Riverview Elementary School's fourth-grade students buzzed in anticipation Wednesday afternoon as they waited in the cafeteria for instructions about how to turn a square piece of cloth into a blanket.

The excitement turned into quiet concentration as the students snipped and folded pieces of material and made 4-foot-square lap blankets to be donated to a veterans hospital.

An hour later, fifth-grade students at the school on Kessler Road did the same project.

All told, 120 students in the two classes combined to make 40 blankets.

The students worked with 14 volunteers of the Verizon Maryland Pioneers, a local chapter of a 100-year-old volunteer program with members consisting of employees and retirees from the telecommunications industry.

The pioneers work with more than 400 different schools in Maryland, most of which are at the elementary or middle school levels, said Sandra Arnette, a spokeswoman for Verizon.

Riverview Elementary approached the Verizon Maryland Pioneers before the school year about doing projects in the school. .

"I like it because the Army and the soldiers are helping us be protected while they're (risking) their lives," said fourth-grader Aileen Leatherman while taking a break from cutting slits into cloth.

"It's important because they helped us, so we should help them," she said.

Asked what she liked about the project, fourth-grader Lexie Canterbury said, "It helps people in the hospital."

Mary Weber, president of the Verizon Maryland Pioneers, said the group has gone to schools across the state. So far, students have made 400 "Blankets of Honor" in the year that the pioneers have had the program.

"We're teaching children their first community service project," Weber said . "We decided to do the military because so many can relate to it because their fathers and mothers are overseas."

Several of the students in the fourth-grade class knew of relatives who had served in the military.

Joe Tenai, whose father is a veteran, was among them.

"The people in the military save us," he said. "I think (this project) is good."

Even those without any family connections to the armed forces saw the meaning behind the project.

"I think it's good because I get to give the blankets to the soldiers who work real hard in the war," said Keon Grier. "I just love to congratulate them and give them the blankets."

"I think it's a good project because it will make them feel special in the hospital," said fellow fourth-grader Tyshe' Jefferson.

The project required no sewing needles or stitching expertise, just scissors.

The students cut into the edges of the material, some on which was decorated with dice or reindeer, that the volunteers had brought and laid out. They folded the strips, made a small incision into the fold and pulled the material through the hole.

The process left fringe along the perimeter of the blanket, making it look nicer.

Even though the project was simple, Bonnie Block, the parent and community involvement coordinator at the school, said it could teach an important lesson.

"Children need to recognize that there's always some way to make a difference. It doesn't always have to be with money," Block said. "It's also important for children to know that there are men and women in our community that are finding ways to make us safe and secure."

In addition to knowing they were helping others, many students said they had had a good time making the blankets.

"I just like making stuff," said Russell England.

The fourth-grader said he would try to make a blanket at home.

Jeremy Haney, another fourth-grader, had similar plans.

"We get to take pieces after we cut them, so when we go home we're going to try to do the same thing we did there," he said. "You got to cut slits and tie it into a knot. It's fun."

Prior to the blanket project with the fifth-grade class at 2:15 p.m., the Pioneers presented a $250 check to the school to be used toward its Thanksgiving food drive. The group also pledged to collect food throughout the year to add to the school's pantry.

In addition to the blanket project, the pioneers read to the kindergarten and first- and second-grade classes and gave dictionaries to the third-grade students, Weber said.

Students with perfect attendance also earned Dolphin Dollars, named after the school's mascot, to use to buy school supplies, Weber noted.