Because our current unit of study revolves around our community and ways to help others in our community, we thought it would be important to give students the chance to become community helpers. One of Miss Riley’s friends told her about a wonderful organization called Cards for Hospitalized Kids that distributes handmade cards to children in hospitals all across the U.S.
While East Kingston does an excellent job with raising funds for various charitable organizations, we thought creating cards would allow our students to experience a more hands-on and connected approach to community service. Every morning for the last several days, students worked on creating holiday cards for these children that they felt would “fill their buckets.” We talked about what a card looks like as well as the messages that could go on the front/inside that would allow children to take their minds off of their illness and brighten their day.
Students came up with several wonderful messages such as “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Have a Happy New Year,” and “You Are The BEST!” and many decided to sign their card with “From Your New Friend,” since they are friends we have yet to meet 🙂
We sent out the cards to ensure they could arrive to the organization in enough time to allow them to distribute the cards before the holidays. We hope they will enjoy the cards as much as we enjoyed making them!
***A quick note to parents: if you have notices a surplus of paper snowflakes hanging around your house, it is probably due to the fact that Miss Riley showed students how to make paper snowflakes so they could add them to their cards. Enjoy your child’s newfound art skill!!!!
Feats of First Grade 
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