to help cut down the cost of the D.C. trip."

Eighth-grade student Kylie Holmes said her group got along, but some groups struggled and had to work through to finish the project for the carnival.

"I really liked my group. We worked really well together," Holmes said. "I think we listened to each other's ideas and came up with a decision on a game."

There were many interdisciplinary connections, with students using math and science for the design of the game and its development, social studies for the real-world applications of building the game and determining its potential profitability by playing it 100 times to determine the chance of winning.

"There were lots of real-world connections," Thomas said. "We really wrapped it around all subject areas."

The one-day carnival was open to students in grades kindergarten through seventh grade and tickets to play games were available for 25 cents. The event took in around $5,700, Burd said, with about $400 in expenses.

"It exceeded my wildest expectations, even in the first half hour," he said.

Burd, Thomas, and Holmes then showed examples of some of the games that were built for the carnival. One was a "ball toss" that was built using recyclable products from Burd's home and items from the school.

"One of my favorite things was to see our game, on a piece of paper, actually come to life and become a real game," Holmes said.

"I love that it was cross-curricular, cross-grade levels, I love the reflection," Superintendent Lance Hostetler said. "The best part is failing forward, you didn't give up, you learned from your mistakes, and it just brings me a lot of joy."

Also on Tuesday, after a public hearing with no comment, the board accepted the rehiring of longtime custodian Gary Collins for a one-year limited contract at step 0, who retired at the board's last meeting.

In other business, the board approved the purchase of the Wonders English Language Arts curriculum for grades K-5 for $156,314.50.

This is to satisfy state requirements and the state is contributing to cover the annual cost for the curriculum, Hostetler said.

"So this is a state mandate that they're actually contributing to?" Wendy Doyle asked.

The board enrolled in the Sheakley/Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio Workers' Compensation Group Rating Savings Program for an annual fee of $698 and approved all athletic ticket prices for the 2024-2025 school year at $7 per adult and $5 per student.

The board also approved $2,890 in donations from various sources.

The United Local School District Board of Education will next meet at 5:30 p.m. May 8.

ehouk@mojonews.com