The Virtual Community Crate

 Hello 5th Graders!

I had such a fun week and an amazing weekend to go with it! However, the thing I'm most excited about is.... you'll find out if you keep reading!

The thing I'm super excited to tell you about is that my Virtual Community Crate just launched! This is so exciting because it marks the start of my second platform point: create a virtual community crate to spread positive messages by and for students. 

When you go to the Virtual Community Crate, you will see positive messages that other 5th graders from around our state wrote! The crate will have new messages regularly so that you get to see lots of new messages in the Virtual Community Crate. I will pick new messages each week and try to incorporate as many as possible. 

Another thing that makes the Virtual Community Crate so exciting is what you can do in school with it. Along with submitting positive messages to the community crate, you can feature your messages in your school! For example, in my school, we put together a bulletin board of our masks and made them into a rainbow with clouds. What I love about my school bulletin board is that it is almost completely made out of my mask activity! The only things that aren't shaped like masks are the background, border, and the words. You can make a bulletin board in your school and submit pictures of it to be featured in the Virtual Community Crate too! 

If you want to see your mask or your school bulletin board featured in the Virtual Community Crate, you can email me pictures or write ups of your positive messages at Reese@CT.KidGovernor.org or email them to the Kid Governor program at Samantha.Gorski@KidGovernor.org. 

I'm so happy that the Virtual Community Crate is finally launching! If you didn't see it already, you can visit it HERE. 

Now, finally, it has come time for the fun fact of the week. Are you ready?

I play the guitar! I have my own guitar and I take lessons every Friday. I have learned to play a few songs such as Ode to Joy, Love Story, and Happy Birthday. 

I hope you all have a fun week, 5th graders!

Stay positive! :)

Rainbow of Positivity

Hello 5th graders! 

This week, I did something in my school to kick off my Virtual Community Crate! I think you're going to like it!

I've been working on a certain project all week and it is related to the second point of my platform: a community crate bulletin board! I came up with this idea for a "Community Crate Bulletin Board" and began working on it this week with my teacher, Mrs. Chavez. Here's what the week looked like:

Monday: The first thing we did was find all of the colored paper we'd need to make a rainbow of paper masks. I brought in a HUGE stack of colored card stock from home and we printed the mask from my "Positive Messages" activity in all different colors. You can download the activity HERE!

Tuesday: I sorted all of the masks into piles for each class in my school. I brought my friend Miranda to help me deliver the masks to the teachers and classes. That job was fun because me and Miranda had to go up and down three flights of stairs constantly because the pile was all mixed up!

Wednesday: I went around to all of the teaches and delivered them a light yellow "Staff Mask" because my idea was to form a sun with the masks that the staff filled out. 

Thursday: I went to the dollar store to get more supplies for my design. I bought poster board and poster board letters. Part of my idea was to make big white masks that would look like clouds at the end of the rainbow. I thought being colorful would make it stand out and make it seem like even though we have to wear masks during COVID-19, it doesn't mean we can't still be positive!

Friday: I stayed late after school to start the bulletin board with my teacher. My friend, Bryce, was also there to help us because he is my teacher's son. He was a big help because it would have taken us an hour to spell out all of the letters on the board! We didn't finish it but it looks super cool! Here is a secret preview picture of the construction of the bulletin board! I will show you the finished product next week!

Now it's time for the fun fact of the week! Here it is: I go snowboarding in the winter! I've been snowboarding for 4 years and I'm starting to learn tricks in the terrain park!

I hop you all have a great week, 5th graders!

Stay Positive! :)

Wait… Did Somebody Say President Biden?

 Hello 5th graders!

I recently had a wonderful opportunity and I think you'll be excited to find out what it is! So, without further ado, here's this week's blog post.

Early last Wednesday morning, I got an email from the Connecticut Democracy Center that said I and the New Hampshire and Oregon's Kid Governors had been invited to a session of the National Governors Association (NGA) Virtual Winter Meeting 2021 with President Biden! This meeting takes place every few months and only the governors of each state and U.S. territories are invited to join. For this meeting, NGA thought it would be a great idea to invite the three Kid Governors to hear what President Biden had to say and to learn more about what's happening in our country.

Something very interesting that I learned from President Biden is that his administration has doubled the daily vaccinated rate in the last few weeks. He also said that "we've completed 50,000,000 shots in 37 days." I never realized that our country had vaccinated so many people over the last two months! This was an amazing opportunity and definitely a lifetime achievement. 

Another thing that happened this week was when I found out that the next step of my platform was being rolled out in early March! As soon as I found out, my principal soon did too. She came up to me and said that she wanted to start the positive mask activity and that she would assign me a whole bulletin board to make it happen! 

Here's what the activity looks like! You or your teacher can find the activity at CT.KidGovernor.org.

So fifth graders, get ready because we're about to become much more positive! Stay tuned to get to explore my Virtual Community Crate.

Now, it's time for me to give you the weekly fun fact about me! Ready? My favorite color is light blue and there are a few reasons why. 

1. Light blue is the color of the December birth stone and I was born in December. 

2. Light blue is the color of the sky and I love to be outdoors, playing, and exploring. 

3. Light blue is the color of the Caribbean Sea, which is my favorite place to travel to.

I hope you all have a great week!

Stay positive! :)

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A message from your friends at the Connecticut Democracy Center...

Classes are now invited to participate in CTKG Reese's Positive Masks Activity! As a part of Reese's second platform point, students can fill out a paper mask with positive messages to be shared with people across Connecticut in a Virtual Community Crate! Click HERE for more information and to download the activity. Once students complete their mask, take a picture and send them along to Reese@CT.KidGovernor.org to be added to the Virtual Community Crate. 

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In Reese's blog post this week, she spoke about the vaccination efforts happening across the country. To learn about the efforts happening in Connecticut and to get up-to-date information on the vaccine, travel advisories, and more, click HERE.