At Christmas, the first grade students of Our Shepherd, Birmingham sent over 100 gifts to soldiers in their adopted platoon in place of a classroom gift exchange. With the gifts, the children sent letters and pictures to witness their faith in Christ.
Since August 2008, the first grade students of Our Shepherd, Birmingham have been adopting soldiers through Adoptaplatoon.org (AAP). AAP’s Executive Director, Ida Hägg, was inspired by her son who was deployed in Bosnia and wrote home asking for help getting mail to nine of his battle buddies who received no mail. She writes, “That simple request launched a support network that has served well over 1 million active U.S. Service Members deployed on behalf of our Nation – and thousands more have been reached through campaigns we conduct both seasonally and year-round. The success of AAP has been possible only because of the generosity and commitment of the American people. Your letters, cards, care packages, and financial support have put smiles on the faces of our Troops – knowing that Americans stand behind them as they dedicate everything to defending the freedoms of our country helps make their sacrifices a little easier.”
For six years, the students have written letters, drawn pictures, and sent care packages to 20 military personnel, some in their second and third deployments. Some of the soldiers have, in return, sent letters and pictures to the class. The pictures that were sent back to the first graders led to great discussions in the classroom comparing the things that are similar with children that live on the other side of the world. In 2010, students also performed a song, Thank You, Soldiers OS 2010, and posted it on YouTube and the link was sent to each of the adopted soldiers.
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Flat Stanley
A recent classroom project, “Flat Stanley,” went to Iraq with one of the Airmen. The Flat Stanley Project is a uniquely multi-generational, global literacy activity that engages hundreds of thousands of children on a daily basis. The basic principle of the project is to connect the students with children in other parts of the world by sending out “flat” visitors, created by the children, through the mail (or digitally, with The Flat Stanley app). Kids then talk about, track, and write about their flat character’s journey and adventures.
“Thank You” from a Serviceman
“For Valentine’s Day, your class decided to send us enough valentines, wall decorations, and snacks to have a party. While this may seem to be a really small or simple gesture, to a group of guys in the middle of nowhere in an Arabian Desert it turned into a surprise party! What had been a rather barren and cold military work space took on the appearance of a grade school classroom. Ms. Pierce’s class found a way to bottle up all of that enthusiasm and happiness and send it to a group half way around the world. While this may have been a simple classroom project for the students, it became a lasting memory for the platoon.” – Howard USAF
