Students at Orchard Elementary in LaSalle wear hats to raise money for earthquake relief in Haiti. (CBC)

School children across Montreal are doing what they can to help people in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, even if it seems like a small gesture.

Students at Orchard Elementary School in LaSalle donned their favourite hats on Tuesday —something they're not normally allowed to do — and brought in a donation of $5 or $10 for Haiti.

The kids said they hope the money goes to buy food or to help re-building efforts.

"We are all people, all the same people, in this whole world. So, we should help everybody," Grade 6 student Ariana Stephens said Tuesday.

Grade 2 student Michael Pelchat said: "I am trying to make the whole world happy." Liz Rivard, principal at Orchard Elementary, said she got the fundraising idea from a high school on the West Island. "I have to be honest, I stole this idea from John Rennie High School. An email went out to all the principals saying that this had started and we just jumped on the bandwagon," Rivard said.

The students raised $220, she said, and most of it will go to the Canadian Red Cross or a church in Haiti.

"We are a very small school, we raised over $200, and we would like to challenge all the schools in Montreal to do the same," Rivard said. "If everyone just brings a dollar, it will make a difference."

At the Fine Arts Core Education (FACE) school in downtown Montreal, Grade 11 student Dahlia Adrien is collecting all she can for Haiti.

"We are trying to gather money and clothes, and we are asking for anything you can give because they need whatever they can get," she said.

Dahlia is Haitian and she was in the country just four days before the earthquake hit. Her mother is still there, she said, and they're keeping in touch via blackberry.

Dahlia has already collected a bag of clothes that she will ship off to Haiti, and she's rallying other students at her school to give.

"A lot of them are really into it…The response is positive," she said.