Children Helping Children Overcome Fears at Cecil Intermediate School’ s Maker Space
Whether you are the chief of police or a child just about to enter kindergarten, we all have fears. There are times in our lives when our minds and bodies overrule our sensibility, and fear sets in. Our palms sweat. Our breath comes a little faster. We have trouble thinking straight.
Students in Susie Lavallee’ s reading classes at Cecil Intermediate spent several weeks investigating this strong emotion. They read relatable stories with children who experienced various forms of fear, and also nonfiction science pieces detailing what happens inside our bodies and brain when encountering fear.
But that’ s not all: The school is also partnering with the Children’ s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Gateway to the Arts to help area children overcome their fears while undergoing medical procedures and treatment.
On Friday, Feb. 26, a child-life specialist visited Cecil Intermediate’ s reading classes to share the special equipment and techniques used to help kids handle anxiety.
On Monday, Feb. 29, fabric and textile artist Amy Masters took up residency in the school’ s newly created maker space.
Students spent 10 class periods learning to stitch, both by hand and with a machine- starting with simple pillowcases that will provide comfort to the patients at Children’ s Hospital.
As part of the project, students read related articles about kids helping kids, and also researched additional sewing techniques to apply to our personalized projects. Students at CIS are also lending their hands to a similar project involving the Cecil Township nonprofit organization Jameson’ s Army.
The special nurses in the heart unit at Children’ s Hospital will lend their experienced sewing skills to make special pillows for the youngsters in their care. The school is even hosting a fabric drive( complete with student-made collection boxes) to help them get their project off the ground!
Jameson’ s Army co-founder and President Danielle McKain said she visited Mrs.
Lavallee’ s class and was“ astounded” by not only by the students’ skills and the finished project – but also for their compassion and caring.
“ It’ s amazing – I was blown away,” she said.
While the class might believe it had done just a small kindness, Mrs. McKain said she wants students to know just how much of an impact it will have on the hospital patients who receive their pillows.
Long-term hospital stays are often in dull rooms with uncomfortable beds – and bright, colorful pillows like the ones they made often go a long way in making a room feel a little more like home.“ It’ s really a mental booster,” she said.““ I want our students to know that even at ages 11 and 12, they can directly impact the community. They can respond to something they’ ve read and take action,” Mrs. Lavallee said.“ Their skills, either existing or new- like sewing in this case- can raise awareness, provide support and start conversations. To me, that’ s clear evidence that learning is happening! Learning should be fun, exciting and rewarding.” Principal Bob Kleinhans lauded the project.“ Project-based learning experiences like the Fear Project were one of the reasons we created the Maker Space at Cecil Intermediate,” he said.“ Our students received hands-on, practical experience in completing a project while also helping them see that what they create has a practical use that benefits other members of the community and learning goes well beyond the walls of the classroom.”
Canonsburg Middle School Teams Up with Fort Cherry for Holocaust Shoe Project
The Holocaust was an event that had a traumatic impact on the world— with more than 11 million innocent people brutally killed by the Nazi government. When those people arrived at the concentration camps, they were stripped of their shoes.
Many of these shoes are now on display at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D. C. in remembrance of this terrible event.
And now Canonsburg Middle School is teaming up with Fort Cherry Jr./ Sr. High School on a project that will help honor those victims’ lives.
CMS eighth-grade advanced English classes have partnered with Mr. Alan Morawiec, the son of a Jewish Holocaust survivor and creator of the“ Holocaust Shoe Project,” in memory of the lives lost in this tragic event.
Mr. Morawiec also video chatted with both sets of students via Google Hangouts on Tuesday, May 24 to share his father’ s Holocaust survival story and discuss the history of the project.
For the project, students have been collecting shoes in order to recreate the famous Room of Shoes exhibit at the Holocaust Museum.
The goal? To collect 550 pairs-- with each shoe representing 10,000 of the approximate 11 million lost.
Canonsburg Middle School and Fort Cherry have collaboratively surpassed and doubled that original goal, with well over 1,000 pairs of shoes collected between the two schools at this time.
The progress at CMS could be seen in the main office lobby at CMS, where they set up an“ exhibit” to honor those whose lives were lost during the Holocaust.
At the end of the school year, all adult shoes will be donated to the Washington City Mission and all children’ s shoes will be donated to a program called Shoes for Nicaragua. anon-Mac
CANON-MAC SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
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