First-grade students at the Community in the Woods welcome table, where donations for nonprofit Homeless Solutions are traded for activity cards. Photo by Erin Kiernan Photography
Over the course of the school year, first-graders at Willow take field trips into Peapack-Gladstone and interview important community workers. Last school year, students met the mayor and visited the police department, the bank, and the library.
As part of service projects, the students met Department of Public Works employees and helped them plant trees and butterfly bushes, lay mulch, and put up bluebird boxes in a local park. They also learned about homelessness and how nonprofit Homeless Solutions helps people get back on their feet. “For many of our students, this is the first introduction to the idea that someone could become homeless,” says first-grade teacher Katie Lombardo. “They see that not everyone is as fortunate as them and learn how they can help.”
After these visits, students deepen their understanding of banking, food, retail and service businesses, laws, citizenship, and government planning through creative, collaborative projects throughout the school year. The class also learns about other communities around the world.
All of this leads to the annual, end-of-year Community in the Woods, in which the first-graders assume the roles of the community workers they’ve studied as they construct their own town with various stations on campus. Visitors can buy arts and crafts, books, food, and beverages from the students, with the money going to Homeless Solutions. Last June’s event raised $800.
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