Charlee Pester and Walker Ornelas, third grade students in Kali Nichol’s Visitation class, work at decorating Valentine cards that will travel to classrooms in other states. [Photo by Susan DeVilder]

Kali Nichols’ third-grade class at Visitation Catholic School is showing a lot of heart. The eight students are involved in the “Hearts Around the World” project that is sure to have Valentine greetings and postcards crisscrossing the globe.

On Friday, the class was busy decorating Valentine cards that they will send to 16 different third grade classes in other states. Each student will make two cards and they will send one card to each class. Nichols said she found the project on Facebook and will use the “Hearts Around the World” page as a resource for locating other schools participating in the project. Not only do they hope to receive cards from other schools, but they are hoping to cast a wider net and receive cards from other countries.

Visitation third grade class, along with teacher Kali Nichols, are participating in the “Hearts Around the World” project. [Photo by Susan DeVilder]

A Visitation social studies teacher is on a one year sabbatical in Papua New Guinea, and Nichols is keeping her fingers crossed that the class receives a card from there. Students also have their own preferences from where they would like to receive a card. Walker Ornelas said he would like to see a card from Washington, while Philip Good hopes to get a card from Colorado. Gracen Gibson wants to receive a card from someone in San Francisco, while Charlee Pester is hoping for a card to travel across the ocean from Germany.

Nichols said the project not only connects the students to children from other places, but it provides a learning experience. Once the cards are received, the students will take turns placing a heart sticker on a map where it came from, which will help them learn some geography. The students are also learning letter writing and skills such as addressing an envelope.

People are encouraged to send a Valentine or postcard to Visitation 3rd Grade, 107 S. Lexington Ave., Kewanee, IL., 61443