RAVENNA, Mich. — A group of West Michigan fourth graders are celebrating this Valentine’s Day with people from all over the world after their teacher made a social media post requesting cards from all 50 states.
Katie Payne’s fourth grade class at Beechnau Elementary School in Ravenna has gotten an even bigger response than they were expecting. They haven’t just gotten cards from all over the country but from all over the world, including Spain and Japan.
The teacher says this is her first time doing this, and that it’s turned into many teachable moments that students cannot learn from textbooks. She says that’s included lessons on the power of social media, and a lesson about the people around us.
“There’s so much negativity going on in the world right now, and I wanted to show them that there were good people in this world. We got cookies from Hawaii. We got stuff from Iowa. I got a gift card from Iowa thanking me for doing this and people that we don’t even know have just spent their time and their money to send us in little old Ravenna,” said Payne.
She says the students have also been learning geography by placing stickers on a map for every state or country they’ve received a card from.
As for their goal of getting cards from all 50 states, so far, they’ve received cards from all but three: Mississippi, Rhode Island and Vermont. Payne said they continue to receive multiple cards each day and that she’s confident they may still receive cards from those states.
It wasn’t until after 13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out about the story that we realized Payne just happens to be one our past Teacher of the Week winners.
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