This December Pitch In students took a walk in someone else’s shoes with our Pay It Forward theme that carried through all four grades.
The holiday season is a very fortunate time for many families, filled with food, gifts, laughter, and love, but not so fortunate for many other families. So for the month of December Pitch In decided to focus on being kind to others and helping out the misfortunate with our ‘Pay It Forward’ theme.
Our 7th graders created December Dedications to a special someone in their lives. They wrote letters and created beautiful posters to share and present during family dinner. We were joined by special guest Michaela from the ‘From Now On’ project, an organization that dedicates resources and positive energy to young people who have experienced loss by transforming a space for them. The 7th graders brainstormed healing and transformative words to put on bookshelves for a family of three boys who recently lost their mother.
Pitch In 6th graders then took the words that the 7th graders brainstormed for the ‘From Now On’ project and painted them on to the bookshelves. They also discussed what it meant to be a bystander and learned techniques to dismantle the bystander mentality and help their peers in need.
Our 5th graders took a walk in someone else’s shoes by responding to a bullying scenario that one of their peers witnessed or went through and explaining what they would have done to stop it. Pitch In 5th graders also helped our Pitch In mentor Margaret to wrap gifts and write Christmas cards for kids in a homeless shelter that Margaret supports each year.
Our 4th graders learned all about kindness and created “kindness jars” in which they had to pass around to their peers to practice complimenting each other. For their family dinner presentation, students created a web of kindness that detailed 5 ways they can spread kindness in their communities.
Each grade ended the year with a festive filled holiday family dinner celebration with four corporate sponsors. Incredible thanks to Draper & Kramer, Sloan Valve, The Dillig Bowen Group and The Revel Event Group for bringing so many goodies to help Pitch In families celebrate Christmas!
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