Abby 3rd-graders explore the world through cards
By Mandee Willis The Star News
WORLD TRAVELERS - Abbotsford Elementary teacher Jody Will poses for a photo with her third-graders, who have been learning about other cultures by reading Christmas cards from around the world. At right is a close-up of a world map they use to figure out how far away the countries are. SUBMITTED PHOTOS The average person only visits between one and four countries in their lifetime, but Jody Will’s third grade students at Abbotsford Elementary have visited dozens of different countries without ever leaving her classroom.
Will graduated from Medford Area Senior High in 1998. She’s been teaching for 22 years and is currently in her 12th year at Abbotsford Elementary. Starting in November, Will put the word out that she wanted her students to receive Christmas greeting cards from around the world. Her goal was to teach her students about different traditions, languages, and cultures and get them excited about the world outside our little slice of Wisconsin.
Will’s students receive a greeting card or letter almost every single day. So far, they’ve heard from Panama, Japan, New Zealand, and states like Texas, New York, and Oregon, as well as a few other places. The kids read their letters together before pulling up the country on a map. Once they locate it, the kids try to figure out just how long it might take to get from Abbotsford to that country, which can be eye-opening when you’re only eight or nine-years-old.
Will finds pictures of the local Christmas traditions and her students listen to songs from each place. They discuss what language is generally spoken and she encourages her students to try to think about it on their own first. As it turns out, the most commonly spoken language in France is French, and not Chinese as the students originally guessed.
Will’s class is diverse, with students from places like Vietnam, Brazil, Korea, and Mexico. But in her room, there is one universal language: kindness.
“I want them to know that they can be kind,” Will said. “Of course the academics are there too, but I want them to know how to be a good person.”
“We’re kind of known as the kindness crew. We do a lot of community things, a lot of in-school projects,” she continued.
Their projects have included making Christmas cards for employees at Abby County Market to pass out to their customers and writing letters to veterans for Veterans Day. Will’s students hoped to send out one Veterans Day letter in each state. They sent out a total of 96.
Their projects also included a welcome book for each new student and their family written in their native language.
“The parents I had last year were so good,” Will said. “We had translated it in every one of those languages because the parents helped me.”
Her students have about 22 pen pals they write to monthly. Their pen pals are mostly from Wisconsin, but they also write to people in North Carolina.
Will turned one of her cabinets into a makeshift fridge so her students can hang pictures from their pen pals where they can see them every day. Last year’s students had college pen pals, and this year the class wrote to older adults.
Will says that her students love hearing about how others receive their cards and letters.
“We talk about how kindness doesn’t cost anything,” she said.
Her goal is to provide her students with more than just an education. Will wants her students to think globally and understand that there is a whole world outside of their community.
“I want them to realize that it doesn’t just take place in this building,” she said. “I want them to see you can do so much more.”
Throughout the whole school during the month of December, the kids are learning about empathy. For Will, this translates into how to be a good friend. While she doesn’t expect her students to all be best friends, she does expect them to be compassionate and treat one another with respect. Manners are an important part of this lesson as they aren’t always taught at home anymore.
“It’s just something that needs to be done,” she said. “If I can do it, then I will.”
But just because the Christmas season will soon be over doesn’t mean that Will’s third graders are done exploring the world. The 100th day of school is coming up on Jan. 30, and Will would like to see her students open 100 letters from different places to celebrate and continue their “travels.”
Letters can be sent to: Jody Will Abbotsford Elementary School 510 Hemlock Street Abbotsford, WI 54405
