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Aerospace Elementary Students Help CCMC
(Rocky Hill, CT) As part of their social studies curriculum, second-grade students at CREC’s Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Elementary School are learning about making a difference—a lesson they are taking to heart.
Literacy coach Sarah Mangiafico’s challenge is to successfully link language arts with social studies, and as she worked with 10 of her enrichment students this year, she decided to show her students how to make a difference in the lives of others.
Community service projects were discussed, and the students ultimately chose to help the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford. The students are also raising money for a new school in Kenya.
During the CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Elementary School’s Kindness Week, the 10 students asked their peers to create cards for patients at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. They also assembled “joy kits” for patients who need to stay at the hospital for an extended period of time, and these kits are expected to be given to patients next week. The kits include items made by students and their parents, such as soap and bead projects, and other items, such as UConn window stickers, small toys, books, and jars that contain daily words of encouragement.
The students did not stop there. UConn NEAG School of Education students Erin Holden and Cristina Eberhart are pre-service teachers who, through an internship, are working closely on curriculum efforts with Mangiafico and her colleagues, and they suggested that CREC’s Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Elementary School hold a JonaTHON, a fundraising effort that is part of UConn’s HuskyTHON. The HuskyTHON, an annual UConn fundraiser, raises money for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and JonaTHON is the name given to smaller fundraisers organized by kindergarten through grade 12 schools.
CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Elementary School raised $380 for the cause, and the enrichment students attended the HuskyTHON on February 21 to participate in the event and announce what the school raised.
“We are pleased to be partner with UConn students for this worthy project,” said Gayle Hills, principal of the CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Elementary School. “Our students have learned a great deal from their participation, and they continue to share with their peers within our school.”
Mangiafico had similar thoughts. “I never imagined the possibilities this curriculum work would lead to,” she said. “I am the luckiest teacher in the world to be able to work with such amazing students, including our pre-service teacher friends from UConn. This is something our students worked on their own to achieve, and I know they will carry this memory with them forever.”
The CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Elementary School serves students in preschool through grade five. The school is one of CREC’s 18 award-winning magnet schools, and its goal is to establish a strong foundation for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
