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Kimberly Justice and Claudia Miller’s kindergarten class by their Hearts Across the World board at Clanton Elementary School. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)

The kindergarten class has received a card or letter from 47 of the 50 states so far during their Hearts Across the World project. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)

Overall, the class has received 111 card or letters so far during their project. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)

The students are displaying their cards and letters throughout the hallways at Clanton Elementary School. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)

The class has received cards from 14 different countries including Albania, Germany and the Netherlands. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)

The board in the hallway of Clanton Elementary School where the students’ cards have outgrown the space. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)

By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Kimberly Justice and Claudia Miller’s kindergarten class at Clanton Elementary School is on the brink of completing their Hearts Across the World project that has connected the students with people across the United States and the globe through the Valentine’s day holiday.

The project began when Justice saw another class in Alabama doing the same project, and she wanted to bring it to her students this Valentine’s Day. The class is trying to get a Valentine’s Day card, postcard or letter from every state in the United States and from as many different countries as possible. Justice gathered all of the information and details for the project and made a post on social media.

“We put it out on Facebook, and it just went,” Justice said.

All that was requested by the class was a simple card or letter from people, but some people have gone above and beyond. Some have included Valentine’s for each student, stickers for each student and individual letters for each student. So far, the class has received 111 cards, postcards or letters from 47 states — only missing Delaware, Nevada and New Hampshire. People from 14 different countries have sent in cards or letters for the project including Albania, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. The students even got a card from Mickey Mouse at the Magic Kingdom, and it was signed by all of his friends. The students have been coloring in the states and countries on maps in the CES hallway as they receive the cards and letters and are displaying them in the hallways.

“We are hoping for more,” Justice said. “It has been a lot about kindness, teaching our kids good standards and showing them the map and where to find things. It has grown from there, and they love opening the mail.”

While getting cards and letters throughout the project, the students are also learning about mail and the art form of writing letters, and they plan to write letters to all of the people who sent their class a Valentine’s Day card, postcard or letter. They are also learning the dynamics of reading a map and being able to tell where a state is, learning their compass directions and the different time zones. Justice and Miller have been keeping a running tally of pins on an online map that shows the students where the cards and letters have come from around the world.

“It has been a huge success, they have learned so much and I am so proud of them,” Justice said. “They are learning so much, and if we brought up a state that starts with an M sound, they are immediately throwing out state names like ‘Massachusetts, Maine,’ places that if we had not done this they would not have known.”

Justice plans to continue to do this with her future kindergarten classes and wants to make it more locally focused and see how many cards and letters the class can get from the 67 counties in Alabama after getting just one card from Alabama during this year’s project.

“This shows them so much because half of these kids might not ever go anywhere else, so it really gives them perspective to see where they could go in the world and what they can do in life,” Justice said.

The class is hopeful they can get a card or letter from the final three states to close out their project with all 50 states covered.

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