Last year at Seth Johnson Elementary, in Montgomery, Ala., the fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in the National Mix It Up at Lunch Day. In preparation for the day, we challenged fifth-graders to think about how they matter to the people around them – and to write essays titled “We All Matter.”
Before doing the essays, we held several discussions and readings of promoting empathy and the importance of respecting and valuing each other's differences.
During one discussion, I asked the students, “Why do you matter to someone else?” This question created several discussions among the students. One student shared that she mattered because she was different. She was referring to the fact that she is biracial, and to how she enjoyed learning all areas of her family’s history and culture.
Another student said: “We all matter because we were uniquely created and we all have something different to offer to the world.”
The room quickly filled with small discussions of how everyone mattered and contributed something different to the classroom, the school and the world. As the discussion came to a close, the students made a verbal promise to take the “We All Matter Challenge” to their friends outside of school as well as family members.
In the lead-up to Mix It Up at Lunch Day, fourth- and fifth-grade students will hold a writing symposium to display the writings and artwork of students that have vowed to promote the We All Matter Challenge.
Students have decided that they will create pen pal communities among the fourth- and fifth-grade classes. Within this pen-pal community, the students will exchange letters with a new friend weekly. The students are working together to form a series of discussion topics and questions that they will include in their conversation within the letter and during the National Mix It Up at Lunch Day.