Service Learning Blog

Kindergartners collect and count for GO Pantry

Kindergartners at Mann Elementary collected 15 boxes of food to give to GO Pantry. Through the process students used sorting and tally marks to keep track of the items they brought in. They also learned that there are needy families right in their own community.

First Graders learn about Wants and Needs of our Community

First graders at Mann Elementary researched and learned about the wants and needs of our community. Students learned how to distinguish between wants and needs, research topics, write persuasive letters and information writings, and work together to build life skills.  Students then, created, collected and delivered goods to the Boone County Animal Shelter.

Kids Helping Kids

While learning about community workers and services as well as helping others in need, second graders at Mann Elementary chose to help local children in need. The students collected 50 board games to donate to a children’s room at a local hospital to help other children pass the time while at the hospital.

Third Graders Honor our Veterans

Third graders at Mann Elementary created memorials for the veterans in our community. Through the process, students learned why we celebrate Veteran’s Day, what a veteran is, and what a memorial is. They decided the important factors to consider when creating a memorial to honor Veterans. They also made decisions on the type of memorial to create and what materials to create it with. The memorials were put on display for the Veterans that came to visit Mann Elementary.

Fifth graders host a Math-a-thon for St. Jude

Fifth graders at Mann Elementary hosted a Math-a-thon and practiced adding and subtracting decimals.  In the process, students raised $1,855.00 to benefit St. Jude Hospital.

To host your own Math-a-thon, visit https://www.stjude.org/.

Jump Rope for Heart is a community service learning program of the American Heart Association. It teaches kids:

• The importance of developing heart-healthy habits;
• That being physically active can be fun; and
• That by raising funds to support research and education they help save lives across the country and in their community.

Stephens Elementary project ran from October 12th -October 31st. They encouraged students to raise funds and help support the American Heart Association to become a Heart Hero and help save lives.

Rundown of events:

October 11th – Kick off assembly with Matt from the American Heart Association.

Thursday, October 12th – All special area classes combined for a day of JUMP ROPE!!

October 20th – Field Day with Jump Rope Center included

Physical Education teacher taught jump rope unit mid-October- mid-November.

Students who raised money to support the American Heart Association were recognized on the morning announcements weekly and their names were added to a bulletin board for others to view. The school raised a total of $4093.42 for the American Heart Association.

To learn more about Jump Rope for Heart or to host your own, visit: http://american.heart.org/jump-hoops/

Second graders at Mann Elementary are raising awareness/funds for Multiple Myeloma through a project they call Mann Moving Mountains.

They became interested in this cause because Dr. Detwiler. “Dr. D.” the Deputy Superintendent for the Boone County School District was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2016.

Dr. Detwiler will be raising awareness in the fall of 2018 when he climbs Mt. Everest (Kalapathar Summit = about 3.5 miles up). He has inspired the 2nd Grade Team to join him in his efforts to raise awareness and to help raise money to find a cure for Multiple Myeloma.

Through their research, they studied the human body (bones) and researched Mt. Everest. Students have learned how to use technology for research, facts about Mt. Everest, and the scientific name of many bones.

Students have also written songs, learned the importance of raising awareness for cures, designed t-shirts, assisted in the planning of a 5K run/walk by making posters and participating in morning announcements.

You can track their work here: https://www.sites.google.com/site/mannsecondgrade/home/2nd-grade-service-learning

Fifth graders at Grant’s Lick Elementary wrote letters of opinion on their cause of choice and why it should be the organization we support this year. Students voted on the best letter and that student’s choice became our cause. Students held a “cozy items” drive to benefit families experiencing homelessness who were receiving assistance from Family Promise. Students created flyers and announcements to invite their fellow students to contribute.

Students spent time researching issues of homelessness and had a Q and A session with the Director of Family Promise when they went to deliver the over 300 blankets and pairs of socks they collected.

To learn more about Family Promise of NKY and how you can help, visit: https://www.nkyfamilypromise.org/

Third graders at Kelly Elementary researched cystic fibrosis and created a video that was shown to the entire school. All students learned about breathing and its effects on physical fitness in PE class. The school will participate in a color run to raise money to give to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Students are very passionate about the cause because one of their fellow students has the disease and they wanted to help others understand how it affects her and others.

The fundraiser runs through the end of the school year and students hope to raise $1,500 to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

To learn more about Cystic Fibrosis and how you can help, visit: https://www.cff.org/.

