On World Kindness Day, John S. Martinez School held its second annual Community Day. Each grade band partnered with a local non-profit organization to spread kindness. This event culminated a yearly overnight leadership retreat to Fairlee, VT to the Hulbert Outdoor Center where 20 JSM students took part in leadership training on how to build partnerships.
Kindergarten- Kindergarten students are creating artwork for the new City Seed facility on James Street. Their classroom and art teachers are helping students to design art pieces that inspire others to eat healthy foods and visit the markets in New Haven. Students took a field trip to City-Seed to tour their facility and imagine how it could be improved. Kindergarteners also made friendship bracelets for friends in the other kindergarten class. They culminated the activity by reading a book together with both classes.
Grade 1-Students in Grade 1 visited classrooms to collect seed packets. Students learned about how they can visit Gather New Haven to volunteer with their families. 1st grade students then read books about kindness and wrote/drew about how to show kindness to each other.
Grade 2- 2nd graders created bookmarks for students who go to New Haven Reads for tutoring or field trips. Representatives came in to describe what this non-profit organization provides for its community and brought in books for 2nd grade.
Grade 3- A Hole in the Wall Gang Camp representative came to JSM to meet with students. They spoke with students about their mission and the impact that the 3rd grade students can have on their campers. The theme of the 3rd grade service project is inclusion. Our students helped to put together craft bags/activity kits for the upcoming week’s hospital visit. The 3rd grade project supports the hospital outreach team. The grade band has plans to continue the work with a monetary school-wide fundraiser in January.
Grade 4-The co-founder of Arte joined us at JSM to meet with the students to talk about what ARTE is all about. There was a Q&A and planning session for students. During our meeting, the students decided to do a movie night to raise a monetary donation for the ARTE foundation.
Grade 5- Urban Community Alliance’s mission is to foster family well-being by strengthening parents' ability to provide healthy nurturing environments for their children and by providing support for children and youth so that they thrive emotionally, socially, academically and spiritually. 5th grade created posters containing the 11 key principles of the Balanced and Restorative Justice philosophy to be displayed in the Restorative Justice meeting rooms at the Urban Community Alliance.
Grade 6- The work with Save the Sound is a continuation of our collaboration and partnership throughout the year to educate, increase awareness, and provide students with hands-on activities that increase understanding of the dynamics of our neighborhood watershed. The purpose of our activities are to engage students and ignite stewardship in order to improve the health of our neighborhood watershed. The 6th grade toured the bioretention making observations, drawing models, and taking notes. They discussed the kinds of things they saw and observed. After this, they went back to their classroom and created a simulation of the garden that included elements of our watershed, such as salt from the piles, sand, oil, chemicals, trash, and watershed and the garden. In this way, students observed the dynamic relationship between the garden, the neighborhood watershed, and the Mill River. As a result of these activities, students understand the importance of these interconnected relationships and can use their voices to advocate as stewards of their neighborhood environment. The 6th graders will continue to use their advocacy by continuing their conversation with both Save The Sound and the City Planner, offering their insight and ideas, as well as writing letters based on their findings.
Grade 7-The 7th grade took part in facilitating a Red, White, Blue, and Camo spirit day at school on World Kindness Day. Students and staff participated by wearing these colors and donating to local community partner, Healing Hoofbeats of CT, an organization that supports veterans in equine therapy. Through the work of the 7th grade, $433 were raised for this cause.
Grade 8- A representative of IRIS came to speak to students about their organization on World Kindness Day. Students worked to create welcome cards for all newcomers. 8th grade students conducted a winter clothing drive for the organization and collected 10 large boxes of winter clothing. Members of the school gathered and washed the clothing. Coats, hats and mittens were placed in the boxes to IRIS.
In addition to all of this, the school then donated five huge bags of sweatshirts for various churches that hold clothing drives for families in need.
Students kicked off their service projects by presenting their ideas during a school-wide pep rally. We are extremely proud of the way our school came together to empower students, support one another in reaching our goals, and have a positive impact throughout the community. We are grateful to our partners for taking the time to work with us and mentor our students through this process.
-- Lauren Sepulveda
