
Thursday, April 14 – Art Room 3:15-4:30 p.m.
Waters 5th through 8th graders are invited to join Mrs. Vecchioni and Students Rebuild, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Global Nomads Group to help Syrian youth from conflict areas recover from crisis and grow into happy, healthy adults. We'll learn more about the situation Syrian youth are experiencing, and then participate in the challenge by making and mailing in pinwheels.
Please return your permission slip into Mrs. Vecchioni by Wednesday, April 13. You can put it in her mailbox, drop it off before school, or give it to your homeroom teacher.
On Thursday, we will be creating as many pinwheels as we can while practicing Zentangle doodling! Zentangles are a super-fun way to create patterns. You’ll love it! We will start our project PROMPTLY in the art room at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 14. There will be a light snack of pretzels, crackers and bottled water available. As soon as you are dismissed from your classroom, come to the art room and join us. Please do not be tardy.
You can make additional pinwheels at home if you would like. All pinwheels will need to be turned into Mrs. Vecchioni by Friday, April 29. Please email Mrs. Vecchioni with any questions.
Wondering what Students Rebuild will do with our pinwheels?
The International Rescue Committee will distribute a selection of them to Healing Classrooms students in Lebanon and Iraq. For each pinwheel we send in, the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $2—up to $400,000—to IRC’s Healing Classrooms program. The more pinwheels we send, the more children we’ll help! Funding generated by the Challenge will train teachers in special techniques to engage conflict-affected children with social-emotional learning opportunities and to create secure, nurturing learning environments.
More on Syrian Refugee Crisis
Since the civil war began, nearly 11 million Syrians have fled their homes. Of those, more than four million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries of Lebanon, Northern Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. Nearly six million children have been affected by their country’s civil war and on average, it takes 17 years for most refugees to return home. This means millions of Syrian children will likely spend most—or all—of their childhood as refugees. Even though the Syrian struggle seems overwhelming, we can take action and see change for children!