BY KARISSA MILLER
Students, parents and teachers filled the cafeteria at Coddle Creek Elementary, an International Baccalaureate World School, on Thursday night to enjoy music performances during Multicultural Night.
Music teacher Johammee Romero led each grade level as they performed songs in English and Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Armenian and other languages.
Some students came dressed in cultural clothing to the event. Earlier that evening, fifth-graders shared their IB exhibition projects with younger students, faculty and staff.
Coddle Creek incorporates the exhibition into the fifth-grade curriculum to prepare students to become caring, lifelong learners who are able to better understand the world around them.
“It’s also a culmination of all of their IB skills — research, presentation and learner profile traits,” explained Instructional Facilitator Lindsey Mehall. “They work hard on these projects and put in a lot of time.”
Putting Knowledge into Action
Fifth-grader Ansley Greene put knowledge into action by organizing a toy drive for the kids at Hemby Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, which is part of St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
It started with a simple idea to bring a few smiles to the kids there through her project “Donations for St. Jude.”
However, it evolved into a bigger mission of bringing awareness, compassion and empathy to leukemia and terminally ill patients.
“They are suffering, and we should help them,” Ansley said.
The cause is personal, she explained.
“My friend’s brother died from leukemia. My brother went to Hemby’s (for some blood work and treatments),” she explained.
That’s when Ansley learned about the important role that family life specialists play.
“They help the child and family learn how to deal with medical treatments,” she explained.
At Hemby’s, the family life specialists use “play therapy” to make it easy for young patients to understand a complex medical diagnosis.
Ansley’s brother received a fidget while he was at the hospital, which gave her the idea to collect fidgets for the young patients.
“I put posters around and made a video to put on Facebook asking for new fidgets. Our community — they donated new fidgets. We got a bunch,” she said.
Ansley collected around 30 fidgets. She said that some of her peers asked her why she was collecting fidgets and why not other toys.
“The family life specialist explained that when you squish a fidget it helps to release stress. They can be really stressed from school or moving in to a new environment,” she explained.
“Another thing I thought was cool was music therapy. They sit and play music with other kids who are going through the same process. They can share their creative side. They can have fun with friends,” she added.
Ansley’s mom described her as someone who is eager to learn new things. Ansley said she enjoys reading and wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
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