5th graders at Florence Elementary collected boxes of cereal, deodorant, and flip-flops for The Emergency Shelter of NKY in Covington, KY. The shelter serves as a warm shelter for people experiencing homelessness on cold nights, as a cool shelter for the homeless on extremely hot days, as well as shower initiative where people experiencing homelessness can shower and get their laundry washed.

The shelter is funded solely by donations, grants, and outreach. In class, the 5th grade studied rural areas, our community, and covered empathy and perseverance during sessions with our school counselor.

 

During and after the donation drive, students graphed the items collected and researched homelessness in our community to explore the causes of, and possible solutions for, homelessness. Before the project started, the executive director, Kim Webb visited the classes to explain what their organization does and provided statistics and information about the shelter. As part of the celebration, Ms. Webb returned to Florence Elementary to pick up the donations and listen to student reflections. Through this outreach, students learned a greater sense of personal efficacy, personal identity, and moral development. Students applied the skills learned to be understanding and empathetic, and hope to inspire others.

The total donations given to the Emergency Shelter of NKY reached 1,368!

Miscellaneous food and drink: 201

Cereal: 659

Deodorant: 134

Flip Flops: 15

Dental: 46

Laundry: 1

To learn more about The Emergency Shelter of NKY, visit: http://emergencyshelternky.org/

 

Kindergartners at St. Clement started their service-learning project by brainstorming how to be a kind citizen.  They gathered ideas such as giving flowers, being nice, not fighting, giving a hug, sending a card, and drawing someone a picture. They decided they wanted to draw pictures to show their friends a random act of kindness.  This sparked the idea to send a letter to each class in the school to surprise them and brighten their day. Each morning the students came together as a class to write a short note and draw a picture to be delivered to a grade in the school. Students also created a Kindness Tree where the entire school could post additional ways to be kind to others.

Students learned that relationships depend on love, respect and caring for the feelings and needs of others. They learned that a small act of kindness can go a long way.  The other students at St. Clement started saying hello to the kindergartners in the hall.

The students hoped to inspire others to be kind and spread kindness.  The idea that one small act can reach out beyond ourselves to bring joy and happiness to those in their school community.

To reflect, students sat around the Kindness Tree and read all of the new hearts that had been added since they started.  They discussed ways to be kind that were similar to the ones we thought of originally and looked at new ways to be kind that other students in the school shared.

Want more ways to perform random acts of kindness, visit: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

7th Graders at Conner Middle School staged a Night of Jazz to benefit the Henry Hosea House and their programs for the homeless. They received help from Randell Bertsche from UC’s College Conservatory of Music and The Four + Brass Band and the Skyline Chili in Hebron.

ConnerMiddleNightOJazz from Steve Oldfield on Vimeo.

Fourth and fifth-grade students at St. Clement worked together to educate the student body, plan and run a fundraiser to adopt a sea turtle.  Students made connections to this project in their science, social studies, math, language arts and religion classes.

Through their project, students learned map reading skills, about turtle habitats, how to write informational text and money math skills.  At the end of the project, students reflected in religion class on how they became better stewards of the environment.

Students made many connections to their project across all areas of study:

• Through science class, students learned about the various marine species, noting the delicate balance of the ecosystem. This led students to better understand just how life-threatening pollution is to marine life.  Students learned how plastic bags look like jellyfish, which is the main food source for sea turtles.  The plastic bags are mistaken for jellyfish, and when the turtles consume the plastic bags, the sea turtles often die.
• Though social studies, students tracked the migration patterns of sea turtles across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Through math class, students applied their money math skills by setting a goal and then determining how much per person was needed to be collected for the purchase of an out of uniform pass to reach that goal.
• Through language arts, students wrote a script to inform the school about their project as well as creating school announcements, posters and flyers.

Through their efforts, students raised $265 to adopt a sea turtle from Seaturtle.org.  This organization works to track, protect, and preserve nesting lands of the various sea turtle species by installing tracking devices on the back of the sea turtles.

Deer Park High School’s Senior Serve – Local12 from Steve Oldfield on Vimeo.

While the underclassmen were stuck taking state standardized tests, seniors at Deer Park High School outside Cincinnati spent the week engaged in helping more than a dozen non-profits in our area. We are grateful to Local12 for telling the story. This video was produced by the Service Learning Network, a project of Children, Inc’s Service Learning team.