2nd Graders Donate Care Packages to the Weingart Center
For their community service learning project this spring, the second graders (ages 7-8) at Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School decided to focus on the issue of homelessness. At first, their project started as a recycling drive; students brought in cans and bottles over the course of the month to raise money to donate to an organization that assists the homeless in Los Angeles.
My fellow Peace First teachers and I knew we needed to get more information about the different organizations located on skid row to better inform our kids' decision as to what to do with the money they raised, so that's why we toured the Weingart Center and School on Wheels.
Those visits, plus the amazing classroom visits by the AmeriCorps Hope for the Homeless team really educated our students about the realities of homelessness and also gave them a much better idea as to what they could do/make/buy to help out.
After those visits, our project really took off, with different classes focusing on different ways to deepen their interaction with this issue of homelessness. Some classes wrote to Councilman Bernard Parks and invited him to come talk to them and answer some questions about his approach to homelessness in Los Angeles. He generously agreed, and his visit was enlightening on both sides, I think.
Other classes brainstormed ideas for items they could make to congratulate someone who had been homeless and had just gotten a place to live. They made key chains so that formerly homeless people would not lose the keys to their new home. They also drew artwork to hang on the wall, painted frames to decorate the house, and wrote "welcome home" cards with good wishes. We assembled these items into "care packages" to be donated to the Weingart Center. More than the recycling drive, I think that the care package part of the project really helped the students to deepen their empathy towards homeless people as they tried to imagine what it might feel like for them to walk into a new place to live. The children also did a sock drive and donate a big box full of socks to the Weingart center.
In terms of number of children involved in this project, we estimate about 175-200 kids because there were 7 second grade classes involved, with about 25-30 kids in each class.
Stephanie
AmeriCorps Member
Peace First
About Peace First:
Peace First, www.peacefirst.org, is a national nonprofit (501(c)3)) organization, which began as a response to the sky-rocketing youth homicide rates in the early 90s, exists to teach students to become problem-solvers with the ability, and the inclination, to create social change. The heart of the Peace First program is a Pre-K through 8th grade conflict resolution and service-learning curriculum, taught by AmeriCorps members in partnership with the classroom teacher. In the spring semester, each classroom chooses a community service learning project to demonstrate their peacemaking skills and their commitment to helping others.
This blog post was written by Stephanie, an AmeriCorps Member of the Peace First team that teaches at Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School.
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