On Thursday, October 2nd, the walls at Cabrini Immigrant Services – Dobbs Ferry, NY (CIS-DF) were bursting with excitement and pride. A special celebration was taking place for four of our students who attend our Sharing Stories! Making Movies! Program. We invited the students’ parents, siblings and some other special guests to share in the celebration. Everyone knew what was going to happen except for the four students. We wanted them to be surprised.
This day was a culmination of many things. A few months ago, Anne Marie Santoro, the teacher of our Sharing Stories! Making Movies! Program, brought in a ‘critter’ and asked some of the students to write a story about the critter. The critter, which was made of wood, was created by Patti Kaufman, an author and artist. The children named the critter, Bella and then wrote a special story about her. Anne Marie shared the story with Ms. Kaufman who thought it was so wonderful that she decided to publish it in her new book, Adventures in Crittertown – Where Magic Happens. The book is filled with many stories about the different critters that Ms. Kaufman has created. But ‘Bella the Cow’ is the only story. written by children!
What an honor to have four of our students called authors. Ms. Kaufman was able to join the celebration via Zoom. It was wonderful to have her see the children’s faces when they received their own copy of the book. Each child was also able to speak with Ms. Kaufman and thank her for all she had done for them.
We were thrilled to receive a copy of the book for our office. The book sits on a shelf along with the critter which hangs in our classroom. We are looking forward to presenting Springhurst Elementary School, where the students attend school, with a copy of the book which they can proudly have in the school library.
A very special thank you to Ms. Santoro for all her hard work in the program. She not only teaches the program, but she was instrumental in making this day a reality!