In the month of June, the K1s and K2s from Star Learners @ Pasir Ris took part in community service through means that they could contribute by showing their appreciation to everyday heroes in our community; taking a special focus on those who are less appreciated despite their services in upkeeping the functionality of our community.
The children brainstormed and decided to celebrate 3 everyday heroes; the zookeepers in Singapore, librarians, and janitors. On their own accord, the children suggested giving small tokens of appreciation to the librarians and the zookeepers. They made cards, created a food basket and gave out cookies as a token of appreciation to these everyday, underappreciated heroes in Singapore. It is their dedication, bravery, and self-less perseverance that we celebrated as well. The children learned to appreciate people around them, not just occupations that are often mentioned such as doctors, firefighters, police, soldiers, etc. But took their understanding of community workers to another level and opened up their worldview and perspectives of their community to include a wider spectrum of profession.
On the 5th of June, the K2s went to Whitesands to give out appreciation cards and fruits to the janitors and the librarians. On the cards to the janitors, the children wrote, “谢谢你对社会的贡献”, which simply means: thank you for your contribution to the society.
Although the janitors politely declined the token, they took the card that the children made, assuring them that they have received their good thoughts and wished the children all the best in their growth and studies.
At the library, which is a place where our kindergarten classes take turns to visit on alternate weeks, we visited the librarians (pages, library assistants, and librarians themselves). We thanked them for keeping the books neat and orderly, and for clearing after our mess everytime we use the library by presenting them with a basket of fruits, cards, and bookmarks
We were absolutely thrilled to find out that they have displayed the children’s appreciation cards on their early literacy wall. The children were overjoyed when they saw the cards being displayed the next week they went to the library.
On our trip to the Singapore Zoological Gardens, we chased after all the zookeepers we could find and the children happily presented them with a handmade package filled with a card and snacks to thank them for caring for the animals. One of them was overwhelmed with emotions by the present while another enthusiastically invited all our little ones to take a photo with the elephants they were caring for. He shared how appreciated he felt when we saw his profession as one to be appreciated.
Through this experience, we have learned a lot along with the little ones and are extremely proud of all the smiles that we placed on the faces of people we touched through this project. Appreciating heroes in our community has definitely inspired all our little heroes 😍
