By Nicole Thomas
With only seven days until Christmas break, Stella Turman’s third grade classroom at Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School looks a little like Santa’s workshop. Her 24 students, just like Santa’s elves, are working quickly to fill the orders of the Christmas season.
While some students work with scissors to chop wood, which is actually popsicle sticks for a tiny sled, others weave beads and string to create candy cane ornaments to trim the tree.
A student-directed assembly line cuts out fairy bookmarks and then packages them for sale.
“Make sure you include one of each design,” directed Addison Vickers.
Brice Welch makes quick work of a paper wallet to hold Leader bucks the students earn for demonstrating leadership skills which can be used at the school store.
“I don’t need the pattern anymore,” Brice proudly proclaims as he finished his last one of the day. He’s mastered his craft.
Ms. Turman watches over the operation and mans the hot glue gun station, assisting students one by one as they glue the eyes and nose to their snowman craft.
“Ms. Turman showed us how to use our pencil as a tool to keep from burning our fingers with the hot glue,” said Mary Reeves Gordon as she carefully decorated her snowman’s face.
The production, however, isn’t without a real purpose. Ms. Turman’s students decided to do a service project for the season as part of The Leader in Me program, which teaches students about the seven habits of highly effective leaders, and they chose to show their love for fellow classmate, Gabe Valentine, who was born with a rare genetic condition – Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
“Gabe is near and dear to our hearts, and it is such a joy to watch this class work together for a cause they really believe in,” said Turman. “Several of the students in our class have been Gabe’s classmate since they entered kindergarten together at Sudduth. They know how serious his condition is, and they take the best care of him.”
Once her students decided on their project, Ms. Turman sought the help of fellow teacher Tammy Gammill who has experience with service learning opportunities. Together they worked with the students to select the festive crafts that would be simple, yet creative enough for the students to really enjoy while also assuming responsibility for their project.
With the deadline for the project’s completion looming, the students have really demonstrated the seven habits of highly effective leaders from identifying problems and setting goals to learning to put first things first.
“Every Friday we have a special time to celebrate students who have met behavior goals for the week,” said Turman. “This particular Friday we were not able to do that because we needed to work more on our project to meet the goals we had set for ourselves. The students understood that we had to put first things first and take care of our job.”
Gabe’s classmates have spent the past week sharing information with their school about EB and how students can help support EB research and awareness with the purchase of an ornament, bookmark, or another hand-made craft.
“His skin is delicate like a butterfly, and it tears easily,” explained Mary Reeves.
Wednesday, Gabe offered his glowing approval for the hand-crafted items as his friends churned out orders trying to meet their production goal of about 100 items each day.
“The sleds look really good,” said Gabe as he inspected one fresh off the construction table.
With limited supplies and a full school-schedule, it is unlikely that this team of talented third graders will be able to keep up with demand for their hand-crafted items, but you can still show your support for EB research with a donation to their campaign at https://www.crowdrise.com/cel-eb-rate-for-gabe/fundraiser .
“Children have such kind hearts,” said Turman. “They really show us how to love one another.”