Helping Hands Helping Others

A couple weeks ago, we received two visitors in the same day. One of the first visitors was Kathy Kinney, who worked in the Vigo County Solid Waste Management District to talk about Earth Day. She touched base on the ways we have helped the community by recycling. A well-known example of recycling in Vigo County Schools is donating plastic lids. When there is a certain amount of lids from a given school, they are melted down and molded into a bench that is made in the school's colors. In this case, Consolidated has three red benches so far and is now in the process of having a fourth bench.

Mrs. Kinney also took some time out of her morning to read to both fourth grade classrooms Earth Day From the Black Lagoon. This is a series that the students at Consolidated love, so all of the students were completely engaged. What was even better for them was that they were given homemade mud-pies (chocolate cupcakes with a gummy worm on top) to eat as a nice mid-morning snack.

We were also able to touch the lives of a lucky patient. When I visited Consolidated back in December, Mrs. H and Mrs. D were in talks of creating a handmade quilt for cancer patients at the Hux Center, a cancer treatment center at Union Hospital for patients in the Terre Haute area. During the first few weeks of my student teaching experience, I helped my students paint a quilt square of anything they wanted. Later on, a visitor related to another student teacher came in and showed all fifty-four students of the fourth grade how to sew with a sewing machine, something not a lot of children know how to do these days. By the middle of February, the quilt was completed and we were ready to give the quilt away. Unfortunately, there were many circumstances that came up and a representative was unable to come until this time.

When we presented the quilt, there was not a dry eye in the classroom. Upon seeing the quilt, the representatives broke down in tears, grateful knowing that there are people willing to help and comfort those in need. As someone who has been affected by family members and people I deeply care for fighting cancer of some sort, this project was something I take pride in and I am glad I had the experience guiding my students to help those who need comfort, no matter what pain they are going through.

As the days of my student teaching experience come to an end, I cannot help but reflect on these experiences I have had whether I think about my day or if I'm sitting across the table from a potential employer and I talk about what I have contributed to my classroom. And for that, I'm forever grateful of my placement at this school.

Until next time,

Sarah