Maria Montessori said that peace starts with educating children. And she was right. Today I was witness to a wonderful moment of children looking beyond themselves and seeing how they could help others.
Today at circle time one of our third year students brought in a news article with a photograph of children crossing a broken bridge to get to school. This photo sparked a huge conversation about getting to school safely. We discussed how a flood could damage the bridge and how people in different countries have different needs and abilities to solve those problems.
As we were cleaning up the classroom from lunch 2 of the older children came to me with a plan. This plan was that “our” school could raise money for “their” school so that they could rebuild their bridge and get to school safely.
Not only did they have a plan of what they wanted to do but how they were going to do it. They were going to make posters and put out jars or boxes to collect the money and we would count it all up and send it to them.
So the afternoon “work” became putting their plan into place. They made posters, helped find collection boxes in the school and posted them at the pick-up and drop off locations of the school house.
To help their project I notified families of the school through email so that they understood what the children were trying to accomplish.At the end of February we will count the money, write a letter and send it all to the Red Cross to help those who are currently in need.
I was so proud of those children; their enthusiasm to help those in need and their initiative to figure out a way that they could do it is both heartwarming and encouraging. Our world will be a better place because of them!
For more information on the story that triggered the children's compassion, check out the news article.
No comments:
Post a Comment