Chestnut Ridge Elementary students know how to rock

Chestnut Ridge Elementary students know how to rock
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The idea behind Ohio Rocks! is for the students to paint positive slogans and words on rocks and then hide them around the school. Once found, a hashtag is used to track each rock’s progress around the school grounds.

                        

When the rock band Queen penned the words to “We Will Rock You,” it is doubtful they had a group of Holmes County youth working with dirt, paint and several hundred rocks in mind.

However, in order to promote positivity throughout their school this past year, the students at Chestnut Ridge invested in making rock gardens. The gardens were full of colorful rocks that the students designed and painted to create a festive atmosphere around the school property.

According to teacher Launie Shaw, like every school, the staff at Chestnut Ridge has made every effort to reach and maintain all of the state’s learning standards. She said that with those standards comes a lot of stress and anxiety as the entire school works to reach the state’s levels.

Shaw said that with the levels of stress rising in schools, which has resulted in more school violence, Chestnut Ridge set about striving to create a positive attitude among its students and staff through the implementation of Northeast Ohio Rocks!, a Facebook site devoted to providing a safe and inspiring place for students to express themselves while exploring their creative side.

“It was a large undertaking that required a lot of teamwork among the entire school staff,” Shaw said.

The idea behind Ohio Rocks! is for the students to paint positive slogans and words on rocks and then hide them around the school. Once found, a hashtag is used to track each rock’s progress around the school grounds.

“It’s like a perpetual Easter egg hunt, only with rocks and positive, uplifting sayings,” Shaw said.

The simple idea quickly took root, and the rock project took on a life of its own. It became what was positively a grand idea that the students poured themselves into.

Just a few rocks would never suffice, so the school turned to Feikert Sand & Gravel, which donated 300 river stones to the project. Former school custodian Vicki Gardner had already created a beautiful garden area, and the school was about to get inspired as the rocks went from hiding to being displayed in plain view, courtesy of a rock garden.

“The creativity was contagious,” Shaw said.

The entire staff continued to provide additional steps in the process as year-end testing bore down. Art teacher Kris Flinner, a Northeast Ohio Rock-er herself, joined in the fun to help students create some fun art on their rocks.

“A project like this allows students to think outside of the usual school box and engage in multiple intelligences that are unique to each individual,” Shaw said. “Our school was abuzz with excitement as our garden started to grow.”

Shaw went on to note that carrying around the rocks was cumbersome, so school cook Linda Chupp made it her mission to make it easier on the kids by creating a box to carry the stones.

Almost everything was in place for the colorful stone garden that was developing, and all that was left was a garden sign.

Vocational teacher Pat Miller built a sign on a post that included a birdhouse, and a parent volunteered to tastefully design and paint the sign.

“The parent went above and beyond and also painted on a heart-shaped rock, signifying our deep love and respect for our school,” Shaw said. “All of the pieces to our garden fell into place right before our annual school-wide picnic.”

The icing on the cake in the garden project was placing a memorial stone in honor of a student who had passed away in 2015.

“It was a sweet sentiment for a beautiful life that didn’t have the opportunity to blossom fully,” Shaw said. “As the students placed their stones tenderly around the memorial stone, there was a lovely feeling.”

In spite of all of the pressure that comes with school, Chestnut Ridge has found a way to inspire one another through positive, uplifting messages in the stone garden. That message will greet the students next fall as a new year introduces itself. While all of the same pressure of testing and school will be present, there will be an aura of hope and positivity as the students continue to tend to the garden.


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