Big kids help little kids in Umatilla

By Terry Murry on Monday, May 5th, 2025 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

UMATILLA – The Clara Brownell Middle School students taking family and consumer science classes with teacher Holly Fritz recently delivered monsters to preschool students at McNary Heights Elementary School.

The younger students first heard a reading of the book I Need My Monster. After that, each seventh or eighth grade student in the family and consumer sciences classes paired up with preschoolers. The younger set drew their monster ideas, while older students named those creations and decided what their monsters liked, what scared them, and what were their favorite colors.

The curriculum began with child development chapters. The next step created work on sewing. The CBMS students took the colored drawings and started working on making monsters. They used different colors of felt and sewed them together using the stitches that had been taught to the. Buttons were added for more details.

The middle school students returned to McNary Heights to give the monsters to their young creators.

“The young students were so excited to get a monster buddy that looked exactly like what they had colored and described,” a news release from the Umatilla School District states. “The middle schoolers, in turn were happy to present the finished monsters to them.”

Photo from Umatilla School District. L-R Neveah Gutierrez and Ava Montiel show off their monsters.