GETTING ALONG - 208 TIMES
Kindergarten students in the Sherman, Westfield, Chautauqua Lake, Ripley and Brocton School Districts in Chautauqua County, NY/USA are the proud owners of new books to take home and share with their family members thanks to the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville. Representatives of the Rotary club recently visited kindergarten classrooms in the five school districts, gave brief talks and presented 208 children with copies of the book We Can Get Along: A Child’s Book of Choices (Payne, Lauren Murphy. Free Spirit Publishing, c. 2015. ISBN: 978-1-63198-027-5).
Kindergarteners (front, left to right) Emma Oehlbeck and Ethan Taylor were two of all Sherman Central School students of this grade level who received their own copies of the book We Can Get Along by Lauren Murphy Payne from the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville on Sept. 28. Also pictured are (row 2, left to right) Sherman CSD kindergarten teacher Jennifer Benedetto, Westfield-Mayville Rotary Club President Elect Mary Swanson, Club President Janese Berkhouse, Club District Grants and Foundation Chair Jim Wakeman, and Sherman CSD kindergarten teacher Maureen Bogdanowicz.
This title was selected for its themes of respect, kindness, tolerance and empathy. The purchase of the books was funded equally by the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville and a District Grant from Rotary District 7090 and The Rotary Foundation. Books were delivered to kindergarten classrooms in all five of the school districts between September 28 and October 10.
Club President Janese Berkhouse, stated, “This year’s grant project serves a dual purpose. It encompasses two of Rotary’s focuses, which are promoting peace and supporting education and literacy. By placing a book in each kindergartener’s hands, it is our hope that it is the start of a lifetime of reading. We Can Get Along encourages understanding and tolerance of others, as well as the development of peacemaking skills.”
Jim Wakeman, Westfield-Mayville Rotary Club District Grants Chair and Foundation Chair, added, “One of Rotary International’s six Areas of Focus is promoting peace and conflict prevention/resolution. This book teaches and encourages this, at the kindergarten level of readiness, through teaching about civility, tolerance and kindness. We hope that this gift, and the lessons it delivers, will bring some additional measure of peace to the lives of these children.”
Rotary International’s other Areas of Focus include the following: Disease prevention andtreatment; Water and sanitation; Maternal and child health; Basic education and literacy; and Economic and community development. The motto of The Rotary Foundation is Doing Good in the world.
On Sept 28 Sherman Central School kindergarten students were presented with their books. Jennifer Benedetto, a Sherman CSD kindergarten teacher, said, “Learning to get along is such an important lesson in the kindergarten classroom. Thanks to the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville, our students were able to receive their very own book that helped to share this valuable message! We were also able to add this wonderful book to our classroom library.”
Maureen Bogdanowicz, another kindergarten teacher in the Sherman CSD, stated, “Incorporating character education into daily lessons is so important in kindergarten. Through the use of picture books, the students are able to relate these lessons into “real world” situations. The book donated to each child from the Westfield-Mayville Rotary Club promotes peace and conflict resolution through literacy.”
Several pages in the back of the books are intended for parents, teachers and other “caring adults.” This section features various discussion starters and activities on the topics of recognizing and talking about feelings; coping with hurt feelings; using I-messages; agree to disagree; drawing together; positive choices; and lists about friendship and feelings. Parents and other caregivers of each kindergarten child are invited to read the book with the child after he/she brings it home, and reinforce the positive character skills of the book.
When the Westfield-Mayville Rotarians delivered the books to the kindergarten classrooms, they gave brief programs in which they explained what Rotary is, what Rotarians do, and the importance of civility and other positive character traits. In addition to presenting the Sherman CSD kindergarten students with their books on September 28, books were delivered to other kindergarten classrooms of the following school districts on these dates: Westfield Academy & CSD – October 3; Chautauqua Lake CSD – October 4; Ripley CSD – October 6; and Brocton CSD – October 10. The eight Westfield-Mayville Rotarians who participated in the kindergarten presentations and book deliveries were Tracy Bennett, Janese Berkhouse, Tom Berkhouse, John Hamels, Sue Hammond, Dan Smith, Mary Swanson and Jim Wakeman.
The purchase of the 208 books for kindergarten students was made possible by the Westfield-Mayville Rotary Club applying and receiving approval for a 2017-2018 Rotary District Grant. The funding to purchase the books was equally shared by this Rotary Club, Rotary District 7090 and The Rotary Foundation. This grant was the fifth district grant this Rotary Club has obtained in the last five years.
The other four district grants projects and their respective years were as follow: 2016-2017 – the installation of two water wells in rural villages near Niamey, Niger; 2015-2016 – educational programs for 50 adolescent females of this Rotary Club’s five local communities in partnership with the Westfield YWCA; 2014 – 2015 – instructional and literacy materials for elementary students in 18 rural villages near Niamey, Niger; and 2013 – 2014 – equipment (tables and seating) for the Chautauqua Children’s Safety Education Village in Ashville, NY. At this site, Rotarians had previously helped to fund and build an outdoor pavilion used for large group instruction.
The Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville serves the Brocton, Mayville, Ripley, Sherman and Westfield communities. It is one of 69 Rotary Clubs in Rotary District 7090, and it is affiliated with Rotary International, which worldwide has 1.2 million members. The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service. Avenues of service within Rotary focus on numerous community, international, vocational, club, and youth programs and projects.