Children Giving Of Themselves
You might recall that earlier this year I did an article for the newspaper about the fourth grade students at Fyffe School writing, illustrating, and publishing their own books of short stories. Each of the three fourth grade classrooms had their own book and this year’s theme, voted on by the students, was monsters. The criteria for the stories and the artwork included the provision that the monster couldn’t be too scary or mean. The students voted on a title for their book and then voted on a dedication.
Mrs. Mayes’ classroom titled their book ‘A Wonderful World Of Monster Stories” and dedicated their book to their families. Mrs. Roberts’ classroom titled their book “Monsters Around The Globe” and also dedicated their book to their families. Mrs. Graben’s classroom titled their book “Monsters Everywhere” and elected to dedicate their book to “sick people in hospitals”.
It really touched my heart when I was told about the dedication to sick people. My thought was, “Since they’ve dedicated their book to ‘sick people in hospitals’ I want to order one of their books and give to a sick child.” As chance would have it, I just happened to know of a 6-year-old boy named Cooper that is currently battling cancer.
So I got the necessary information to order Cooper a book and contacted Mrs. Donna Mayes, whom I’d been in contact with about the previous article, and asked that if it would be OK if I bring the book to the school and have the children sign their story for Cooper. Well, Mrs. Mayes, Mrs. Roberts, and Mrs. Graben went above and beyond my wildest expectations. Not only did they order a copy of each of the three books for Cooper to have, but they also talked with their students about Cooper’s situation and the students were very eager to do more for him. They each wrote a story specifically for Cooper.
Mrs. Mayes explained, “We talked about the different things an average 6-year-old would like. Then the students chose a topic from that list and wrote a story for Cooper on that specific topic.”
Ella Woodall said, “My fourth grade class did many helpful projects this year and writing to Cooper was one of them.”
Lily Wyatt commented, “We wanted to write stories for Cooper because we thought it would make him feel better. We thought Cooper would love to have a few stories just for him and to share with his family. All the classes in fourth grade love writing stories for people mostly to make them feel better or loved.”
Speaking as a parent and a former 6-year-old, (OK, so it’s extremely former, but I AM a former 6-year-old), my heart is bursting with joy and appreciation to the fourth grade students and teachers at Fyffe for the love and kindness they’ve shown to a little boy named Cooper; a child they don’t know, a child they’ve never met, but a child they have loving compassion for just the same.
In this world of declining morals and behaviors, it’s nice to be in a place where there are still people who are willing to do good things for their fellowman, or fellow-child as the case may be. So the Mountain Valley News and its affiliates would like to salute Fyffe School’s 2018-2019 fourth grade class. You’ve done more than you might ever know to brighten the life of one “sick person in hospitals”.
Children Giving Of Themselves