Thelens/Service Learning Plan

My service learning project has been influenced by many topics that we have covered lately in class and what I have been reading. I know that children learn best when they are actively involved according to Marzano  and Pickering in their book The Highly Engaged Classroom.  They also state how important it is to get the students attention and I totally agree. In my project I will attempt to focus the students attention and have them deeply involved.

My Service Learning Map/Heavy Metal Service Project 

Name: Kathleen Thelen

Grade: 2nd Number of Students Participating: 70

PREPARATION: Goals/Objectives

• What topic/content area/s do I want to address?

I will cover math, writing, and social studies content.Students will use what they have been learning about recycling benefits, weight as measurement, and graphing data to promote recycling throughout the 2^nd grade. Students will promote and compete in a metal tab collection contest in the 2^nd grade to benefit our Family Resource Center. The center serves local families in need. We will focus on Jamie Smith's family. This is a child that is deaf and attends the Kentucky School for the Deaf. I will work with other 2nd grade classes at River Ridge. Ms. Currin and Mrs. Guether will be involved in the contest. They're classes will also collect tabs. Our Family Resource coordinator, Debbie Burch, will receive the proceeds from the tabs and will use the money for our winter outreach and to supply Jamie's family with holiday gifts.  The parents and families will also be involved. They will be informed of the contest and it's progress in our newsletter and the school newsletter.

Goals: Students will;

Understand the effects humans have on the earth

            Demonstrate that real life activities help them learn practical skills

            Learn that participation in environmental responsibility can promote good citizenship

Core Content:

PL-EP-3.1.4 Identify consumer actions (reusing, reducing, recycling)that impact environment.

MA-EP-2.1.1 Apply standard units of measurement weight (to the nearest pound).

MA-EP-4.1.1 Analyze and make inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts, tally tables, pictographs, pictographs, , bat graphs, circle graphs, line plot, two circle Venn diagrams).  

MA-EP-4.1.2  Collect data.   

WR-EP-1.1.3 In Transactive Writing- Students will communicate a purpose through informing or persuading. Students will develop and angle. Students will communicate what the reader should know, do or believe. Students will apply characteristics of the selected form. Students will use a suitable tone. Students will allow voice to emerge when appropriate.

• What do I want my students to learn from this project? Students will learn core content (PL-EP-3.1.4, MA-EP-2.1.1,MA-EP-4.1.1, WR-EP-1.1.3, and MA-EP-4.1.2). They will learn that everyone can help make society better and that even small things (like pop tabs) can add up! Success will be measured in each class participating to various degrees. The winning class will have the most tabs turned in at the end of the contest. I want the students to realize that our actions can have a direct impact on others and improve people's lives.

• Who will we serve? We will serve the local community. We will donate the cash from our recycled tabs to our Family Resource Center.We will also help the environment. Finally, Jamie Smith and her family will be our primary focus as well as other needy children.

• What is the service that we will provide?

We will have a competition to collect pop tabs and will donate the money to local families in need. We will

practice recycling. We will also work to bring holiday gifts to children in need, especially Jamie's family.

Now it’s time to plan:

• How long do I want this project to take?

Start Date: October 1, 2011 End Date: December 1, 2011

• How will classroom learning and activities be connected to the service?

My class will be connected to the service because we will be recycling metal and improving the earth. We will learn in class about recycling and measurement. The students will also be connected to the families that will benefit from our recycling. The families are connected to our school in some way. The students will see direct benefits to recycling metal in the form of a donation. The students will have a chance to contribute to the purchase of gifts for children in need.

• How will I engage the students in the planning process?

Students will brainstorm ways to advertise our tab competition. Students will discuss and create posters to inform and promote our metal tab competition. The students will also write announcements to inform others about our competition. The students will collect the metal tabs as a class and chart the results on posters. The children will learn about the students that will benefit from our recycling. They will have a chance to send letters to Jamie.

ACTION

• What action steps will the students take to perform the service?

Step 1: Preparation

            Students learn and discuss recycling

            Students read about the recycling process

            Students create posters for a grade wide recycling project.

