Throughout November and December the children and staff of Norfolk Early Learning Center worked together to emphasize kindness and the importance of community. The children in NELC’s school-age program compiled a list of ideas and activities that would help others or simply make their day better. This included baking cookies for the fire department, making cards for veterans and coming together as a “family” for the center’s annual Thanksgiving pancake feast. One aspect that particularly affected the children was that there are people in their town who struggle to put food on the table. So they made a sign and put a basket in the entrance to the building to announce that they were collecting nonperishable food items for the food pantry in the Battell Chapel. The children were proud of their community service, and NELC teachers were able to make it a learning experience by teaching simple math problems, such as sorting food, counting cans and graphing totals.

Photo by Lynn Deasy.