The Second Grade Class of 2023 recently completed a civic responsibility project that continued their year long study of community. Following discussions about the reasons why members of a community have a responsibility to give back to that community, students were charged with the task of creating an organization offering some sort of service to the community, taking action on a specific need that was important to them, and creating a fictional story that shared their passion for the need they addressed. They showcased their projects, displayed in creatively decorated booths, for parents and fellow students on March 14.
Following is a list of this year’s student projects, provided by second grade teachers Jeff Horwitz, Kristen Kaiser and Amy Lamb.
Hannah and Zoe were the Jackpots. They collected cans to give to the food bank, and held a Carnifoo, which is a carnival that requires patrons to bring in a can of food as their admission ticket. They collected 60 cans for the St. Louis Area Foodbank.
AJ and Belle were the Frown Fixers. They gave toys to sick kids at Mercy Hospital. There were too many toys to count, but they had over a box and a half full of fun things for the kids to do!
Mac, Anagayle, Mat-Mat, and Kareena were the Four Party Rockers. They made 48 first aid bags with a list of what should go inside the bags to make a first aid kit. They wanted people to have a first aid kit in their homes and be prepared for a natural disaster or emergency.
Carol and Julia were The Hunger Problem. They made a difference by sending a letter home to ask their classmates to bring in two canned food items to feed children and adults who don’t have enough food. They collected 58 cans for the St. Louis Area Foodbank! They wrote and performed a song about hunger.
Happy and Raina were The Awesome Homeless Helpers. They made a video for people to watch about how to help homeless people. They also created a form to find out how people were inspired to help the homeless after they watched the video, and collected a total of 39 responses.
Owen and Jake were The Two Fires. They made a video about Campfire Safety and ways to help stop forest fires when you make a campfire. They showed the video to SK, 1st, 3rd, and 4th grade. They gave students a test to see how much they learned. A total of 85 students scored correctly on the test, which showed them that their audience really learned something from their video.
Jack and Jordan were The JM’s. They had a Litter Carnival to teach people that picking up litter can be fun. They made a before and after sheet to see how people felt about picking up litter. Most people before the carnival felt that picking up litter was not fun. After the carnival most people felt that picking up litter was fun.
Jane and Lucy were The Sparkling Dolphins. They organized an Art Supplies drive and then donated 50 art supplies to St. Vincent’s Home for Children.
Ben and Emmett were the The Happy Picture Makers, They made happy pictures for sick kids at the Ronald McDonald House. They collected 34 pieces of “happy” artwork from the 2nd graders and delivered it to The Ronald McDonald House so they could put it up on their walls.
George and Layla were The Super Storm Sandy Helpers. They had a bake sale and earned money ($119.70) to donate to the Red Cross to go to the victims of Super Storm Sandy. They did this because they knew that Super Storm Sandy was a big problem and there was still a lot of work to be done there.
Grayson and Cortlin were The Litter Stoppers. They asked people to pick up any litter they saw. They made a graph to chart all the pieces of litter that people picked up which showed 130 pieces of litter that people picked up all over school.
Isabel and Peter were The Litter Searchers. They planned a litter scavenger hunt in the Upper School. The kids that came picked up 89 pieces of litter from the MICDS campus because they wanted to make the school cleaner.
Brin and Zion were The BZ. They gave kids at the St. Vincent Home for Children 108 hygiene items. They realized that after talking to St. Vincent’s, that hygiene items were what they really needed. They picked orphans “because they thought they were lonely and didn’t have a lot of stuff.”
Duda and Lauren were The Hunger Maze. They collected 110 cans of food for homeless people and donated it all to the St. Louis Area Foodbank. The Foodbank sent a truck to MICDS to pick up their donation. As a reward, Duda and Lauren created a maze in the gym for those who brought in cans to go through.
Dominic and Trey were The Litter Exterminators. They made 56 trash bags and books to put in cars to remind people not to throw litter out of their cars.
Chloe and Elizabeth were The Litter Destroyers. They made a puppet show to tell people why they shouldn’t litter because it is bad for the environment. More than 50 people signed their no littering pledge.
Tyler and Jordan G. were The Clothes Savers. They asked people to bring in clothes and shoes for the Women’s Shelter. They had 146 pieces of clothes and 7 pairs of shoes to donate. They celebrated with a dance party where students your clothes as your dance partner.