Our A+ award this week goes to the entire sixth grade class at Sherwood Elementary school in Anderson Township. Congratulations!
They made an uplifting video that included each student sharing a word that's helping them get through this challenging year.
Teacher Mary Beth Sharkey said she'd never seen a year like this one with all of the masks, social distancing, constant cleaning and no sharing of materials or group work.
"What we did notice in our sixth graders was an increase in anxiety. We wanted to find a way to give our students a voice and some power," Ms. Sharkey said.
Teacher Ben Urso came up with the one word project. Each student focused on a word that helps them get through this challenging year. Then, they drew that word and physically demonstrated that word for their picture.
The students chose great words like “relax,” “breathe,” “cherish” and “unique.”
Normally, the students would take a picture together in a group shot, but due to the strange year, teachers and students are trying to social distance. A picture was taken of each student with their word one at a time. Then, the video was edited together.
"It was such a positive experience. It was really great to see all the new students without their masks, so you could really and finally see their faces," Ms. Sharkey said.
We're proud to award this week's A+ to the Sherwood Elementary sixth grade class. We know it's been a trying year, and we commend you for getting through it and for sharing some positivity with your families and community with your one word project video.
Submit your ideas for our NewsDepth A+ segment to newsdepth@ideastream.org for consideration.
