Some elementary school students are learning first hand how hard it can be to count for the Census.

Students at North Liberty Elementary are taking on their own school wide census.

“Our school decided we wanted a census simulation to give the kids an idea of how important a census is and what it means,” explains North Liberty Elementary 6th grader Thaddeus VanOverberghe.

Students learned quickly that even if it is a small school it's hard to track everyone down.

Students from the sixth grade class have been acting as census workers.

A select group of students wearing appropriate uniforms are collecting and counting handprints and posting them on the bulletin boards. The handprints serve as the schools’ version of the census forms.

All grades are learning about what the census is and why it matters.

“We've learned that if you don't put your handprint up or don't get a count, the taxes will be lower and they won't give us so much money,” says North Liberty Elementary 6th grader Ashton Pease.

Plus "the census workers" are finding out collecting is not as easy as it seems. In fact as the deadline draws closer census workers have been going to classrooms to collect delinquent forms.

The lesson is part of a nationwide program called "Census in Schools." It’s an educational tool the U.S. Census Bureau created to help get kids counted while providing teachers with creative resources in the classroom.

Ideally students will not only learn about the census but talk about it at home with their parents and remind them to fill out the forms.

So far at North Liberty Elementary they have about one hundred more handprints to gather before Census Count Day on April 1st.