"Banding Together To Create Friendships Across The Globe"....See What Is Next For Our Project

I am excited to announce how a very special project that is dear to my heart and that of children all over the world....especially in Van Meter, Iowa....is growing.

My dear friends at Be A Noble Kid and In This Together Media have partnered to continue the Banding Together Project that my amazing 3rd graders at Van Meter Elementary created last year.

When my son Hagan came home from school explaining that they were not going to allow the Rainbow Loom bracelets they all loved at school anymore....

his classmates, Hagan and I decided to make it into a project that would tie together research, writing, reading, interviewing, connecting, creating, and much more.

In fact, when In This Together Media saw what we were doing with our project, they asked if they could partner with us turning it into a global project called Banding Together.   With this connection, we were happy to extend our hearts and the bracelets we were creating to an orphanage in India.

You can read all about the Banding Together Project on this Smore that we created.  There are blog posts in this Smore that explains the process throughout the project.

As we shared the excitement of the Banding Together Project on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and my blog, more and more schools and children around the world starting hearing about how project and wanted to be involved too.

So they started creating bracelets within their school communities to send to our kids in Van Meter. We received thousands of bracelets, lots of letters, and so much joy in knowing that we were making a difference in the lives of others.

Our 3rd graders also became pen pals with the children in India.  They wrote letters to every one of the students there....and the children in India wrote back to ours.

It was such a special connection that made all of them realized that they really are not that different.... they just live in different places.

As the year went on, we realized that we could make an even bigger impact if we partnered with someone else to make sure the Banding Together Project continued to impact children around the globe.

That is when our friends at Be A Noble Kid stepped in.  They believe in the love and happiness that Rainbow Loom bracelets, letters, and friendship can bring.

On the Be A Noble Kid website, they have created a page just for Banding Together.  It gives the background of the project and lots of information.  

They have also taken the research project I did with the 3rd graders and created lessons to download for 2nd through 5th graders.

So ask yourself this...How can I get my students involved with Banding Together?

Click on the Get Involved linked on the site....

 Like us on Facebook....

and help all of us make a difference in the world and in the lives of children everywhere.  We can all Band Together and do this.

Thank you to our friends at In This Together Media and Be A Noble Kid for helping us make a difference and for continuing the project we created in our little library one day.  It just shows how we can all make a difference in the world with an idea, creativity, love, and each other.