In addition to the normal round of garage sales at churches andhomes, bargain hunters can add The University of Memphis to theirlist of places to shop this weekend.
Clothes, shoes and books will be on sale Saturday at the BarbaraK. Lipman Early Childhood School and Research Institute as afundraiser for the Lipman School and The U of M Campus School.
From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., donated clothing will sell for $2 to $3per item, and books will sell for $2 to $20 each through theScholastic Book Fair.
The proceeds from the sale will go toward projects both schoolsare planning to complete this year -- an outdoor classroom at theLipman School and a Smart Cart for the Campus School to givechildren a more hands-on approach to learning, said officials forthe schools' parent associations.
"The idea (for the outdoor classroom) stems from the schoolitself," said Julie Calkins, president of Lipman School's ParentAssociation. "The parents said, 'Terrific. Let's make ithappen.'"
Through the outdoor classroom, accredited by the NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children, children willexplore natural surroundings and learn about the cycle of life.They will plant a vegetable garden to learn about the growthprocess and see the completed cycle and how everything in theenvironment is connected.
"It's an extension of the indoor classroom, so the childrenunderstand the web or cycle of life," said Sandra Brown Turner,Lipman School director. "If we take care of the earth, the earthtakes care of us."
While children learn outside at the Lipman School, the SmartCart will add to the technology-based learning at the CampusSchool.
The mobile computer center is a specialized audio-visual cartwith a computer, projector and a VCR, said officials with SchoolAdvisory Council, the parent association for the Campus School.
"The big thing is to buy PCs for the Smart Cart, which is about$50,000," said Mary Honey, SAC vice president, adding that theorganization is about $15,000 away from the goal.
To help the groups meet their goals, Scholastic Book Fairs, oneof the largest publishers and distributors of children's booksworldwide, will provide books for the sale in addition to the 3,000items of clothing and shoes that have been collected for thefundraiser.
Hardcover and paperback books will be sold for children who areof early preschool and elementary ages.
These types of books have big pictures with many colors so thechildren can tell what's going on without having to read them, andthey're written in verse, with catchy rhymes of a repetitivenature, said Carol Cordeau-Young, Lipman School supervisingteacher.
"The repetitive nature gives order to the mind and a sequence ofevents," she said. "The colors extend their vocabulary. (Thechildren) can be in charge of reading a book."
