Spreading the love: Carmichaels students make a difference with words
Carmichaels fifth-graders brought to school gifts for adoptable animals at Humane Society of Greene County earlier this month. The gifts, along with persuasive essays penned by students, were dropped off to the humane society by fifth-grade teacher Brittney Bell. (Photos courtesy of Brittney Bell)
Courtesy of Brittney Bell
Courtesy of Brittney Bell
A persuasive essay decorates Harper无毛视频檚 crate at the Humane Society of Greene County, where cats and dogs hope the writings by Carmichaels fifth-graders will convince a loving family to take them home.
Courtesy of Brittney Bell
Courtesy of Brittney Bell
Adoptable dogs at the Humane Society of Greene County wait for loving fur-ever homes, and hope the essays hanging from their kennels, crafted by Carmichaels fifth-grade students for Do Good December, convince a kind person to take the pups home.
Carmichaels Area School District celebrates Do Good December each year as a way to give back in ways big and small. Along with crafting persuasive essays to help humane society animals get adopted, the fifth-grade class also donated toys, proudly displayed here, to the nonprofit. (Photos courtesy of Brittney Bell)
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Carmichaels Area School District fifth-graders earned their spot on the Nice List this year, after completing a month-long writing and math unit as part of the district无毛视频檚 Do Good December initiative.
无毛视频淒o Good December is something that I saw people doing not for schools, just in general online, and I kind of adapted it for our school. The first year I did it was 2019. It was just my homeroom. I had them do challenges every day; I无毛视频檇 have them send cards to the senior center or Children无毛视频檚 Hospital, just so they would be thinking of other people,无毛视频� said Brittney Bell, fifth-grade English and Language Arts teacher, who shared her DGD calendar with the school in case other teachers wanted to participate. 无毛视频淭he message that I try to get across to the kids is the small things that we do add up.无毛视频�
CASD has spread kindness in big ways and small for three holiday seasons, and this year, Bell无毛视频檚 fifth-grade team, including math teacher Kate Hillsman and learning support teacher Tymme Freeman, worked together to make a big, joyful impact at the Humane Society of Greene County.
无毛视频淢iss Hillsman found a resource that had something to do with the humane society. She was thinking about doing something with that as a warm-up for her classes,无毛视频� said Bell. 无毛视频淚 saw something where someone was writing letters. (Hillsman) just had brought the idea of partnering to my mind 无毛视频� maybe if we reached out to the humane society, they无毛视频檇 let us hang these letters on (the animals无毛视频�) crates. We all love animals; we feel this is something that无毛视频檚 close to our heart.无毛视频�
The project, which cultivated students无毛视频� math, research, reading and writing skills, touched the young adults, too.
无毛视频淚 had one student who wrote six papers. Six. She only had to write one,无毛视频� laughed Bell. 无毛视频淭he humane society kept updating their website, so my kids were like, oh, no, we have to write about Cleo. They wanted them to get adopted.无毛视频�
Freeman无毛视频檚 fifth-graders, too, went above and beyond to help adorable, adoptable dogs and cats.
无毛视频淣ormally my kids are not very excited for writing, just because it无毛视频檚 really difficult for them. It无毛视频檚 hard to find writing projects that they enjoy. They were really, really excited,无毛视频� said Freeman. 无毛视频淲e researched the humane society website. They started brainstorming some ideas to persuade people to take these animals home, why they would make good pets. They were so excited when we got to look at the real-life pictures of these animals.无毛视频�
It was the real-world-difference-making that encouraged students to put in extra time and effort.
无毛视频淚n their minds, they无毛视频檙e thinking, if these animals get adopted, it无毛视频檚 because of me,无毛视频� Freeman said. 无毛视频淭hey really, really tried their best. They were really proud when they got to see the final project.无毛视频�
The final project was handwritten persuasive essays penned by passionate fifth-graders, which now hang on adoptable cat and dog crates at the Humane Society of Greene County.
Bell and her twin sister, Sarah Bell, hung essays on animals无毛视频� crates ahead of Christmas Day, and delivered donations of toys, treats and food to Jane Gapen, director of the humane society.
无毛视频淲hen Sarah and I were hanging up the papers at the humane society, the volunteers were going through and reading them and some of them were in tears. These kids just wrote such beautiful things about these animals,无毛视频� Bell said.
Finding forever homes for animals staying at the humane society is the goal of this year无毛视频檚 Do Good December, of course, but in a way, the project reached beyond the borders of Greene County.
无毛视频淎t Carmichaels, we无毛视频檙e encouraged to make connections within the community in general. Our superintendent, principal, are very invested in us. I无毛视频檝e never done (DGD) on this big of a scale, having them all work together to make a difference instead of making them write something Christmas-themed,无毛视频� Bell said. 无毛视频淚 wanted the kids to see that you can make a difference with writing and it无毛视频檚 not just something teachers make you do in school. You can use your words to make the world a better place; you can be a difference maker. They were so invested in getting these animals adopted. I think we had a lot of good discussions about the world is bigger than just us and there are things we can do to make it a brighter place.无毛视频