World Down Syndrome Day!

We celebrated World Down Syndrome Day in school today. Over the next few weeks we will be talking and learning about different disabilities as an entire school. We have a unique opportunity to learn more about Down Syndrome because of our friend, Sam. We had some great discussions, read some great books, watched a video, worked on a few projects and learned so much about Down Syndrome! I had a lot of friends dressed in blue and wearing silly socks which was great to see all of the support we have for Sam in our room.

Down Syndrome was named after John Langdon Down who discovered the condition in 1866. It is one of the most frequently occurring human chromosomal abnormalities, affecting one out of every 733 children born. We found out that more that 5000 babies born each year are born with Down Syndrome and that they have one extra chromosome in one of their cells that makes them extra special. The word chromosome was kind of confusing but we found out that chromosomes contain directions that tell our bodies how to grow and that when there is an extra one it kind of mixes up a baby’s directions a little and sometimes can make them look a little different and it might take them a little longer to learn things. We also read that nobody really knows why babies are born with Down Syndrome but that it is nobody’s fault because people of all ethnicities, religions, socioeconomic and racial groups have Down Syndrome. We talked about how we are all different but how we are also all the same, because we all have different hair, skin, noses, eyes, bodies but that are bodies all work the same for the most part because our noses are for smelling and our eyes are for seeing, our skin keeps our muscles and bones safe and so on! We are all kids that have our own interests, talents, personalities and that every single one of us is special in our own unique way!

Here is a video that features pictures from the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk that was held last October that I was lucky to be a part of and it also has a few pictures and messages for Sam from his friends here at Meadow Lane!