OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – Back in February, Melinda Foster, a 2nd grade teacher at New River Primary, began partnering Domino’s using their pizza boxes for interactive math and science problems.
Now with the students being out, Foster called up Domino’s to see what could be done and not only did they donate more boxes and bags, they also donated 25 pizzas for the students.
However, this was not just about giving out a free lunch, Foster sent them home with a fun activity as well.
“From the pizza that they create, then they will create their own word problem and they will also post that in the pizza box and then probably in a week or two they will have a Zoom class meeting,” Foster said. “They will share their word problems and then the rest of the class will work on answering and computing those.”
On Monday, her students and their parents came one by one through the school’s parking lot to pick up their pizza packet and see their teacher, each expressing how much they miss school.
“It’s going to be fun but it’s not going to be the same as doing it with my class,” Annalee Chouinard, one 2nd grader, said.
Foster says she understands the socio-emotional effects of being out of the classroom, which is why for her and her students and their families, this day was huge.
“I do a little check-in with them that’s basically different colored hearts. Red means ‘I’m doing great,’ and then it works down to ‘I need to talk to you’ and the hearts aren’t always at the top of the scale now,” Foster said “The kids are missing school, and they’re missing that routine, and so those daily check-ins kind of let me feel where they are in this moment, so I think today is going to be a really great day for all of us.”
For the students who could not make it Monday, Foster delivered their pizzas and packets to them.
