‘Exciting times at Country Meadows’
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, July 12, 2016
These pictures were drawn by some of the Grade 5 students and hung up in the halls of Country Meadows.
By Kira Paterson
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
It’s been a long-standing tradition for the Hazel M. Kellington School (HMK) Grade 5 students to visit the seniors at the Neepawa care home and this year was no exception. There was, however, a change in the way the kids interacted with the residents this year.
Marsha Forgue, the activities coordinator for Country Meadows Personal Care Home, arranged a new program for the visits she called Seniors Teaching Juniors. She organized different stations with activities such as knitting, crocheting, watercolour painting, baking, cribbage and whist. There were residents at each station who enjoyed doing that particular activity and they would teach the students how to do it when they came.
The kids would rotate through the stations at each visit so they could learn a new skill and meet a new “grandparent”, as they called the residents. The Grade 5s came twice a month throughout the school year.
On special occasions, the residents and students would all do the same activity together. At the beginning of the year, the students wrote up some questions and were paired with a senior to interview them. That way, the kids got to learn a bit about the residents and what things were like in past decades. For Halloween, the students paraded through the halls to show the “grandparents” their costumes. Close to the end of the school year, all the seniors and kids played bingo together.
At the end of the year, each student drew a picture and wrote a paragraph on what they enjoyed about their Country Meadows visits. The pages were hung on the wall in the hallway of the care home for residents, family members and staff to look at and vote on. They chose the top two students’ pages from each of the three classes and each one chosen won a $10 Dairy Queen card, courtesy of one of the residents.
Submitted photo. The winners (from left): Megan Braganza, Cyril Sumbilla, Liam Idajo, Claire Beaumont, Angel Domingo and Jo Kidd.
Judging by some of the kids’ write ups, the experience was fun for all involved. Some of the kids said that they enjoyed playing games with cards instead of on electronics for a change. Another said she liked to compare her childhood with those of the seniors.
Forgue said that the visiting program is a good way to prepare the students for the opportunity to volunteer at the care home in high school. Because this new format went over so well, she added that they will be doing it again next year, but because the student population keeps growing, the program will also continue to expand and grow.
