EASTON — A second-grade class at Samuel Staples Elementary School is learning sign language as a way to hone their empathy and show people that everyone is welcome.
Hannah Haydu, who teaches second grade there, said the project came out of a desire to increase the emphasis on social-emotional learning.
“This year, it hit me that this group never experienced a normal school year,” she said. “COVID-19 hit when they were in kindergarten. Coming in, I just wanted to do a lot with social-emotional learning.”
In line with that effort, Haydu said she started teaching her students about a new trait every month. She said this includes attributes such as kindness and friendship, with each one having a project associated with it.
“For kindness, we went around the school and put secret notes on doors,” she said. “For another one, we sent letters to soldiers in Africa.”
When empathy came, Haydu said she decided to spend two months on the trait, because of how important it is for people to have and because it takes time to practice and learn empathy. She said the class started by learning the American Sign Language alphabet.
Haydu said the class also learned how to say welcome and the Pledge of Allegiance. When the class started reading the book, “All Are Welcome” by Alexandra Penfold, one student pointed out that they were using empathy through their work learning sign language.
“It was a huge class discussion,” she said. “So I said, ‘What if we signed the book as we were reading it?’”
Haydu said Jennifer Del Conte, the director of special services for the Easton and Redding school districts, came in to class and gave them sign language lessons, noting she is a member of the deaf community.
“It was such an amazing experience for them,” Haydu said. “They were asking questions like, ‘How did you learn to sign? How do the masks help you or hurt you from being able to understand people?’”
Haydu said the class learned the book little by little, with each student leading the narration of his or her own part and the rest of the class signing it with them. Eventually, she said, the class made a video of students narrating the book in ASL. She said it built a sense of community in the classroom in a way she never would have imaged.
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