Youngsters got to spread joy in their community while also reflecting on their own lives, as they decorated coffee cup holders at Forest Lake Elementary School.

The project was in partnership with the French Workshop, a bakery and café in Wantagh, which distributed the hand-decorated cup holders on hot beverage sales in the days before Thanksgiving. Forest Lake fourth and fifth graders made hundreds of the cup holders over two weeks in November. They brainstormed ideas for messages of gratitude and joy before getting to work. Students could also draw fall and Thanksgiving pictures on the beverage sleeves.

“I love that they’re going to see their work out in the community,” fourth grade teacher Allison Santaniello said. “This also led to great conversations in the classroom about all of the little things they are grateful for.”