Who is NOBODY? A Collaborative Project: Grade 1/2

Helping Hands

To all of our readers,

It has been said that the character of a person is judged upon the way he/she treats animals. This next experience is an example of character.

Since I have known A.T., I can remember the many conversations we have had about his 2 pet cats. A.T. frequently described his play time with his cats, the way he would cuddle with them while on the couch watching t.v. and how they would seek him out and take comfort in sleeping with him in his bed. These cats are not just a household pet, they are companions of A.T. Family members would describe them best.

While Nobody visited A.T. at his home, he watched at A.T. took the time to feed the cats and brush their hair. He explained what games he plays with his cats and how he created a box for them to play in and play with. "Cats need attention and love too," exclaimed A.T. Yes, that is very true. A.T. demonstrated the importance of meeting his pet's needs.

In addition to demonstrating love and care for his companions, A.T. was helpful by helping his mom put away the groceries.

Every act of kindness, big or small, is still an act of kindness.

A Helpful, Natural Born Artist

Dear readers,

When D.J. took Nobody home, it took her no time at all to plan what her act of kindness would be. In fact, she did not demonstrate one act of kindness but rather two!

D.J.'s act's of kindness are characterized as helpful and generous. First, D.J. decided to clear off the table one evening after dinner. She placed the dishes in the dishwasher, put the empty soda bottles into the recycling bin (which demonstrates kindness to our earth!) and cleaned off the table, leaving nothing for her parents to do. This was very helpful considering her mom had to go back to work and her dad was very tired.

Next, Deanna thought that she wanted to make her teacher smile, so she took her time, and put detail and colour into drawing a beautiful picture for her teacher. When asked how she thought her parents and teacher felt to recieve the acts of kindness, D.J. responded by saying, "They felt happy and proud of me." When asked how she felt about herself, D.J. replied, "Proud of myself." As she should!

Mother and Son

Dear followers,

It has been heart-warming to learn of yet another act of kindness that has been demonstrated by N.A. His mom, a mother of three children is a busy person! Between working, house-work, caring for her children, hockey practices and much more! Sometimes she gets tired. J One evening, N.A. decided that he was going to help his mom by packing his own hockey bag so that she could rest before driving him to hockey practice. When asked how she felt to have a few minutes of rest, N.A. replied, “very happy.” When asked how he felt to perform his act of kindness, he stated, “proud of myself.” As he should!

A Home is Where the Heart Is..

Dear readers,

The following Who Is Nobody? experience is a demonstration of the power of influence. Among several other acts of kindness that L.J.’s demonstrated during the time she spent time with Nobody, such as making her mom a sandwich and helping give her brother his medicine, L.J.’s decided that she was going to sponsor a species of birds that are at risk for losing their habitat, via the program Earth Rangers. Our school year thus far has been centred around our Kindness Project, our Soi Dog inquiry and this Who Is Nobody? collaborative project. These focus areas have been engulfed with learning about kindness, empathy, responsibility and becoming active members of society through acts of kindness towards animals, people and the environment. It is evident that L.J.’s has internalized the importance of helping those in need.

A Valentine from Nobody!

Dear followers,

If you would like an example of generosity, care and hard work, you will find it in this post. I.D. decided that since Valentine's Day was fast approaching, she was going to take the time to shop for small gifts and assemble loot bags for every single one of her classmates! Not only did she stuff each fancy Valentine's Day bag with a variety of toys and candy, she even created labels for each one! All of this work took place because she "wanted to be nice and show kindness to everyone."

A cozy spot for Nobody

Dear readers,

A.C. thought that if the Nobody was going to be a visitor in her home, she must make him/her feel as if it were his/her home. She provided a sense of belonging by using materials she had in her home, to put together a bed for Nobody to feel comfortable sleeping in, during this cold winter month. A.C. demonstrated empathy by expressing the way that Nobody would feel about her, knowing the act of kindness she showed towards him/her. In her letter, she says, "Nobody was very proud of me and happy with me." A.C. recognized that although she was giving the act of kindness, she felt similar to Nobody because she felt proud of herself for putting a bed together for Nobody and the experience made her experience a sense of pride and responsibility.

Presenting E.G.B!

