The Thunder Bolt

Concordia’s Grade 3 students have embarked on an empathetic quest to befriend important, but often behind the scenes,members of the Concordia community. 

Inspired by last year’s school theme of “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes,” Grade 3 teachers assigned each student to members of the cooking, cleaning, technical or security staff to be their “buddies” for the year.

As part of the program, students have committed to completing tasks for their buddy throughout the week, like saying hi to their buddy by name. Also, during each holiday, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Tet, they deliver gifts as a way of thanking them for the work they do. 

This exercise is designed to help students build empathy and become more aware of other people. 

“As educators, our most important thing we teach students is to become good human beings,” said Grade 3 teacher, Ms. Aspen.

This emphasis on empathy also ties into other parts of the Grade 3 curriculum. 

“This project helps them in every area of the curriculum. For example, it ties in directly with our Social Studies and Writing units on ‘changing the world’. We want them to learn to be people that grow up to make an impact on bigger issues. So we felt this was a good way for third graders to start thinking about people other than themselves. It helps students become aware that there are many types of people in the world and that have various positions in society. Some people are different from us, but also have a lot of things in common with us. So hopefully it will help them make a bigger impact in the future,” Ms. Aspen explained.  

Students shared the ways the project is already impacting how they see their world.

“I feel happy giving people something I made. I really appreciate their help so this is a perfect opportunity to say thank you. One time we also gave the ear muffs to keep warm. I had wanted to say thank you to these community workers, but didn’t know their names. But since doing this activity, I got to know them better,” said Manh Ha (G3). 

“It makes me feel I know other people that work in Concordia and understand their feelings,” said Jaewon (G3).

“‘It makes me feel happy because I like giving to other people,” said Clara (G3).

“I like that you get to make people happy and feel special in the community,” said Minh An (G3). 

Earlier this year, the activity caught the attention of the Grade 5 news team, who published an article about the endeavor. 

“As I was teaching the journalism writing unit to my grade 5 students and getting ready to brainstorm ideas for writing feature articles about happenings and events at Concordia, I was inspired by the 3rd grade buddies project and wanted to write about it!” said Grade 5 teacher Mrs. Ngai. “It was the perfect way to both share about an amazing community project at Concordia and model good journalism writing techniques to my students. The 3rd grade teachers and students have also inspired me to get to know our local staff better. We're so grateful for everything they do for us.”

You can read the full Grade 5 article by Mrs. Ngai here: 

Learn more about Concordia’s Elementary School Curriculum