Lower School Community Service
A Pattern for Community Service
Lower School begins to develop in children a pattern of community service and responsibility for helping others. During the year, every grade level participates in a service learning component.
Past projects have included collecting Food for Families, Trick or Treating for UNICEF, reading for the MS Readathon, Jump Rope for Heart, etc. Children in Lower School are proud to take a leadership role in environmental issues by participating in REDUCE - RECYCLE - REUSE.
Both service learning and service projects are important to the participants and the recipients. We define service learning as a method by which students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet actual community needs (as determined by the agency). Service experiences are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community. The service experience is integrated into the students' academic studies, with structured time for students to research, reflect on, discuss, and connect their experiences in meaningful ways to their own lives.
A service project or activity is designed to assist an organization in a variety of ways. The needs of the organization are often determined by the people participating in the project rather than the recipients of the service. The experience may or may not be integrated into the curriculum.
The goal is to move toward service learning in order to foster: personal connections, feeling of usefulness, observable impact, relationships and dialogue, the need to deepen the experience through reflection, children's investment/ownership through planning, and learning.
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