Student Contributor -H. Sale
My students were learning about a police officer and a K-9 officer so I thought it would be a great idea for them to write thank-you letters to first responders. I showed my students a small presentation explaining what first responders are and how they help us. They then made thank-you cards and drew pictures with their 1st-grade buddies for first responders in Spokane. I plan on going to Spokane Police Department and giving them the cards here soon.
Students were given a template on that they could write a thank you letter, and they were also able to draw a picture for the first responders as well. My mentor teacher teamed up with her class’s 1st-grade reading buddies and they all were able to create thank-you cards. This is a service to the community because it was thanking people who keep us all safe and often do not receive the recognition that they deserve. This was powerful for my students because most of them live in an area where they do not have to encounter first responders as often as kids in other communities, so they were able to learn more about what first responders do for them even if it is not directly. It was a great opportunity to thank someone and not think of themselves at that moment.
The project went really well and the kids got into it and were engaged. They all wanted to share any experiences that they had with first responders and how they have been impacted by them. Overall, I think that it all went well, the only downside was time. There was not enough time to complete the cards while I was there in the class with the students so I was not able to be there while they created the cards. If someone were to do this project I would tell them to try to plan out a block of time maybe during writing so that they could be there while students were creating the cards. It would have also been nice to be there so that I could have taken photos of the students while they were creating the cards (if I had permission).
