Small Hands Big Hearts: A Calendar of Caring By Kent Richardson, Edmonton, AB

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1 Small Hands Big Hearts: A Calendar of Caring By Kent Richardson, Edmonton, AB Intended Age / Subject Area Grades 1-8 Citizenship, Rights and Responsibilities, Environment Background Information Carrying on with Bisset School s long tradition of helping others, my grade 3 / 4 class has always looked for opportunities to go beyond our classroom walls, be global citizens, and care for our human family. We have adopted the name of Small Hands Big Hearts to propel our Calendar of Caring forward. Originally began as a brother and sister initiative that helped raise more than $ for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, Small Hands Big Hearts is about empowering children to make a difference and change their world. Teacher to both of these students, it was a simple decision to adopt Small Hands Big Hearts. Each month has a different focus that teaches children to care that transcends the blackboards of the classrooms and the walls of the school. Whether it s adopting endangered animals, feeding children in India, delivering presents to those who otherwise would not have them, writing letters of encouragement to our troops, or even just doing random of acts of kindness here at home, these children are learning that each of them has the power and responsibility to shape the kind of world they want to live in.

2 The Calendar of Caring: September: The De-Construction of Mt. Trashmore Recycling was September s initiative. As part of Waste Reduction Week, and as a culminating activity in our study of Waste and Our World, students built a mini-landfill in our class room. For one week, Room 16 became the Bisset Landfill. A big blue tarp was spread over the entire floor. A scale was brought in to weigh the day s garbage and 5 bins were set up to hold: paper products, metal and glass, drink containers, organics, and miscellaneous items. Each day, students collected the garbage from the lunch program and then proceeded to sort it out into the five bins. Students kept track of each piece of garbage on a large tally graph. By the end of the week, the garbage was stacked into a five feet tall mountain, with over pieces of garbage. Yet, when that mountain of garbage was deconstructed, less than 3% of what was thrown away was nonrecyclable. More than 6700 pieces could have been diverted from the landfill if there was a regular recycling program in place. Room 16 is in the process of instituting a garbage-less lunch program for the school. CFRN-TV came on the last day to film a short segment for the 6 o clock evening news. October: Children of India Children in India was October s initiative. Bisset School s Northern Lights Club spearheaded an initiative to sponsor a child in Northern India for a year. As a companion project, Room 16 became involved in the feeding program where a dime feeds a child rice for one day. My daughter s piggy bank, a big baby bottle, was used to collect all the money that the children brought in, one dime at a time. Children brought in their dimes from their own piggy banks, their weekly allowances for the next four months until they had collected more than $500, enough money to feed more than children for a day.

3 November: Peace Peace was November s initiative. Edmonton s garrisons are homes to many of the men and women who are sent to various missions in the world as peace-keepers. Children here are very grateful for our troops, who risk their lives each day to bring about world peace. The war in Afghanistan has certainly been in the news as many of our soldiers have been hurt or killed in action. Room 16 supports our troops. We wore red every Friday to show our support. We have written postcards of peace to veterans who have been fought for Canada in past wars, as well as those who are engaging in battles today. December: Christmas is for Children Christmas is for children we usually hear. It certainly was this year, but in a different light than normally thought of for December s initiative. As a class, we decided that we would deliver presents for Santa s Anonymous. We also thought it would be a worthy cause to raise money to buy presents beforehand, as well. Children raised more than $500 by selling Christmas decorations at a make-shift display that they restocked every day; as well as taking orders for cookies that they had previously baked and decorated with sprinkles. Gifts were purchased and from that moment on, a beautiful and heart-warming story about giving unfolded for the boys and girls of Room 16, in what would turn out to be a very memorable Christmas for not just one class, but an entire city. In a nutshell, a little girl gave up her own birthday, just so her mom could drive the bus for our class to deliver presents to some of Edmonton s children-in-need. The story was covered by all aspects of the media: the newspapers (The Edmonton Journal), the radio (630 CHED), and television (Global- TV).

4 January: The Humane Society Students went for one week to Zoo School, which parlayed into the various fund-raising activities revolving around January s initiative of helping animals. Students raised $480 to support two organizations that are involved with animals. Three hundred dollars went to the Edmonton Humane Society to sponsor a kennel for the stray cats that the animal shelter houses. One hundred and eighty dollars went to the Western Canada Wilderness Committee to support them in gaining protection for over 40 major wilderness areas in Western Canada by adopting a tree in the Garry Oak Ecosystem, a burrowing owl, a species-at-risk, as well as four grizzly bears. Students in room 16 and their grade ½ buddy class that they went to Zoo School for a week with, raised $500 dollars to adopt various zoo animals at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. The money is used for help in buying the simple, bare necessities for each animal. Students raised the monies by selling raffle tickets for a large acrylic painting of a Siberian tiger by local artist, Heather Drummond; a painting done by Lucy the elephant; and a signed 2007 nature calendar by Robert Bateman. February: Random Acts of Kindness February s initiative was Random Acts of Kindness. Children looked for opportunities to help in ways that were not expected of them. It could be a kind word to a friend, giving a heart-felt compliment to another, sharing a cookie with a class mate, or as simple as a smile. Not surprisingly, given the record amount of snow that Edmonton has had this winter, many of the activities revolved around shoveling. In fact, our entire class, took ice scrapers and shovels and helped the school custodian clean off the accumulated snow of three weeks on the front walks. The students started a wall of hearts in the class, where they recorded on a heart a random act of kindness they did for another person.

5 March: Kids are Authors, Too March s initiative was writing a book for Scholastic s, Kids are Authors, Too, contest with a book called One Big Happy Planet a 1,2,3, counting book of caring. It shows how the actions of one can eventually lead to a whole planet caring about each other. Students met over lunch hours to write and illustrate this wonderful book on the power of one. April: Becoming Stewards of the Earth April has Earth Day, so April s initiative was Becoming Stewards of the Earth. There is so much to do in caring for the earth that is obvious that it goes without saying. Room 16 pitched in to help clean up the earth any way we could. May: Planting Seeds May s initiative was about planting seeds. All of these projects are hopefully planting seeds of caring and giving in every child s heart. This project is about planting seeds of flowers and vegetables. June: The Mighty Mia s Children in Room 16 have been involved with The Walk to Cure Diabetes, as their teacher s three-year old daughter has type 1 diabetes. They helped raise close to $ of the eventual $ that The Mighty Mia s raised. AFTERWORD Room 16 won a national award through Epson Canada s Brighter Futures contest, where the children had to put together a 10-page scrapbook outlining how they helped make a difference in the world. As a new school year is approaching, there will be new initiatives again for the students to be involved in, as there will always be a place where others can lend a helping hand.

6 As much as children need to be taught the basic essentials in academics to be successful in school: they must likewise be taught the basic essentials in matters of the heart to be successful in life. Please, thank you, I m sorry, are all important words to know in life. So is, what can I do to help?