Wow… sorry I’ve been AWOL for a couple of weeks. You
wouldn’t believe how busy I’ve been. Unless of course you are a teacher, then I
guess you would. Anyway, the year is in full swing now and we’ve hit the ground
running with some scary exciting new projects. One of these projects is
a Service Learning Program. If you’re not familiar with service learning,
basically it’s a student-run community service club that aims to tie in
curriculum while helping those in need. When I was first approached by the
Grade 5 teacher with this idea, I was more than on board and excited, given my
background in non-profit and my love for volunteer work. As it turns out, this
takes quite a bit of time, planning, organization and WORK. I know, I know, I
should have guessed that, but you know, I’m delusional at times.
Luckily, the current theme of “Citizenship & Government”
was the perfect launching pad for something like this because there are so many
teaching opportunities and concepts that overlap. Our group of 5th
and 6th graders started by doing a needs assessment of the community
to choose two separate “causes” that they’d like to fundraise for. This is
where living in a place like Vietnam is so completely different than America.
Because Vietnam is a developing nation, there are a lot of newly wealthy people
here but it still looks like a 3rd world country in many ways. As
you know, we started the year by reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
about a young girl who develops Leukemia as a result of the atomic bomb dropped
on her city by the Americans. This hits close to home here because the aftermath
of Agent Orange is still all visible… even 4 generations later. So one of the
needs we came up with was to help the child victims suffering from the effects
of this deadly chemical at a local hospital. The other charity we chose is a
wonderful non-profit group here called Wildlife At Risk who help endangered and
injured wildlife in and around Vietnam. Both are worthy causes and both are in
need of our support.
Once that decision was made, the real fun started with brainstorming
about fundraising activities, setting goals, discussing budgets/profit margins,
and marketing. We formed committees and assigned jobs to each student to make
the experience more meaningful. Each committee is in charge of everything from
contacting the organization, to making flyers, writing and translating letters
to the parents, organizing the fundraising events, collecting data, and working
together to problem solve. That is not an easy task list for most 10-12 year
olds. I am so proud of the students for rising to the challenges presented to
them. Our first fundraiser is scheduled for next week during recess where the
groups will be selling smoothies and popcorn. I will keep you posted on our
progress and later about our field trip to deliver our donations to the kids at
the Peace Hospital. Very exciting stuff. Have a great day, everyone!
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