Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Postcards to Peduto

Hello, avid readers! Each week at ALEC we have been striving to introduce more civic engagement lessons for our kids, and have found Wednesdays to be the perfect platform for this goal. While half our class enjoys programming from Strong Women, Strong Girls, our boys have been engaging with the outdoors, social studies and community enrichment.

This past week has shown much change in our country, and that is not lost on our youth. As we immerse them more with local government and issues, we took the opportunity to highlight a very pertinent recent action taken by our mayor.

Mayor Peduto responded to executive orders by President Trump regarding immigration bans on the 25th by pitting Pittsburgh as a "welcoming city" for all, as is detailed in this CBS article: http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/01/25/mayor-peduto-responds-to-president-trumps-executive-orders-regarding-immigration/.

We had our kids, boys 2nd-5th grade, read aloud from the article, and following watched Mayor Peduto's speech at the airport rally, in which he stated that Pittsburgh needs to consider its roots as an immigrant city and stand against the executive orders here:



Following engaging with these medias, we had a dialogue around why people may choose to migrate, or not have a choice in the matter. Our kids cited reasons such as "to find a better life", or to "do what's right for their family".

Finally, we passed out post-cards and addressed it to our Mayor, asking kids to write about their reactions to Peduto's discourse around this subject. Completed postcards will be sent to the Mayor! You can see some examples below:



"Dear Mayor Peduto- Thank you for our speech at the airport. Immigrants and refugees belong here"

"Thank you for keeping the immigrant" 

"Dear Mr. Peduto- Thank you for your inspirational speech about our rights for this city. I am wholly inspired by you, by the way you stick up for Pittsburgh and our way of life. If you have a minute could you come to Grandview Elementary School. And I'm in 5th grade"

"You are a good mayor"

"Thank you for your great message"

"Thank you for fighting for our rights" 

We hope you've enjoyed this civic engagement lesson!


Best,

Alyce

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