Who Is Nobody? is a character-building and literacy program that the Rotary Club of Alliston has supported in Alliston’s elementary schools for several years. Here are stories from four children from three different schools about their Nobody experience.
Alliston Union Public School – Becky Kennedy’s kindergarten class
When a mysterious box arrived at Mrs. Kennedy’s kindergarten classroom last fall, many children had different ideas about what might be inside. Mrs. Kennedy opened the box and explained that the figure inside was Nobody, with no physical features, no personality, and no skills. It was the children’s responsibility to give Nobody these things and turn him into a Somebody.
Nobody went home with the children one at a time for a week. Parents helped them to write about their experience with Nobody, to either take a photo or draw a picture, and to create a three-dimensional representation to pin on the doll. And gradually Nobody became Somebody, with personality, positive character traits, and skills.
Ivy taught Nobody how to be loving by doing kind things. She helped Nobody put on her grandma’s shoes, plant seeds in the garden, and build a deck with her father.
The children learned character traits in a very hands-on, direct way, they developed confidence, and all the children’s parents were involved with the program. Nobody helped everyone to become a Somebody!
Alliston Community Christian School – Sarah Hayes’s Grade 3 class
The Grade 3 introduction to the program was the same as in the kindergarten class. The children were excited to get started on the job of turning Nobody into Somebody.
For his experience with Nobody Aaron worked on a mission in the Ukraine that his church is involved in. He collected “Cup ‘o Soups” to be included in packages to be sent through the church and his endeavour was written up in the church magazine. Aaron realized that it’s more important to help people than just thinking about yourself.
Holy Family Catholic Elementary School – Marcella Cadeau’s Grade 4 class
Cassandra decided to teach Nobody about the panda, its endangered habitat and what can be done to help save it. She used the National Geographic website and read the information to Nobody. She learned so much while teaching Nobody about this important environmental issue.
Holy Family Catholic Elementary School – Cathy Hardy’s Grade 4 class
Jorgia was excited to have her own turn to take Nobody home and help it become a Somebody. Jorgia and her family, at Christmas time, visited Drysdale’s tree farm to select their Christmas tree. With two other children and her parents all having their own ideas about the ideal tree, she and Nobody needed to learn how to compromise when it came time to make a decision. They all worked together, since Nobody needed to learn how to respect other people’s feelings and how to make a decision that would be fair to everyone.
For more information about the Who Is Nobody? program, visit www.whoisnobody.com
This article was published in the Alliston Herald Newspaper on June 6th 2015
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