South Street School students of the Eastport-South Manor Central School District displayed kindness through a pair of noble collections last month.
They rallied blankets and towels for the animals at Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center in Huntington, and the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation in Hampton Bays. This helped teach them the virtue of philanthropy, and good deed doing in general.
The students also collected cereal boxes for the school’s fifth annual Cereal Drive and Domino Drop Event: a whopping 718 boxes worth.
Faculty members lined up these boxes at the event. Principal Jackson knocked over the first box, which caused an exciting domino effect throughout the school’s halls as students reacted with glee. Afterward, the cereal was donated to the "Helping Makes U Happy" organization.
Over at Tuttle Avenue School, first and second-grade ambassadors also recently partook in a mass collection: they sourced 4,000 books for the “Book Faires” organizations. Teacher Elise Allen and teacher aide Lynda Malatak supervised the event.
These efforts are instrumental in the mission to increase access to books, and literacy in general, amongst the youth across the Greater Long Island community.
During the book drive, the student ambassadors conducted the book counts themselves. They talked to each class about the importance of the collection. The original goal—1,000—was shattered, also instilling in the kids that doing the bare minimum in life should not be the bar they set for themselves. They should look to go above and beyond in all endeavors.
Select students of South Street, along with groups over at Dayton Avenue and Eastport Elementary, recently experienced an in-house field trip with the New York State Historical Society as well.
Society teachers Dita Carhart, Terri Daley and Leah Charles first introduced students to the notion that researchers analyze artifacts to ascertain and contextualize their significance within overall history. They then provided firsthand demonstrations of such before guiding students in how to follow suit.
The students were then able to examine toys and objects to determine how they were made and used. These objects included old cell phones, a fire rattle and a corn doll.
Says Edouard: the goal of the program was to show students how they can learn from the past.