Aidan Daly, 9, and Sara Underwood, 9, carefully scooped catnip into a baby's sock on Wednesday morning in their fourth-grade classroom at the Rio Grande School. The instructions from their teacher, Kristin Potter, were clearly written on the dry-erase board: "Catnip, Stuffing, Stitch, Feathers, Stitch."

The girls were putting together cat toys for the fundraiser the class is doing for the Española Valley Humane Society. Cat toys, dog toys and homemade dog biscuits are just a few of the things the class is selling to benefit the Española Valley Humane Society. Their annual fundraiser generally raises $1,000 a year for the Humane Society.

"I love making these things because I have a cat and a dog and it's really fun," said Lili Dale, 9, as she stitched colorful feathers into her sock.

Potter chose the Española Valley Humane Society as the service-learning project for her students 10 years ago.

"I'm a huge animal person," Potter said with enthusiasm. She and her husband own several pets, most of which came from the Española shelter.

Selling homemade and hand-stitched treats is just a fraction of what the class does for the animals. Every second Saturday of the month, Potter, another teacher and a few students make the trip to Española to visit the pets, play with and walk them, and help clean out litter boxes and kennels.

"The kids really get to do the hands-on work," Potter said. "When we come back to school they've made a real connection with the animal shelter and they see what the needs are and they're jazzed up about doing some fundraising."

Lucy Kamp, 9, loves her days at the shelter. "I like going up there and I like to know that we're helping," Lucy said.

Alix Kirby, 9, also likes traveling to the shelter, but her favorite part of the service-learning project is the baking.

"I like making the dog biscuits because I like to cook," Alix said. "I like to make desserts and stuff."

The class has been working on this fundraiser since September, Potter said.

"We bake dog biscuits every other Wednesday at school," Potter said. "There's so much math involved in baking and they learn basic economics, because I provide what we call the start-up costs for the business and as we need to replenish supplies, that comes out of our profit."

Every class at Rio Grande School has a service-learning project. It's part of the curriculum, said Head of School Jay Underwood.

"It's important that our kids learn empathy for others and the power of giving back to the community," Underwood said.

Anybody interested in purchasing toys or biscuits for their pets can visit the Rio Grande School, 715 Camino Cabra. The class is also collecting blankets and towels for the animals.

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.