Third Graders Making a Difference

By Roni Kanter, Hackley Lower School teacher

“Go forth and spread beauty and light.” These words are taken very seriously throughout Hackley School. Third graders are learning to make these words part of a lifelong habit to make a difference in the world. Through a service learning curriculum, aptly called Third Graders Making a Difference, each month, students are learning about challenges and problems in their local and global communities, and they are focusing on using their voices, their minds, and their own two hands to be an important part of the solution.

Roni Kanter, Hackley Lower School teacher

Students of all ages come to school each day with a wide array of experiences and knowledge about what is going on in the world outside their home and beyond our beautiful Hilltop. This curriculum, designed to expand beyond the current grade level, provides a unique opportunity for students to share what they already know, to talk about what concerns them, and to work together to grow both awareness and support for those in need in our local community and around the world. With ties to music, art, literacy, math, social studies, and science, Third Graders Making a Difference provides a way for children of all ages, learning styles, interests, and abilities to access and process information in a safe, developmentally appropriate way.

Third Graders Making a Difference helps students to notice the commonalities between themselves and people in dramatically different situations. They begin to understand that there are a plethora of reasons why people or groups of people find it hard to make ends meet and to feel a relationship to others, accompanied by a yearning to make a difference.

“The combination of the pandemic and the need for social distancing, combined with the current social justice and political climate, has served to provide students with an even deeper motivation to make a difference.”

In the past, through Third Graders Making a Difference Hackley students have: provided over 300 pairs of shoes to people around the world; raised awareness about the importance of the Hudson River and the need to protect the environment in and around it; invited current and former emergency service workers and members of the U.S. military to teach us about their experiences and sacrifices so as to support our efforts to provide detailed and meaningful thanks to them through Operation Gratitude (November) and Valentines for Veterans (February); learned about food insecurity in our local and global communities and joined the whole Lower School in donating to the Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown; learned about the important work of our local Ronald McDonald House and participated in a snack collection to provide comfort to its families; and participated in a job-a-thon, in which students worked, earned money, and purchased much needed baby products and supplies for families utilizing the Open Door Medical Center. As you can see, our third graders’ efforts made a huge difference to many, and it was just the beginning.

This year, due to the pandemic, we have to do things a bit differently. Instead of getting together as a grade, we now meet on Zoom. Instead of working in small groups across the grade, we must work within our own classrooms. However, this has not dampened our third graders’ spirit one bit.

In fact, the combination of the pandemic and the need for social distancing, combined with the current social justice and political climate, has served to provide students with an even deeper motivation to make a difference.

A sample of the third graders’ letters thanking all of the people that made it possible for them to return to Hackley this fall.

Third graders began the year by writing letters thanking all of the people that made it possible for them to return to Hackley this fall, including Hackley buildings and grounds, faculty and staff, the saliva testing team, doctors, nurses and staff at local hospitals, delivery people, grocery stores, post offices, mask makers, the CDC, Governor Cuomo, and so many more. They have been participating in the UNICEF Kid Power Program, to provide therapeutic nutrition packs for children around the world. They used their voices, by decorating paper megaphones, that illustrated the change they want to see in the world and to steer our work for the rest of the year. They also created lovely cards for World Kindness Day to show their appreciation for Hackley faculty and staff.

Emblematic of our values, this group of third graders are united in their plans to make a real difference, their unreserved effort shining beauty and light on our Hilltop and beyond for years to come.

(This article was written for and published in the Hackley Review Winter 2021.)