What is service learning?
Service learning is a
type of project that combines classroom learning with a type of
community service. All of our projects include research, reading,
mathematical, and organizational skills. Students
get to work with two main service-learning projects for the year -
the 9/11 Care Package Project and The Sandwich
Project. Read about those projects below.
Last year was our first time working on this project, but it was a lot of fun! We chose a soldier who would be a grateful recipient of a care package. Students and families sent in items for the soldier, and we wrote letters and made cards. We also included a picture of our class so our soldier would know whose caring hands packed it. Our soldier even sent us a flag that had flown over American soil in Afghanistan. This flag is now hanging in our classroom. What a great time to recognize some of our nations heroes.
The Sandwich Project
I like to use picture books even though I teach fifth grade. To leave
these books out of my reading class would be denying my students
exposure to some wonderful literature. As an added bonus, picture books
can be read, start to finish, in one class period. These books also
often have rich details about character and setting, and we can reach
the resolution of a conflict quickly.
In the book, the main
character, a little girl in an inner-city neighborhood, goes on a search
for “something beautiful.” She sees the word “DIE” graffitied on her
door, she passes a homeless woman wrapped in plastic outside of her
cardboard shelter, and broken bottles in the alley. She polls her
friends, neighbors, and family to find something beautiful, and finds
that beauty can be found everywhere you look: in a baby’s laugh, in the
sound of beads in a girl’s hair, in the fresh fruit at a produce stand.
She decides to clean up the ugliness around her. She says, “I feel
powerful.” At the end of the book, she asks her mom if she has anything
beautiful. This is where, even though I read this every year to my
students, I begin to cry. The mom tells her, “Of course. I have you.”
This book, as I said, is a lovely story with stunning illustrations. I had planned, in my opinion, a quality standards-based lesson about the setting influencing the conflict in the story.
This book, as I said, is a lovely story with stunning illustrations. I had planned, in my opinion, a quality standards-based lesson about the setting influencing the conflict in the story.
Several years ago when I started teaching in 5th grade at Centennial another 5th grade teacher encouraged all of the 5th grade classes to follow her lead and make sack lunches for those that are less fortunate. We have continued this tradition for several years now and even involved our 2nd grade classes to help us out. Our students have made thousands of sack lunches that have included a sandwich or two, a piece of fruit, a sweet treat, and even an inspirational note.
Parents have been our lifesavers - they sent in all the supplies to make this possible. Without 100% parent support, The Sandwich Project might have only been a one-time thing, if even that. I owe them a debt of gratitude.
