Highlighting the Rockstars of Chatterton Elementary School

The journey began with the Class of 2015. The theme of “Acts of Kindness” hasalways been a part of Chatterton’s character education program, but the sixth-gradeteachers took it to the next level!

Students at Roland Chatterton Elementary School in Merrick, New York are smiling from ear to ear as a result of their annual fundraising efforts for Reason2Smile

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​Chatterton Elementary's Annual Fundraising Efforts

Reason2Smile provided each of the four sixth grade classes with a personalized curriculum trunk full of instructional materials, books, research articles, and Kenyan goods. The trunk includes a variety of teaching tools to allow students to critically analyze and explore life in the developing world, learn about the work that Reason2Smile does at the Jambo Jipya School in Mtwapa, and gain a better understanding of social action and responsibility. In addition, the book Neema’s Reason to Smile by Patricia Newman was used to discuss and reflect on life in Kenya and Neema’s kindness and dreams.

Over a two-week period, students embarked on their own “Acts of Kindness” campaigns. They journaled and wrote reflections on the many acts of kindness they performed each day. Students shared and discussed their actions with classmates as well as worked on a writing piece using their persuasive writing skills.

A voluntary part of the “Acts of Kindness” campaign was to collect a monetary amount for each act of kindness performed or collect a flat fee. Students also used a coin chart to count and graph items in their homes such as appliances and electronics and collect coins for each.

The final activity in the "Acts of Kindness" campaign was for students to participate in making recycled paper beaded bracelets.

Donna Rosenblum, Executive Director of R2S; joined the classes via zoom to show a PowerPoint, discuss the work of Reason2Smile and answer questions. When all was said and done the sixth-grade students raised a substantial amount of money for Reason2Smile and we are extremely grateful and appreciative of all their efforts.

Thank you to teachers Debbie Cain, Lindsay Zender, and Laura Bonet for joining us on the journey to spread reasons to smile.

Debbie Cain, sixth grade teacher at Elementary School

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Reason2Smile works with schools, libraries, community service clubs, religious institutions, and more so if you are interested in collaborating please send us an email
and we can plan a program that best suits your students/school/organization.

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Neema's Reason to Smile

You can share author Patricia Newman reading Neema's Reason to Smile here.

Neema has an ELA and Math curriculum guide available free on our website.

Remember you can always purchase Neema for $15.00. Just email us and we will take care of the rest.