When Madill Elementary 3rd grade teacher Kelsey Lawrence was researching projects over the Christmas break in 2023, little did she know how big of an impact this project would become. She said through her research, found something that intriguedher,HeartsAround the World.
Hearts Around the World was a simple request for anyone and everyone to send in Valentines Day cards to Lawrence’s 3rd grade class.
“I had been researching projects during Christmas Break for my class to do this semester,' Lawrence said. 'I found this project idea online and thought it would teach several different lessons.'
'I wanted my students to learn that being kind to others will always prevail. If you share love and kindness, it will make its way back to you.'
'It would show them geography sincetheydonothavea lot of background knowledge of the world.'
'Lastly, I wanted them to see that there is so much they can accomplish.”
From there, Lawrence created a project outline that she submitted to Madill Elementary school principal Kristi Birdsong, then asked her to share it on the school’s social media Facebook page. The original post was created on January 19, and has been shared over 2,500 times since then.
'As of February 14th, we have received something from all 50 states and from 30 countries. The total pieces of mail we have received has been 890,' Lawrence said of the project's result. “We not only received post cards, letters, and cards, we also received packages with gifts from all over the world. We documented where each letter camefromafterweopened and read them all.
Students have sent a thankyoucardtoeverysingle pieceofmailwehavereceived that had a return address.” Birdsong expressed her enthusiasm about the results, as well.
“Mrs. Lawrence's Hearts Around the World project has been fun to watch,' Birdsong said. 'It's been exciting to watch the students stop and look at the progress on the maps displayed in the hall. Mrs. Lawrence and her class have done a great job of keeping the project organized and updating everyone on their progress.”
Thestudentshadplentyto say about Hearts Around the World and what they learned from it. Jaxxon Garrett said he learned a great deal from the experience.
“I learned how to spread kindness and there was a lot of kindness that came to us.”
Garrett said he enjoyed the project in many ways.
'My favorite part of the project was seeing the amount of Valentines we got from Texas. I have a lot of family in Texas and I liked getting mail from them.'
Jocelyn Alvarez said she would love to do a project like this again.
“I could learn something new. I learned that no matter where you are from any state or country, you can spread love and kindness.'
Many of the students, like Adriel Barrientos and Hatlie Hartin found the project was not only educational but fun, as well. Even though Valentine’s Day is over, the project will continue.
'We will continue documenting and do one last update on February 29,' Lawrencesaidaboutthelittle experiment that exploded with kindness from around the world.
'My students and I were very thankful for the response and support we have received. Thank you again to everyone!'