Each 2^nd grade room will compete against the other 2^nd grade rooms to collect the most metal pop tabs.

 Students collect the tabs for two months.

 Students discuss weighing procedure to weigh the tabs to identify the contest winner.
Ms. Burch will visit our rooms to inform children how our tab money will be spent.Students will learn about the children that will receive presents from our tab proceeds.
Students will write letters to Jamie.

Step 2: Action

            Students display recycling posters in rooms and in the hallway.

            Students announce the contest on the school news.

            Students collect and weigh tabs daily and present the tabs to Ms. Burch and the Resource Center
            Students will write letters to Jamie and make holiday cards for children in need.

            Students graph collection on display in hall

            Students identify the contest winner and share the information with parents, the school, and center.
 Step 3: Reflection

Students participate in a classroom discussion about the effects of recycling.

Students identify benefits to recycling.

Students discuss how small things (like metal tabs) can contribute to the positive effects of recycling and discuss other items that could be recycled.

Students brainstorm and chart other ways to recycle in the classroom.

Students reflect in journals.

Students create cards for the families that will receive the proceeds from the tabs.
Students will have the chance to write and send additional letters to Jamie.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Let’s REFLECT…

• List three reflection activities in which students will participate during this project. (Remember the multiple intelligences).

see above

CELEBRATION/DEMONSTRATION

• List at least three ways you could celebrate/demonstrate the students’

work.

1. Students will graph progress on chart displayed in the hall.

2. Students will hear the winners announced on school news.

3. The winning class will have a party to celebrate and Ms. Burch will share pictures of the children that benefited from the project at our party.

What can my service learning coordinator do for me?

• What resources or outside assistance will I need for my project?

After our first collection we may want to involve other schools or more grade levels. The coordinator could connect me to other interested teachers and principals. We also may want to donate to other agencies and the service learning coordinator may suggest which agencies are in need.

Additional Notes or Comments:

Students will reflect on the core content and on the social impact of service. Students will have a chance to share the journals with classmates. Students will also reflect on other ways to recycle.

Thelen 2nd Blog/video

Here is my 2nd blog. In this module I have learned many valuable ways to incorporate technology daily into my class. Many of the tools my fellow students suggested were wonderful. I really enjoyed the site http://www.freerice.com.  This site would be great to develop vocabulary. But, I especially enjoyed learning about using video.  I will use video to improve student learning. The site that I was impressed with was http:www.teachertube.com/. I know I will use more quality videos this year to engage my students in a more dynamic way. I want children to enjoy the learning process and by using videos, especially music videos, children will be more actively engaged in my classroom. Using current media is an efficient way to enhance learning and one that I will use to improve my instruction. From that site there were many types of videos. One fun video I found to instruct about core content will be useful to me in the future. The song is catchy and I think it will help my students remember key terms and underlying content.

 I wanted to emphasize that the use of videos as an online resource will make a permanent change in the way I teach daily.  I will use these videos to introduce topics, to focus on specific areas of a lesson, and as a culminating activity. Using this format will help students to learn more and remain more engaged. I will use videos on the smart board. I will use the videos as a daily morning independent routine to review material and also daily during centers. I could also use music video's to prepare for performances at PTO meetings and during RTI time. Finally, students can use this site during computer class. I have seen first hand how good quality video engages learners. It's too great a tool to pass up! 
The site that I am posting is http:www.teachertube.com. There were several great videos that I could use everyday! Water Cycle Video:

First Pod Response

My name is Kathleen Thelen. I live in Northern Kentucky with my husband and two teenage children. I work at River Ridge as a second grade teacher. Some of the things that I like to do in my spare time are reading and gardening.

Three things that I do in my classroom that promote student-learning are exit slips, flashbacks, and display learner targets.

According to the reading that I've done these are good ways to promote student learning. Gail Weinstein writes about teaching with accountability and these items listed above help me to be accountable to the students in their learning.

According to Dr. Bonk, it is important to engage students in learning, and these items help me to accomplish that.

NKU's QEP states the importance of critical thinking and these above items help me to accomplish that and assess the effectiveness of the instruction.

I hope I have included everything that I was supposed to, but I probably didn't.