Show & Tell with Phyllis Griffin

Arcare Hillside client, Phyllis Griffin was invited to come in and speak to her grandson, Tyler’s primary school class about her amazing life.

The primary school class was focusing on the concept of ‘questioning’ as a part of curriculum, and Tyler’s teacher, Trish thought Phyllis would be the perfect person to have in to speak, as she had heard all about Phyllis through the family. Phyllis was thrilled to be offered to speak and was excited to see Tyler in his school environment.

Many months prior, Phyllis’ son, Paul had created and presented her with a memory book, which contained her life story and precious family photos. The book covered Phyllis’ life from birth to 2019 and Paul created the book for his mother, in the hope that it would help Phyllis with her memory. Copies of the book were also distributed to Phyllis’ dedicated carers at Arcare Hillside, so that they could assist Phyllis with her memory.

Phyllis decided to take her special book along with her to the presentation as a reference for the her and the class.

Once teacher, Trish saw a copy of Phyllis’ magnificent book, she decided that the class would read the book together as a group.

The children excitedly greeted Phyllis, and she proudly told them all that she was Tyler’s grandmother. Phyllis sat at the front of the class, as teacher, Trish asked her students to ask any questions they had for Phyllis prior to reading her book. Many hands shot up, as their curious minds started to tick.

The class then began reading the book, and were then encouraged to ask Phyllis any questions about what they had just read.

“The interaction and discussions between the children and Phyllis was so beautiful to see… We found out lots of awesome information about Phyllis and her life!” Teacher, Trish said.

As Phyllis’ visit and talk was so successful, next term, the school hopes to bring other clients from Arcare Hillside down to talk about their life stories and answer the questions from the curious minds of the next generation.