For fifth-grade teacher Michelle Sickler and her students at Greenvale Park Elementary School in Northfield, Minnesota, it started with an article and video from Scholastic News®. Titled “We Stand with Ukraine,” the lesson presented an age-appropriate report about Russia’s invasion of and war with the Eastern European nation.
The story introduced readers to a group of Pennsylvania middle schoolers who had family living in Ukraine. One, Alisa Yeremenko, talked about the plight of her grandparents in the city of Mariupol. Like many areas of Ukraine, it had seen widespread destruction and hardship.