Start cleaning out your closets! Our clothing drive called, "Clothes For A Cause" is underway. We will be collecting women's clothes and children's clothes ranging from infant through pre-teen. All donations will go to Dottie's House, a shelter for battered women and their children. We will also accept coats for men, women and children. The drive ends on Feb. 19.

The drive is a problem-based learning project led by second grade teacher Mrs. Beth DeFeo. She decided to have her students organize and run a clothing drive to teach them about service and giving back to those less fortunate in the community.

"I felt this was already a conversation/theme in our classroom since this past summer I was a missionary in Kenya and had worked in orphanages, schools and villages," explained DeFeo. "I shared my experiences and pictures with my students at the beginning of the year and since then their interests were piqued to do something for others."

"I thought it would be a wonderful experience for my class to work alongside older students. I asked Ms. Ambler's fifth grade class to join our project and work on our clothing drive. I felt through this experience my students could gain better knowledge of letter writing, computer skills, and working collaboratively."

At the beginning of January the two classes began meeting twice a week. They formed mixed collaborative groups, developed letters explaining the clothing drive to the teachers and families of the school, and created posters advertising the drive. Students were able to use the computer lab to type their letters and create charts and graphs to collect data from the drive.

"The students have been extremely excited about this endeavor and have formed new friendships," said DeFeo. In the first week, they collected 30 bags of clothing.