Learning valuable life lessons

As part of their Peace Day celebration all 440 kids at Number Two School in Inwood gathered in the gymnasium as representatives from each class paraded onstage and displayed the colorful blankets they made for the pediatric patients at Cohen Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park.

Faye Brick, a child-life specialist at Cohen Children’s Hospital, was at the April 14 event to receive the blankets and bring them to children at the hospital. “It’s nice for kids at the hospital to know other kids are thinking about them,” she said. “This is the second time the Number Two School has donated blankets and they’re very well received.”

Insects, farm animals, flowers, and of course, peace signs were among the designs featured on the blankets. The school’s Peace Day Committee coordinated the event. The committee sets up social and emotional learning activities throughout the year for the school’s students.

Sharryn Friedlander, the social worker at Number Two School in the Lawrence School District, serves on the Peace Day Committee, and said it’s important for students to include service-learning projects, such as donating blankets to sick children, in their education. “It teaches them to value what they have and appreciate others,” she said.

Ilene Brooks, a special education teacher, is also on the Peace Day Committee and said the school has an ongoing bucket campaign so students can express their feelings and is based on the book, ‘Have You Filled Someone’s Bucket Today?’ by Carol McCloud.

“The Peace Day celebrations are one week and everyday is different,” Brooks said. “One day was pajama day and another day we had the kids write a note to someone as apart of our bucket campaign.”

Lara Katz, a second grade teacher, said her students had a great time making the blankets. “They had so much fun working together,” she said about her students. “They also knew they were going something good for children their age in the

hospital.”