In Hastings on Hudson, there is a project-based school called Hudson Lab School (our school) and we have an Intergenerational Program. That is because we are located in the Andrus on Hudson skilled nursing/ rehabilitation home.
We call the residents The Grands. We’re always seeing our favorite Grands (this is a picture of some of the younger students reading a book with one of our favorites) and they love it when we read and do activities with them.
The Grands tell us lots of stories. One Grand told us about how she used to ride trains into the city without her parents knowing. Another Grand told us about how, when she was young and she was living in Italy, a chicken would jump on her brother’s head. Every night that they would eat chicken for dinner, their grandma would have to show him that he was not eating the chicken that jumped on her head.
We are writing to tell you about our current project and are hoping that you can spread the word for us. The Grands don’t get to go outside much, so we are trying to bring nature inside for them. Andrus is located on 26 acres of amazing land… we have fields, trails, a spruce grove, a wild play space and lots of wildlife like hawks, cardinals, woodpeckers, raccoons, deer, fox, and more. The Grands aren’t really able to enjoy the property the way we do. We are trying to raise money so that we get nature inside to the Grands so that they can enjoy it too.
We studied biophilia and biophilic design. We are using what we learned to transform two spaces in the lobby to peaceful nature inspired spaces.
We will be raising money on a site called Gofundme, we are going to launch it later today! We are going to use the money that we raise to make a Sunroom and a Nature Nook. We will build a beautiful bench with reclaimed wood, fill the space with living plants, beautiful sounds and comfortable seating in the Sunroom. In the Nature Nook, we want to install a projector to project nature sounds and images (because it’s too hot for live plants to live in there.)
We hope to complete our project before the end of the school year so the Grands can start enjoying nature. That is why we want to spread the word as quick as we can!
Thank you for listening to our idea and we hope you will share it with others.
From, Upper Elementary class at Hudson Lab School
