A Day to Remember: Meeting our Haitian friend "Allen"

Today was an incredible day. We have been waiting for this day for several weeks. Today, we finally met our new friend, Allen. Allen is an eleven year old who moved to Wilmington after the earthquake in Haiti. We were excited to meet him and have him share a little bit about his country of Haiti. We learned so many new things and we shared so many heartwarming feelings. Here's a few thoughts the students shared after meeting Allen.
Katie - "When we sang, Lullaby, I had happy tears in my eyes."
Wiio - "I was excited when he walked in the door."
Connor - "When I saw Allen, I was really happy. He was a nice friend."
Emma G - "I have water in my eyes because it was so sweet."
Haley - "I was excited because I just saw a real person from Haiti."
Selena - "I felt good after I met him. I don't know why, I just felt good."
Bailey - "I felt shaky at first because I'd never met anyone from Haiti. He was really nice."
Emma P - "I thought he should have stayed and celebrated Valentine's Day with us because he deserved to."
Kyndal - "It made me sad when he left. I wanted him to stay longer."

Similarities and Differences

Today we had a great day talking about the similarities and differences that we share with our friends from Haiti. Everyone had really great ideas! Having this talk has prepared us more for our friend who is coming and visiting on Friday.

Take a few minutes and think about the ideas that we talked about day! Share some of your ideas or come up with new ones! What are the similarities and differences between us and the people of Haiti?

Students share their ideas for raising money for Haiti!

We are so proud of our students for going out and raising money for Haiti! Benjamin weathered the cold and sold hot chocolate and cookies with his brother! The two of them raised over 65 in one night!

Alix has been working hard making hearts for Haiti lollipops! At $1.00 a piece she has sold over 300! That is amazing!!

Keep up the good work! We truly are sending lots of love and hearts to Haiti!

I Wonder...

In class, we read the story, Josias Hold the Book. We know all good readers ask deep questions. We turned our questionings into "I Wonder" sentences. We came up with "I Wonder" sentences to deepen our thinking of the story and each student made an illustration. Here's what our first graders are wondering about as we learn about Haiti. We will use this lesson to take us on a journey to discover more about the country and people of Haiti.

Josias, Hold the Book

Today we had another great day learning more about the way children live in Haiti. We read a book called Josias, Hold the Book. We then thought about the book by asking ourselves “I wonder” questions. Everyone was able to really think about how Josias’s life was different from theirs. Today we even made Haiti’s flag!

What was your favorite part of the story? What did you think about when seeing the pictures of where Josias lived? How did Josias’s life change when he learned about books?

Hearts for Haiti

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After the devastating news in Haiti, our first grade class has decided to take action. Along with all New Hanover County Schools, we want to help raise funds for the children in Haiti. Through this blog, we will discuss our ideas and report our progress. We know this will be an incredible adventure as we learn about the people of Haiti. We know that our lives and our friends extend past the walls here at Parsley Elementary. One of our goals in our school mission statement is to contribute to and flourish in our global society. This is an opportunity for us to help teach our students to open their hearts and make a change. We hope that you will join us in our journey as we reach across the waters and make new friends with the children of Haiti.

Starting Point

Today in class, we looked at pictures of the country of Haiti. What thoughts did you have as we looked at those pictures? What questions do you want to have answered as we learn about the people and country of Haiti?What are you planning to do to raise money for the people of Haiti?