Barrington
From UA Service Learning
The Read-a-Thon [Read-A-Thon Service Learning Mini-grant]
Essential Questions for this project: What is homelessness? What is empathy? How can I show empathy?
Fifth grade students from Mrs. Wulf, Mr. Shininger, Mrs. DeVore and Mr. Bogart's classes will be raising money to help the needy children and families living at the YWCA, which is located off of Leonard Ave. On November 21st, students took a field trip to the YWCA to tour the facility. The children were able to see the nursery, kitchen, donation closet and residential living areas. Needless to say, this field trip was extremely powerful to students and they were geared up for the Read-a-Thon!
Students asked family and friends to support them through monetary donations, as they read from 3:00 - 5:00 on December 1. The children started bringing their money in the very next day! Students will take a field trip to Target on December 15th, to purchase items the shelter needs around the holiday season.
Leading up to our trip to Target, children have been learning about math, economics, minimum wage, and poverty. Children have also been studying homeless picture books (mentor texts) as a way to make deeper connections with characters in the story. They keep a special journal to record their reflections about~ Why is this family homeless? What support do they have? What support do the need? How can I show empathy? Every conversation/debrief goes back to our original three essential questions.
The final reflective piece to our Service Learning project is when students write a story through the perspective/eyes of a homeless child. Students are encouraged to refer to their mentor texts and journals to help pull in story elements. After several weeks of the writing process, students will be ready to publish their stories and the final piece of writing will be graded through part of the DWA rubric. While working on their text, all classes simultaneously work with our art teachers, Gwen Davis and Lou Tiberi. Changing Places: A Kid’s View of Shelter Living, by Chalofsky, Finland, and Wallace will be used as a guide for artwork. The art teachers will use this text to teach students how to create shadows and highlights through pencil drawings.
A 'Book Wallow' with student created books will be available for all students at Barrington to read.