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Never Underestimate the Power of Kindergartners
In the Spring of 2024, Rosella Perez’s kindergarten class took a walk to the JFK Pond to explore the habitat for an afternoon of science exploration. During that visit the class was inspired to create signs to teach the Brewster community about the pond. They observed plant and animal life but wanted to find out more.
With the help of Susan Boehm’s AP Environmental and Sustainability class, high school students joined kindergartners on their next visit to the pond. This time with large nets to scoop up pond life and give students a front row seat to the organisms that are living in the pond. As they scooped and observed, kindergarten students drew pictures and wrote words and descriptions of the dragonflies, frogs, geese, snakes, ladybugs and crayfish.
The next step was to turn their observations into written persuasive letters and pitch JFK Principal Dr. Frank Zamperlin for a sign to go next to the pond. They did research on the wildlife they found in the pond. Then wrote letters to Dr. Z asking permission to create a sign for the community.
Of course, Dr. Z loved and approved the project. And so did the Brewster Educational Foundation which paid for the sign with a grant.
This week, students in Perez’s current and former kindergarten classes walked out to see the new sign which has their letters, drawings and color photographs of their pond visits. They gathered around the sign looking for their contributions.
“We found crayfish,” said Ella Richardson, “there’s my drawing of crayfish.”
“And tadpoles,” said Oliver Pichardo.
“Remember we saw dragonflies and brought a nymph back to our classroom?” said Nevin Smith.
Dr. Z who came back from retirement for the sign celebration said, “This is great. It helps our students to grow. It also helps them to understand how to go through a process of developing a proposal. It brought the community together–kindergartners and high school students. They built this sign to go through the scientific aspects of the pond right here on our campus. The sign has markers of what’s in the pond. So if you are at a football game or a soccer game on the weekend check out the sign put together by Rosella Perez’s class. It’s instructional, it’s informative, and the result of a collaborative process between high schoolers and kindergartners. Never underestimate the power of kindergartners for getting a project together!”
One of the main messages the school district tries to instill in students from pre-K through grade 12 is writing is power. This project came to life–with the help of many teachers and support staff–by having students write persuasive essays, which resulted in artifacts of their work for years to come.
Check out the video!
