Bend’s Buckingham Elementary holds Day of Service

Students at Buckingham Elementary School will be spending Tuesday giving back to the local community during the school’s first Day of Service. Local veterans, firefighters, families at the Ronald McDonald House are among those receiving thanks during this school-wide effort to help emphasize service learning.

“Buckingham’s Day of Service is a wonderful example of how our schools promote service learning and help students engage in the community around them to become thriving citizens,” said Sunshine Dandurand, the principal at Buckingham Elementary.

Amy Stringer, Buckingham’s social and emotional learning teacher, is organizing the Day of Service, which includes every student at the school.

“Every student in our school was engaged with a different effort — from writing letters to veterans to beautifying our school,” Stringer said. “I saw our students’ empathy grow as they learned of the needs in our community and they were excited to be able to contribute.”

Each grade level is involved in a different area of service:

Kindergarten students will perform songs and present thank you notes to staff members and will plant flowers around the school. First-graders will present local firefighters with thank you notes, stories and snacks at the school. Second-graders will present members of Central Oregon Veterans Outreach with thank you letters, donation drive items and will get a chance to speak with the veterans. Third- and fourth-graders will give plant starts and thoughtful quotes to members of the Ronald McDonald House. Fifth-graders will give the Humane Society of Central Oregon pet toys they created.