{"id":9149,"date":"2019-04-05T11:23:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T15:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=9149"},"modified":"2019-08-23T13:21:24","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T17:21:24","slug":"kindergarten-students-make-dandelion-wishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/kindergarten-students-make-dandelion-wishes\/","title":{"rendered":"Kindergarten students make dandelion wishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

April is the Month of the Military Child, and the school division is proud to display more than 700 works of art by K-12 students as part of the annual Art of Being a Military Child exhibit at Lynnhaven Mall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there’s a much smaller exhibit along kindergarten hall at Shelton Park Elementary School, where four teachers have displayed a mixed-art media installation that celebrates the individual wishes of each of their students, most of them military-connected.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The inspiration came from what many consider to be a weed: the dandelion.<\/p>\n

“We are trying to showcase just how resilient the children are,” said one of the teachers, Kayla Deghetto. “Because the dandelion flower is resilient and adaptable and can take root everywhere and anywhere. We thought that this would be a good depiction of how our children have to do just that. Be resilient, adapt to new schools and new classrooms and take root wherever they go.”<\/p>\n

The teachers and students read Carolyn Conahan’s 2011 book “The Big Wish,” in which a young girl’s lawn is overrun with yellow blooms.<\/p>\n

Molly’s yard was all dandelions, from side to side. Dandelions crowded the steps of the house like they wanted in. Dandelions leaned through the fence like they wanted out.<\/em><\/p>\n

When a neighbor threatens to mow them all down, Molly insists that each flower is a wish in the making.<\/p>\n

“I have to keep them safe until they turn into wish-puffs<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Molly and the other townspeople all end up thinking about what they would wish for.<\/p>\n

“We read the story first,” explained kindergarten teacher Suzanne Fay. “Then we talked to them about making a wish that was about their family. Not just wishing for a toy or a specific thing.”<\/p>\n

“Let’s not wish for $20,” advised fellow teacher Ellen Pontiff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All four teachers took profile pictures of their students. A piece of construction paper was adorned with a photo and a dandelion puff ball made from white yarn. Little pieces of yarn were randomly positioned away from the flower, so it looked as if the student was blowing on it, making a wish. Each student wrote something after the two words “I wish…”<\/p>\n

The results ranged from the expected to the poignant. Some wanted superpowers, others wished for love and kindness, many wrote that they wish their mothers or fathers were home more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“They came up with things that inspired me,” said Pontiff. One student in her class wrote that he wanted his father to stay in the military because “It’s good for our family and he keeps us safe.” Another wanted, “The sun to stay in the sky.”<\/p>\n

“None of my students wished for anything family-related,” laughed teacher Kristin Sheely. “They all wanted a purple Pegasus or a Ferrari. But I think it’s just really cool to see what their wishes and dreams are as five \u2013year-old military children in Virginia Beach.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The teachers agreed that the students were excited to participate in the project and that they’d be collaborating again with next year\u2019s classes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April is the Month of the Military Child, and the school division is proud to display more than 700 works of art by K-12 students as part of the annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9154,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149\/revisions\/9154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}