PHOTOS: Celebrating Differences in Little Silver

On Thursday, third graders did what they normally do: they poured themselves a bowl of cereal, put on their sneakers and threw a ball around.

But because this was a part of Celebrating Different Learning Abilities Day, the students discovered how tough these everyday, mundane tasks can be -- like zipping a sweatshirt and finding a matching pair of mittens -- when you are living with a mental or physical challenge.

"It's so important for students to understand and accept all kinds of differences," said Dr. Pamela Albert-Devine, the school's principal. "Sometimes they have to experience it for themselves."

In its sixth year, the exposed the third grade class to multiple challenges through hands-on activities coordinated and moderated by the over-50 parent volunteers and the Little Silver PTO.

Students rotated through five stations throughout the day, broken into Vision, Hearing, Developmental, Learning and Physical challenges.

They also had the opportunity to meet guest speakers living with hearing and vision loss.

Event Chair Beth Punzi said, "Special needs kids benefit from the empathy and understanding from their peers."

She added, "The administration and staff support this program so thoroughly that the children really get that message."

"It makes such an impression on them," said Punzi.