Teachers Inspire Lower Schoolers to Creativity and Action
During “Shore Reads” week, students across the Lower School were inspired by the book Say Something, written by Peter H. Reynolds. This empowering picture book explores the many ways that a single voice can make a difference. Each person, Reynolds assures readers, each and every day, has the chance to say something with their actions, words, and voice. The book suggests ways that young people might use their voices to fight injustice, express themselves, or simply care for a friend.
Homeroom teachers found many innovative ways to use the themes in Reynolds’ work to inspire their students.
In the Kindergarten classrooms of Emily Deachin and Alex Rosati, the book’s hopeful messages prompted children to imagine what they’d say to the Shore community. In a creative activity that combined painting, drawing, and writing, the students completed self portraits with speech bubbles containing the words they’d share. “I love Shore—I want to help make Shore a better place,” one Kindergartner wrote.
Emily Glore’s first graders chose their own form of expression—from writing song lyrics to painting to speaking in sign language—to share their voice with the world. In Carol Porter and Laura Thomson’s second grade homerooms, too, children imagined what they’d use their voice to express. Sentiments like “Be brave,” and “Peace to the oceans,” adorned colorful paper assemblages.
James Hubbard’s fourth graders used their words to speak to global issues, including international conflicts. The students designed colorful mini-posters filled with calls to action such as “Support Ukraine,” and “Stop global warming.”
In fifth grade, children clearly took the book’s empowering advice to heart. The members of Kristin Larson’s homeroom worked in small groups to create a schoolwide campaign to show support for the people of Ukraine. Several students produced a video urging viewers to support relief agencies such as UNICEF and the Red Cross. Another group of fifth graders distributed materials and instructions around the Lower School to encourage other students to write cards of support for families in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the fifth grade homeroom of Whitney Morris, students brainstormed “passion projects” in which they could use a talent or interest of their own to accomplish something that would help others. Ukraine was again a topic on many children’s minds.
Shore’s most recent strategic plan, Our Future in Focus, imagines a school that will “inspire a diverse community of global difference-makers.” From kindness at school to concern over issues such as war and global warming, Say Something helped to demonstrate that even with the youngest of students, Shore teachers are already well on their way to achieving that goal.
Shore Country Day School’s mission is to provide an education that inspires a love of learning and encourages children to embrace academic challenge. We seek to build character, cultivate creativity, and value diversity as we help our children become healthy, compassionate citizens of the world.
The School admits qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law, and extends to them all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its admissions, scholarships, and loans, and its educational, athletic, and other programs.