We are all born with differences — the individual characteristics we all possess is what makes life interesting.
Celebrating those differences was the focus of a project done by a Grade 4 class at Hazelwood Elementary School in St. John’s earlier this week as part of The Telegram’s Newspapers in Education program titled “Who I Am Makes A Difference.”
Newspapers in Education (NIE) is a national program designed to advance the use of newspapers in schools. The main purpose of the program is to improve reading, spelling and writing abilities as well as critical thinking skills.
The Telegram’s NIE program helps teachers at all levels use newspapers to meet their curriculum objectives in the classroom.
“I got the students to go through the paper and see what they can find that interested them, and use it to illustrate this project.” NIE co-ordinator Carol Wadden said.
“There are puzzles, pictures, stories and a number of other things they can use,”
Wadden told the students to take a few minutes, go through the paper and find things they like. It could be sports, music, computers or video games.
“It all depends on what you like,” she said.
Student Amelia Hartley-Way’s project focused on her love of music and pets.
Hartley-Way has a pet she enjoys spending time with, a cat named Jelly, a brownish feline with one ginger paw who was named after her grandfather, for his middle name.
“Music should never be new to people. Everyone should try music. Some people can’t even play,” she said.
“I would also like people to be nice to their pets,” she added.
In her spare time, she plays piano, and says she is “pretty good.” The love of pets and music was depicted in her project.
Another student spent time focusing on the things he likes and made a collage that depicted them based on the items he found in The Telegram.
“I like dogs, monster trucks, cars and soccer,” student Mason Whipple said while showcasing his project.
“I went to the paper and cut out these things to show in my project.”
Pat Fleming, a St. John’s East Kinsman Club member, was on hand to help facilitate the recent Who I Am Makes A Difference activity done by Telegram NIE co-ordinator Carol Wadden with a Grade 4 class at Hazelwood.
“We first got involved in this program when one of our members brought the idea to a meeting a number of years back,” Fleming said.
“We thought it would be a good project to get involved in and see what kids are learning from reading.”
For the past five years, the St. John’s East Kinsmen Club has sponsored the Newspapers in Education program that is shared in a host of schools across St. John’s and the surrounding area.
More than 5,700 papers were distributed at Hazelwood this past year.
Fleming said the results are unbelievable, and recounted a story he was told from another educator that shows why.
“There was a child at Vanier (Elementary School in St. John’s) who was non-verbal when he started school … but not now,” he said.
“Through this program, that child went from nothing to a vocabulary of more than 2,000 words. This shows just how important something like this is for all children.”
Fleming took that story and several others back to the Kinsmen members and told them to go and see for themselves what the program is all about and the good it does.
He said there would never be any question of support for NIE.
“I can’t see us not staying with this program,” he said.
“There are a couple you do, some that are not labour intensive, but you do it because it has to be done … and we want to do it.”
He said another of those projects includes a meal they do for veterans at The Pavillion. He said the vets feel good about it and so do his Kinsmen friends when it is done.
The NIE program is the same. And to gain the support of an organization like the Kinsmen is what they were founded on.
He said the Kinsmen, the Lions Club and others are integral in getting these programs out to the youth in the communities they service.
“The two things we should never have to do without are education and health care. That is why we do the projects like this,” he said.
To cap off the day, the students were asked to participate in a colouring contest that could net them four tickets to Eastbound International Speedway in Avondale to see the monster trucks that will be on hand July 20-22.
The prize includes dinner at a local restaurant with Bounty Hunter monster truck driver Jimmy Creten.
