Bessie Bear not only taught us about Peace, Justice, and Stronger Institutions while she was with us, but she also led us to become independent learners who have empathy and can collaborate on a project. It all started a few weeks ago Bessie was reading a book about peace to us. The book taught us about Peace One Day, a global day of nonviolence on September 21st. In the middle of the reading a few students spoke up and said that they can make a difference too.
The students immediately started thinking of ideas of how they could help. The class came up with a plan to break into groups and work on a bunch of mini-projects that would be shared in one presentation on September 21st. Students chose groups they wanted to be in and then chose leaders for each group. We created a video (check it out!), posters, a comic book, letters, and a skit.
Each group worked together to create their pieces and then we shared them in a presentation to the other 3rd grade classes and a Pre-K class that had a special visit from Bessie’s twin sister, Jessie.
Bessie also spent lots of time being a student in 3D. She is an avid reader, loved joining in with our students as they made stuff in our Makerspace, and she even went to our school assembly.