Her act of kindness was a very personal one. To review, Nobody helps people, animals and the environment. Nobody spent time with E.G.B by helping her create a beautiful painting for Mrs. Chocron-Abalos. This act was so touching, generous and thoughtful because she could have spent her time engaged in a favourite activity or hobby. E.G.B could have used her brand new canvas and paints to create something for herself, yet she decided to make something for her teacher. What made this especially touching was the effort she put in to creating her masterpiece, all the while thinking of her teacher and how happy she would be to receive it.

When E.G.B was asked how she felt to show this act of kindness, she replied, "proud of myself" and "happy."

When Mrs. Abalos was asked how she felt to receive this act of kindness, she replied, "lucky," "grateful," "special," "happy," "honoured," and "loved."

                                                                                  E.G.B wrote in detail about her experience with Nobody.

                                                                          She demonstrates originality by drawing the "before" and "after."

E.G.B reads to the class about her experience with Nobody. Happily painting and doing a beautiful job!

Hello everyone,

My name is A.A and I am in grade two. Here is my act of kindness with Nobody...

It is wonderful to see how A.A applied his experiences from our daily "Kindness News" by describing how he felt about himself when he demonstrated his act of kindness and by describing how his mom felt to recieve his act of kindness. "How did ___ feel when he/she demonstrated this act of kindness?" and "How did ___ feel/what did ___think about when they recieved the act of kindness?" are two main questions discussed each morning when the students are presented with an article/picture, detailing an act of kindness.

A.A uses lots of detail and colour, as well as some captions, when describing his act of kindness.

Lending A Helping Hand to Animals

Hello everyone!

Today was a wonderful day! We discussed the very first way we were going to help make our Nobody a Somebody. As part of our Soi Dog inquiry, we sponsored a dog through the Soi Dog foundation in Thailand. As a class, we are helping an animal recieve shelter, food, training, medical care, love and attention from the wonderful volunteers at Soi Dog. We are learning what it means to be an active member of society by placing the same amount of value on others as we place upon ourselves.

A draft of the letter about our decision to sponsor Tweenie, our class dog from Thailand. This is a great opportunity to conduct a modeled or shared writing activity, in a meaningful and engaging way.

The good copy of the letter describing our decision to sponsor Tweenie, our class dog from Thailand.

An illustration of the certificate we recieved from Soi Dog, for sponsoring Tweenie. We reviewed our success criteria for creating an illustration.

The button we made to fasten on our Nobody Doll. It represents our act of kindness, (sponsoring Tweenie).

A photo of our Nobody doll wearing its first badge.

What A Surprise!

Greetings everyone!

What an excitment filled day we had! Today we introduced our "Nobody" doll to the students. The afternoon began with Ms. Schmidt and Mrs. Theis' class joining us in the library. Just like clock work, our wonderful secretary, Mrs. Miceli, paiged us to inform us that a package had arrived for us. The students were so excited to make predictions about what was inside the suitcase. Many student's made the observation that a picture of a cat was on the suitcase, so there must be a cat inside of it! Others predicted that since it was a suitcase, and a suitcase is a tool we use to travel, the object inside was our class dog Tweenie! (the dog that we sponsored from Thailand, through the Soi Dog foundation). Once we revieled the doll, they were suprised to see that it was just a plain, simple doll..no name, no gender, no physical characteristics, no culture, no talents and no interests.....boooring right?! WRONG! Our job is to make the Nobody into a Somebody! There are so many ways to do that. By involving each student's family and embracing the talents, cultures and work that they do as a family and within their community, each student can make a contribution to our Nobody doll by taking it home and having it participate in the daily acts of kindness that the students and their family take part in. The Nobody doll helps all living things. The students can participate in acts of kindness by doing something for an animal, a person or the environment. Whether you have a pet, a garden, or participate in events at your church, mosque, temple or sinagogue, the Nobody doll will follow you to experience how the students positively participate in being an active member of society! I cannot wait for each student to share their experience with the rest of the class and I. Once they return the Nobody doll, their journal entry of their experience will be uploaded on our blog for everyone to celebrate and comment on. Using the illustration of their act of kindness, a button will be created to fasten onto the Nobody doll. With each week, the Nobody will become a Somebody, thanks to the participation of each student. This project is a wonderful element to our Kindness project! Let's bring the world into the classroom!