Academic Service-Learning Teacher Mini-Grants



Date: 12/1/2011

District: Comstock Park Public Schools Building: Stoney Creek Elementary

Teacher(s): Katie Momber Grade Level: Readiness Kindergarten

Main Contact: Katie Momber Email: kmomber@

First Trimester: Second Trimester: Third Trimester:

First Semester: Second Semester: X

Name of Project: 100 Ways to Use Hands for Helping

Project Overview

Give a brief overview of the project you are planning.

My students have brought to my attention the problem of students using physical ways to solve problems. Many teachers explain to their students that they need to use their words and use their hands for helping. I overheard a student ask “How do you use hands for helping?” I realized that not all students know what this means. This project is meant to help kids learn why physical means of solving problems is inappropriate by hearing from kids how they feel when this happens. It is also a way to show kids how to use their hands in a positive way. Rather than hurting friends, how can we help them?

• Students will investigate how students feel in these situations.

• Come up with ways to stop the behavior.

• Highlight when students use their hands for helping and create a display to showcase them. Possibilities include photographs, artwork, etc.

Effective Practice: MEANINGFUL SERVICE

Service learning actively engages participants in meaningful and personally relevant service activities.

What community need will you address and how did you determine the need?

Students and staff have both commented on the way students react to situations in physical ways such as kicking, hitting, etc. This project will help bring this situation up to students, find ways help better the situation, and highlight students who are doing things in a positive way.

What service will you provide to address the need?

Student will learn why this is happening and help students find betters way so solve problems and use their hands.

Effective Practice: LINK TO CURRICULUM

Service learning is intentionally used as an instructional strategy to meet learning goals and/or content standards.

How is this project related to your curriculum?

Speech and language-talking with peers, presenting information, class discussions

Writing-Dictating ways to use hands for helping

Math-counting and looking for patterns

Character Education-Responsibility, Problem Solving

Social Studies-following rules, solving issues

Technology: using a camera to catch students making good choices

What are the educational goals?

Counting to 100

Finding patterns of good / bad choices

Communicating ideas

Taking turns sharing ideas

Asking questions

Presenting information

Using words to describe behavior

Using technology to display information

Creating a plan to solve a problem

Curriculum Crafter Connections

Strand: KG ELA: (Speaking and Listening)

TLW: Build comprehension through collaborative conversations about kindergarten topics and texts. (Gist: Comprehension and Collaboration)

Strand: KG Math: (Counting and Cardinality)

TLW: Count to tell the number of objects. (Gist: Count Objects)

Additional State Standards and Benchmarks

List standards and benchmarks met by this project. (You may attach a copy of the Content Standards and Benchmarks highlighting the items met by this project.)

Speaking and Listening

|SL.K.1a: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger |

|groups. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion). |

|SL.K.1b: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger |

|groups. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. |

|SL.K.2: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key |

|details and requesting clarification if something is not understood. |

|SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood. |

|SL.K.4: Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. |

|SL.K.5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. |

|SL.K.6: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. |

| |

|Writing |

|W.K.3: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order |

|in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. |

| |

|W.K.5: With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed. |

|W.K.6: With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. |

|W.K.7: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). |

|W.K.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. |

| |

|Counting and Cardinality |

|.1: Count to 100 by ones and by tens. |

| |

|.3: Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects). |

MDE Kindergarten Social Studies Benchmarks:

K – C2.0.2 Explain why people do not have the right to do whatever they want (e.g., to promote fairness,

Ensure the common good, maintain safety).

K – C2.0.3 Describe fair ways for groups to make decisions.

K – C5.0.1 Describe situations in which they demonstrated self-discipline and individual responsibility

(e.g., caring for a pet, completing chores, following school rules, working in a group, taking

turns).

K– P3.1.1 Identify classroom issues.

K – P3.1.3 Compare their viewpoint about a classroom issue with the viewpoint of another person.

K – P3.3.1 Express a position on a classroom issue.

K – P4.2.1 Develop and implement an action plan to address or inform others about a public issue.

K – P4.2.2 Participate in projects to help or inform others.

Effective Practice: REFLECTION

Service learning incorporates multiple challenging reflection activities that are ongoing and that prompt deep thinking and analysis about oneself and one’s relationship to society.

What form(s) of reflection will you use with the students to help them identify what they have learned and accomplished?

1. Whole Class: At the end of the actual project, students will be given scenarios that may encourage a physical reaction or may require a helping hand. They will need to think about all of the examples they have collected and describe how to best handle a situation. The posters will provide reminders to students for the remainder of the year.

2. Individual Students: Students who choose to use their hands in a physical way will have to choose 1 way to use hands for helping and provide this service to practice using hands for helping.

Effective Practice: DIVERSITY

Service learning promotes understanding of diversity and mutual respect among all participants.

What types of diverse perspectives and experiences will be explored as part of your project?

(i.e.: cultural, generational, abilities/disabilities, learning styles, etc)

This project will help students understand how people react to situations. All people have feelings and show their emotions in different ways.

Effective Practice: YOUTH VOICE

Service learning provides youth with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service learning experiences with guidance from adults.

How will students gain ownership of the project?

This project was brought to my attention by my students. They raised the question “How do we use our hands for helping?” Students will think of helpful ways to use their hands and create a plan for how we address this situation to our student population. They will produce the project and share it with their peers.

Effective Practice: RECIPROCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Service learning partnerships are collaborative, mutually beneficial, and address community needs.

Who will you partner with for this project?

Stoney Creek staff and students

How will students benefit from this partnership?

They will have the opportunity to be leaders and positive role models.

They will feel the rewards of trying to solve a school wide problem. Their voices will be heard.

How will the partner benefit from this collaboration?

Students:

Students will become role models for their behavior.

They will learn about positive ways to help others.

They will learn about how physical behavior makes other students feel.

They will see visual reminders of positive behavior all year.

Staff:

They will have a way to remind students about expected behavior.

They may choose to follow our classroom expectation that if students use hands for hurting, they need to follow it up by choosing one of the ways to use hands for helping.

Effective Practice: PROGRESS MONITORING

Service learning engages participants in an ongoing process to assess the quality of implementation and progress toward meeting specified goals, and uses results for improvement and sustainability.

How will you assess the student learning goals?

As part of the plan, (with prompting) kids will have to give me updates. They will have to tell me the number of ideas they collected and what they are noticing from these ideas. They will need to dictate the positive behaviors they have identified. I will observe how they interact with peers during interviews-do they ask questions and can they tell me what was said so I can record it. Depending on the activities, I will observe their problem solving and discussion abilities.

How will you assess your service goals?

We will interview our dean and ask him if he noticed a change in behavior. We will also ask kids during recess if they see kids acting differently.

Effective Practice: DURATION AND INTENSITY

Service learning has sufficient duration and intensity to address community needs and meet specified outcomes.

How will you prepare students for this experience?

I will lead them through the planning process by asking them questions?

A few examples may be:

-How can we tell others pushing, kicking, hitting is a problem?

-How do we let others know how it feels to get hurt?

-Where is this happening?

-What can we do to help make this better?

-What is a role model?

Depending on the activity they choose, I will have to teach them how to ask questions, use equipment, create materials.

What are some sample possible activities students might do as part of this project?

Take pictures and display posters, make books, create games, produce a video to watch at lunch

SUSTAINABILITY

The three arms of sustainability are environmental stewardship, economic growth, and social progress. Think planet, profit, and people.

Describe how your project addresses the issue of sustainability?

This project will assist with social progress. I will not only help our students solve problems in a positive way, but also encourage helping one another.

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