Heritage South Elementary School principal Jason Call said his teachers never stop surprising him.

"They can make anything educational," he said.

That includes holiday-related activities in the week leading up to Christmas break.

One of those activities was the school's annual food and clothing drive for Avon/Avon Lake Community Resource Services.

As of Thursday, there were about 600 food items collected. Call said he hoped to beat last year's total of 1,100. The food will be taken to CRS early this coming week, Call said, so it would be available for people to use over Christmas.

The Christmas tree between the two food donation tables was not decorated with tinsel and ornaments, but with hats, gloves, mittens and scarves.

In addition to encouraging generosity and kindness to others, there were other lessons on the agenda with the drive, Call said.

Working with shapes was one of them. One day, students brought in only cylinder-shaped pieces of non-perishable food, like canned soup. Another day, it was rectagles like boxed spaghetti or mac and cheese.

Teachers also had students working on gingerbread houses to learn about measurements.

"The teachers are so great about harnessing the enthusiasm kids have for the holidays and turning it into a chance to learn," Call said.