Edna Louise Spear Elementary kindergartners crafted blankets for needy children.
Kindergartners from Edna Louise Spear Elementary School, in the Port Jefferson School District, recently crafted blankets to donate to Project Linus. Project Linus is a national non-profit organization that provides homemade blankets to children in need or who have experienced some type of illness or trauma.
The students, part of Allison Coppi-Roske and Meagan Bellantuono’s class, have spent their school year creating a culture of caring by performing a variety of acts of kindness, including making cards for senior citizens and sending keychains to the U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Wanting to do more, the teachers introduced the students to a new project: creating cozy blankets for those in need.
The kindergartners spent several weeks tying no-sew fleece blankets in class. The blankets have a fringed edge, so they only required students to tie two strips together into a knot. They used their fine motor skills to each tie a section of blanket, gradually creating cuddly blankets. Once all of the blankets were finished, they were given to a Suffolk County chapter of Project Linus to be distributed to children in need.
“We have always looked for ways to give back to the community, even at this young age. We instill in the children that they can make a difference in someone’s life, no matter how small,” said Allison Coppi-Roske. “And we were so impressed by the students’ dedication to this project. Each day, the children would say, ‘Can we work on the blanket today?’ They were so excited to see what the finished project would look like and to give back to those in need.”