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Intro | Families in Action| Educators in Action | Resources
Educators in Action!
What is Service Learning?
Service Learning Looks Like...
Learn More
From California to Connecticut, educators are finding service learning to be an exciting and motivating teaching method for their students. The good news: everyone is joining in, from classroom teachers to afterschool programs. And with good reason. Connecting classroom content and skills to activities that benefit the community is a win-win situation. What is Service Learning?
Service learning...
- is a teaching methodology that allows students to learn and apply academic, social, and personal skills to improve the community, continue individual growth, and become better citizens
- focuses on both the service and the learning
- is appropriate for all students and all curricular areas
- provides students structured time to reflect on the service experience
- is implemented through preparation, action, reflection and demonstration
Service Learning Looks Like...
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A Classroom Food Drive
In preparation for a food drive, third-grade students learned about nutrition. They invited a representative from a local food bank to visit to explain what foods are most needed and answer questions about hunger in the community. Then the students designed and promoted their food collection campaign in their school through a play adaptation of the book, The Can Do Thanksgiving. Results? One hundred per cent of the food collected was high quality and just what the receiving agency needed.
Growing Food for Shelters
An afterschool group planted and tended carrots, radishes, and lettuce in a community garden. At story time, the kids read gardening-related books such as The Green Truck Garden Giveaway. They also wrote their own "fresh produce" poetry and measured plant growth in their garden journals. When it was time to harvest, they shared their produce with a local shelter. Visiting "Grandfriends"
Fifth graders participated in an Adopt-a-Grandfriend program with their local senior center. Students interviewed their grandfriends and wrote a collection of histories for a class book. Copies were given to the seniors and the local library. The students then shared their stories with a class of first graders and helped them decorate bags for Meals on Wheels, a meal delivery program for seniors. |
Learn More about Service Learning
Contact the National Service-Learning Exchange. This network of experienced service-learning teachers offers free information and training to bring service learning into your classroom or afterschool program. Visit the Exchange Services section of their Web site and click on the region where you live.
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