W. Babylon's Santapogue Elementary Shares the Love

Students in Jennifer Sagginario's fifth-grade class at Santapogue Elementary School in the West Babylon School District created valentine letters and poems for veterans residing in VA hospitals.

The students’ personalized notes showed caring and respect for those who have served their country. The activity, conducted as part of the district’s Character Certainly Counts initiative, was directed by the student council and their adviser, Sue Soldano who delivered the letters on the students’ behalf.

As part of a lesson on mailing letters, kindergarten students in Yvonne Szpilka’s class at Santapogue also wrote special valentines. The children learned an address chant to help them with the process, then copied their addresses onto envelopes. They discussed the type of information that is put into a letter as well as where the letter goes after it is placed in the mailbox. Parents were surprised to receive their mailed valentine cards at home.