A few weeks ago, I came across an interesting article about Anne Frank and her American pen pal from Danville, Iowa.
Like the students at our little yellow school, Anne Frank also attended a Montessori school.
Here is a link to the article.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180415-anne-franks-american-pen-pal
I was particularly moved by the mention of Danville's eighth grade students and their inspiring Postcard Project. Their goal is to collect 1.5 million postcards from around the world to help end intolerance and encourage the acceptance of all people. Here are some excerpts about their project from their Facebook page.
Unfortunately, intolerance is shaping the world we live in. Every day, at every level and every age, people face intolerance because they are different in some way.
To tolerate someone is not good enough. If you are merely tolerating someone, you are still implying that something about them is "not good enough". It is time to accept people for who they are. Instead of rejecting differences, such as religion or race, accept those people for who they are.
https://www.facebook.com/PostcardsAMemorialForChildren/
When I read about their project, I knew that the students at our little school must help these eighth graders reach their goal. While we did not go into great detail about the background of the project, the children were very eager to write postcards to remember children who died in the war.
Our little preschoolers are not able to comprehend war, hate or intolerance. They have such a huge capacity to love and to help one another. Everyone who comes to visit our little yellow school is considered a friend. All are welcomed into our school family.
The children had such a fantastic time writing the postcards. Many had never written a postcard before. It was a great learning experience. The older children wrote their own messages, while our youngest students dictated their messages or wrote their own names.
Here are some of their messages.
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| A Young Three Year Old |
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| A Young Three Year Old |
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| A Three Year Old - This postcard is for you. My mom and dad say hi. |
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| A Five Year Old - Dear Children, My school is called Children's Montessori Academy. I wish you get all the postcards you need! |
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| A Five Year Old - I play the guitar. |
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| A Three Year Old - This is my postcard for you. I like the Toronto Maple Leafs. |
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| A Five Year Old - I feel bad for the people who died. I feel really sorry for some of the people that died. |
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| A Five Year Old - I am sorry for the war. |
Our postcards are now off to Danville, Iowa. A huge THANK YOU to Mrs. M.'s husband for finding us some lovely Toronto postcards to send.
If you would like to help the eighth graders of Danville, Iowa meet their goal, send them a postcard.
Danville Postcard Project
419 South Main
Danville, Iowa 52623
USA
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.
~ Anne Frank
