Connecting The Generations

This project is designed to connect children with the senior community. It will introduce them to the importance of community engagement through relationship building and caring for others. Students will host and visit their elderly friends from a local nursing home and develop relationships with this often isolated part of our community. The students will develop their oral language communication skills through conversations with their friends, they will use their reading and math skills while baking and preparing for our guests. Children will be writing stories to share with their visitors and often performing plays. There will be an art component to our visits, as we will create art pieces with our friends and also view play productions together throughout the year. With funding, we will be able to visit our friends at the nursing home on one or two occasions.

Update (January 21, 2019)

The children had a wonderful time meeting their new friends from Rocmaura Nursing Home. They chatted and got to know each other then read together and created some Halloween decorations for our friends to bring home. The children walked their friends out and said goodbye until next time:) I was so proud of the children for doing an exemplary job making conversation with their new friends!

Update (January 21, 2019)

We invited our special friends over to watch us perform in our Christmas concert. Of course, we reserved them front row VIP seating!

Update (January 21, 2019)

We invited our friends to join us in watching the National Figure Skating competitors practice. It was a great opportunity to catch up with our friends and ring in the new year together.

Update (May 26, 2019)

May Meet Up: Another wonderful visit with our friends at Rocmaura was had! This time we traveled to the nursing home. We crafted together, the children read poems to their friends and sang their music festival songs for them. The best part was all the conversing and how comfortable the children are getting at initiating conversation and trying to make someone’s day with kind comments and compliments. The students especially loved walking and wheeling their elderly friends to their rooms and the dining room.

Update (June 10, 2019)

What an amazing final visit to Rocmaura to spend time with our friends. We spent the morning sharing jokes, sharing our writing progress and original stories and crafting together. Some spent the time just catching up chatting and playing Would You Rather?
After crafting together, the students escorted their friends outdoors. They are getting great at driving wheelchairs and walking slowly alongside those with walkers.
We enjoyed a wonderful BBQ lunch together in the courtyard. The students enjoyed passing out sun hats, taking orders and serving their friends lunch! They felt like official servers! We had fun playing in the courtyard after lunch together where the residents had a ball watching the children. One student even played catch with a resident who wanted to play ball to aid with her recovery from a stroke.
It was hard to leave our friends before heading off on summer vacation but the memories will stay with us all forever!