LYNNWOOD — The playground at Martha Lake Elementary School is so out of date it doesn’t meet current safety guidelines.
But fourth-graders in Anna Walter’s class may have found a solution.
As part of a class project, the students created a video and entered it into a national contest
for a chance to win $15,000 toward a new playground.
The contest is sponsored by the national nonprofit KaBOOM! and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. The goal of KaBOOM! is to make sure all children have a playground nearby.
Walter heard about the contest and decided to make it into a learning experience.
“One of the really important goals in children’s educations is that they have an opportunity to make a change in their own world,” she said.
The students wrote the script, conducted interviews, photographed, recorded and edited the video themselves. Walter just did a bit of polishing afterward. Every one of the 29 kids in the class participated in some way.
The result went beyond their expectations: Martha Lake’s video was chosen as one of the 10 finalists of the 118 videos submitted. The top five will win grants. People can vote for the video they like on the nonprofit’s website. Voting closes Tuesday.
To encourage everyone at school to vote, the fourth-graders made posters and held them up before and after school.
Katrina Matthews, 10, even put up a sign at the swimming pool where she goes to practice.
“Our whole school is voting every day. My dad is voting evvvery day,” she said, drawing out the word.
Katrina enjoys the playground, but she had harsh words even for her favorite slide: rusty and wobbly.
The girl’s voice can be heard in the video leading the chorus of child voices.
After the video was completed, the students showed it to the entire school during assembly. The class beamed with pride at the kudos they got.
“They understand they are influencing people beyond their school,” Walter said. “It was really interesting to see them grasp the idea.”
The school’s playground was built in 1993 and could really use a makeover. It’s been remodeled but some equipment doesn’t measure up to today’s standards, said Katie Amodei, a PTA volunteer in Walter’s class.
This doesn’t mean the playground is unsafe for children, or that it isn’t beloved.
“This playground is a hub for the whole community,” Amodei said.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
Watch the video
Martha Lake Elementary School students made a video and entered it in a contest to win a grant for a new playground.
Vote for the video at http://tinyurl.com/marthaLakeVideo.
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