"Kids With Capes"- Being Super Citizens!

As you all may have heard, we started our service project today and the kids were BESIDE themselves. A stressor like a hurricane can cause kids to react in different ways. Even though our area was not hit nearly as hard as the neighboring city of Saint Augustine by Hurricane Matthew, the fact that they were out of their routine, some evacuating, some riding out a scary storm, hearing constant talk and news updates, missing 3 days of school, etc...can cause them to have some trauma from the experience as well! After realizing this, I decided I needed to come up with my approach to the topic for our return on Tuesday. 

After thinking, I realized that ignoring it is going to make them feel as though their thoughts surrounding the event were isolated, weird, silly... So I wanted to face it head on! Talk about what scared us. Talk about how we stayed safe. Even talk about those we know that were not as lucky in their homes. To turn this discussion into a mission, I decided to do a "Kids With Capes" service project! 

We are making three different items to donate to kids/families in shelters or that lost everything in the flood. 

1. Bedtime Bags- Students are donating gently used books and stuffed animals to put into a bedtime bag for kids. We also are sticking a homemade blanket in it as well! 

2. "No Sew" Fleece baby blankets- We heard that a lot of babies were in need of basic items. I decided that we could try making the "no sew" blankets for the babies! 

3. Halloween Goodie Bags- After realizing it may not be safe for most kids to go trick or treating around Saint Augustine, we decided to put together some goodie bags with non-food items such as pencils, novelty erasers, vampire teeth, witch fingers, notepads, etc. 

So now...Let the projects begin!

We started off the morning by collecting any books/stuffed animals that students brought in to donate. I made a HUGE deal out of the kids giving their older books and toys to kids that may need them more. They really embraced this and took pride in the donation!  (Thanks to the parents who supported this!) 

Then...Right before lunch we started constructing our goodie bags! They loved it and had so much fun making them. 

Later in the afternoon, we started putting together our baby blankets! The kids worked so hard on tying knots and making them perfect! They loved it.

My heart is so full with these little superheroes! :) They are grabbing hold of being super citizens and going above and beyond. I love, love, love them and their hearts.