Simsbury Kindergarten Class Collects Over $200 for Needy

An announcement from Simsbury Public Schools:

Central Elementary School kindergarten teacher Georgia Austin teaches kindness all year long, but on Thursday, Dec. 18, lessons in kindness and giving were learned in a festive and fun environment, during the “Spirit of Giving” celebration, with parent volunteers and lots of ways to keep little hands busy.

Austin, who earlier this year was named Simsbury Teacher of the Year, asked her class to take up a collection to help sponsor needy families in Simsbury. The class collected over $200.

Room parents and other parent volunteers shopped for holiday gifts to be donated to Gifts of Love in Avon as well as purchased gift cards for donation to Simsbury’s Social Services.

During the celebration, students rotated between different colored tables. Each “station” represented a different activity. With a little help from volunteers, the kindergartners decorated gift tags; wrote reflections illustrating what caring means or how they could show they care; designed “cheer” cards for elderly citizens; wrapped gifts; and created posters with caring messages.

Messages for the cheerful posters had been suggested by the kindergartners, including “Be Happy,” “Laugh and Play, “and Happy Kwanzaa.” One message, “Sing a Happy Song,” clearly inspired Isaac, who softly sang a ditty of his own creation as he illustrated a poster.

Parent volunteer Darren Bornn seemed familiar with some of the finer points of wrapping gifts, which he was happy to share with the children, including using lots of tape to discourage peeking. Other adhesives, glue in particular, proved a bit of an issue at some tables. Walking by a table with cut-out letters for the poster so saturated with glue they had become translucent, Austin remarked, “Isabella loves glue!”

Gluing snowmen and other characters onto a card didn’t always work out exactly right the first time. Austin knelt down to help Sophie troubleshoot her creation, which featured a snowman glued horizontally onto a vertical card.

“Let’s talk about this for a sec,” said Austin. “Is the snowman sleeping?”

The kindergartner’s brow furrowed, then her face lit up when she realized what needed to be done so the reader wouldn’t have to turn the card around once opened.

“I’ll help you fix it,” said Austin, kindly, a gesture that fit right in with the theme of the day.

First photo (contributed): Kindergartners write reflections about the meaning of caring. Parent volunteer Kristin Babigian is ready to assist with spelling or other writing challenges.

Second photo (contributed): This Central School kindergartner’s big smile matched those of the characters on the “cheer card” he made for an elderly resident of McLean in Simsbury.