Local ‘helpers’ visit with KA students
There were even more squeals of joy and sounds of happiness than usual leaking out of Kemper Academy’s K-3 and K-4 students on Jan. 28, as they were paid a visit by professionals from across the county, including firemen, members of law enforcement, nurses, and hair dressers as part of “Community Helpers” week.
“We usually do it over a week’s time,” said KA K-4 teacher Misty Robinson. “We do it every year and we used to go out into the community, but now we have them come to us.”
There is no secret to what really gets the children’s attention. “They enjoy the fire trucks and the police cars,” Robinson said. “Especially when they blow the sirens.”
Robinson and K-3 teacher Michelle Copeland work their curriculum around learning about the community and the people who work there for the entire week
“We go over different things with them,” Copeland said. “Many of them don’t know that they can be friends with the policemen.
“It’s a big week for us,” she said. “We have things we set up in the room. You can make an area into a police station and they have (uniforms) they can put on. We can talk about being a farmer and talk about all of the crops and how they go about harvesting them.”
KA has 10 students in K-3 and eight in K-4.
Even though “Community Helper” week is over, the visits aren’t. Robinson said a dentist and post office employee will be coming to visit later in the year.
“They look up to these people in our community and it is really special to them,” Robinson said of the students getting to meet and talk to the various professionals who take time out of their jobs to visit with the children. “They ask them questions and really learn from it.”
Robinson said one of the highlights of the week was a flatbed tow truck brought in by Chris Gordon.
“They wanted to know how Chris got the cars on top of there,” she said with a laugh. “I think some of them thought he just picked them up and put them there. They were excited to learn how he really did it.”