A Wall of Life Lessons at Waukee Elementary

Kendall Bradford has a yearly goal for her first grade classroom at Waukee Elementary.

“I want our students and my first graders to know that everybody has many parts to their story,” says Bradford.

That is the main focus of a majority of Mrs. Bradford’s lessons, including February’s Black History Month. 

“When we started with Martin Luther King Jr, I taught them how he was this big civil rights activist. But he’s also a father and a college graduate and a husband,” Bradford says.

All month long students have added to an incredible display in the hallways of Waukee Elementary. 

“I want the kids to really be able to see each other and celebrate the things that are the same and different,” she adds.

First up is the color poem. 

“I wanted to incorporate the arts and how Amanda Gorman uses words to motivate and inspire others,” says Bradford.

Next to the color poems are the inspired drawings. These are inspired from a lesson about Tyler Gordon and his incredible passion for painting and his remarkable story.

“Tyler was born deaf, so he had a surgery and he got some of hearing back and when he grew up he had a stutter and he is gifted with painting,” says 1st Grader Blayne Merrick.

Mrs. Bradford then had her students paint portraits featuring people who have inspired them.

“I drew him (Tyler Gordon) because he was born deaf and he’s a very good painter and artist, as you can see right here,” says First Grader Nick Nesbit.

“I drew Martin Luther King Jr because he changed laws,” says First Grader McKinley Sparrow.

While Black History Month comes to a close Sunday, the lessons learned will stick with these students for a very long time and their work around equity will continue.

“I want them to understand that they have power and their words have power. When I teach them about diversity and inclusion that they understand right is right, even if no one else is doing it,” says Bradford.