Our hearts are full this season as we finished celebrating our first Mitten Festival at Hickory Hill Academy. It was a wonderful way to connect as a school community during this pandemic, celebrate exceptional children's literature, flex our student's artistic talents, bring light to our campus, and give back to those in need.
Mitten Festival took place over a two week span to allow each classroom to showcase artwork inspired by Jan Brett's book, The Mitten. Classroom teachers from infants through 4th grade, orchestrated detailed art projects to reflect elements of the story and/or Scandinavian design tailored to their student's abilities. But their Mitten Festival celebrations expanded well beyond their artwork. Teacher's celebrated the author by reading her books to students, directing students in reenacting the story, integrating the story in their daily lesson planning, and adding writing assignments to promote self reflection.
In addition, our school community chose to collect survival gear donations for Friends of State Street to help adults experiencing homelessness in downtown Madison. Through the generous donations of our school community, over 200 items were collected such as mittens, socks, hand and foot warmers, toiletries, and more. It was an honor to spotlight Friends of State Street during Mitten Festival this year and we encourage you to learn more about their organization at friendsofthestatestreetfamily.org
Each classroom's art project and creation was unique. Below is just a sampling of the artwork created by our students. Words cannot express how wonderful it is to see each student's beautiful creativity displayed all together.
The art our students created brought so much joy to our campus, and we have our talented teachers to thank for organizing each project. They went above and beyond to make this a special event this year. In addition, we had a wonderful group from our Parent Partnership Association help create campus décor, coordinate donations for Friends of State Street, put together gifts for each student, help put lights up on campus, and schedule each classroom's virtual art show.
Thanks again to our teachers, students, and PPA for helping to make this a memorable event during a challenging time. We look forward to growing Mitten Festival for many years to come!
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