Lesson teaches about giving, economics

Published 9:54 pm Friday, December 9, 2005

Kindergarten students at Cullman City Primary School learned lessons in caring and economics while sharing teddy bears with the residents of Morningside Assisted Living Home Friday.

Jana Thrasher, kindergarten teacher at Cullman City Primary School, said the gifts were the culmination of a lesson in community and business. Morningside residents said the gesture was a great way to start the Christmas season.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” resident Doris Brown said. “It’s touching to me, heartwarming.”

“It makes me feel a little bit young myself,” her husband Doug said.

Thrasher said the project started with greeting cards. Children made crayon designs in groups. The designs were then professionally printed. Students sold sets of the cards to their families in a class store.

The money from the cards was used to pay for teddy bears from a ladies’ group at East Cullman Church of Christ, where Thrasher worships. The church group, which makes the bears for children in the hospital, also donated many bears, then helped students decorate their bears.

“We talked about how it’s better to give than receive, just the feeling you get when you help somebody else and it makes them feel good,” said Thrasher, in her second year teaching at CCPS.

The class read “The Giving Tree” to get in the spirit. Thrasher emphasized the meaning of community, and the students learned a song about community and designed a flag for their community.

With help from parents, parts of the class’s work were videotaped for a portfolio Thrasher is preparing to become certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, a widely-recognized teaching association.

Asked what they learned, student Kacie Griffith said she learned about “being a community.” Kyle Yarbrough said he learned about “being a consumer,” and Colby Hutson said “being a producer,” which means “you make things.”

Jodi Skinner, director of recreation at Morningside, said the children’s visit lifted the residents’ spirits.

“I told the residents whenever they have a blue moment this month they need to think about this morning because this really brought joy to them,” Skinner said. “Those who were able to participate this morning will have a smile all day. This will be the topic of conversation all day long.”

“You know there’s something about the young ones,” resident Ruby Mitchell said. “I’m 83 years old, and I know this helps me. We love the attention.”

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