Some little kids are carrying out big acts of kindness. Preschoolers at The Learning Experience in Glastonbury are learning how to give back through one-of-a-kind curriculum created to teach them about philanthropy.
“I wrote I love you,” 4-year-old Liam Cocuzza said, showing a card he made.
Just as important as the ABCs or the 1-2-3s, little students are learning how to open their hearts.
“Even as young as our 2- and 3-year-olds all the way into our preschool to classroom, we teach our children what it means to give back to the community,” Melissa Palmieri, The Learning Experience assistant director, said.
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The Learning Center has kids from six weeks to 6-years-old. Although kindness is not typically an academic subject, at the preschool in Glastonbury and another location in Cromwell, there is special curriculum curated to teach the kids about philanthropy.
“It's important for the children to learn at such a young age, just like anything else is it kind of sticks with you, it's kind of like riding a bicycle, you continue to bring that kindness as you grow up,” Victoria Barone-Lopez, lead teacher of preschool II, said.
The kids took part in one activity for World Kindness Day, which was Sunday. They made personalized drawings in cards that will go to other children.
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“We’re actually creating cards for the Center for Children with Disabilities,” Barone-Lopez said. They wanted to create cards with little images and stuff to kind of make these children smile.”
It’s just one of the things the kids do as part of the curriculum.
“Every single month, there is a different theme for philanthropy,” Palmieri said. “We've talked about volunteering, we talk about donating the kindness aspect, there are so many different themes that we talk about within the classroom.”
The children help organize monthly events to get donations for local nonprofits.
They also learn about inclusion through songs and new vocabulary words, and do activities to teach them to be polite and share with their classmates. Two educational cartoon characters help the kids learn.
“He’s going to love it!” Cocuzza said about the card he is sending to another child.
It all aims to teach the kids that it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, it’s the size of your heart that counts.
“A lot of our children are very fortunate they have roofs over their heads, foods on the table,” Palmieri said. “A lot of the communities out there - they need so much. And it's so nice to teach that to the children. As they move forward and they grow, they become an adult, you really want to instill in them the sense of pride and ownership that they are able to put a smile on someone's face."
The Learning Experience is also sponsoring a Christmas tree for the Glastonbury Gives event "Trees of Giving." It will be raffled off and donated to a family in town.
