Number of students Participating: 63
Contributed by:
Teacher: Jerri Payne
School: Robert D. Johnson Elementary
District: Fort Thomas Independent
Overview/Description of Project: Students will correspond with local nursing home members, some being veterans, and begin writing letters to the senior citizens. Students will visit the nursing home and interview their pen pals about what it means to be a veteran. Students will create a powerpoint presentation about their nursing home pen pals. Students will visit the nursing home a second time to sing some patriot songs and show their powerpoint to the residents.
Goals:
To develop letter writing skills
To develop interview and public speaking skills
To provide entertainment for the senior citizens
To provide opportunities for students to interact with senior citizens
To learn about issues facing the elderly in the community.
To learn about what it means to be a veteran and the holiday, Veteran's Day.
Core Content Areas:
Reading/Writing: 1.2, 1.11 Students read books and other material about nursing homes, Veteran's Day, and senior citizens. They develop letter writing skills through their letters to the nursing home residence. They develop interview skills through interviewing senior citizens.
Social Studies: 2.15, 2.16, 2.17 Students learned about their responsibilities as citizens to care for the elderly in their community. They learned how institutions in this country take care of the elderly. They also learned how to interact with people different from themselves.
Arts and Humanities: 2.22, 2.24 Students sand patriotic songs while visiting the nursing home and made patriotic art pieces to leave with the senior citizens.
Practical Living: 2.29, 2.33 Students learned how families care for elderly and the services nursing homes provide to elderly in their community.
Step 1 - Preparation:
* Contact the nursing homes in the community to request names of people who would be interested in receiving letters from students and to be interviewed.
* Students discuss/learn about forms of personal letters and begin correspondence.
* Teacher/students read various books and materials to help students get a better understanding of senior citizens and veterans.
* Students visit the nursing home to interview students for their Powerpoint presentation.
* Students work together to create Powerpoint presentation.
* Students learn some patriotic songs to sing at the nursing home.
* Students create patriotic craft item for nursing home residents.
* Visit nursing home to sing songs, show the Powerpoint presentation, and deliver craft items.
Step 2 - Action:
* Students create patriotic craft items, learn patriotic songs, write letters to senior citizens, and make two visits to a local nursing home.
Step 3 - Reflection/Celebration:
Throughout the Service Learning project, students will write in their journals about the experience. Students will also present their Powerpoint presentation and songs for the school in an assembly on Veteran's Day.
Our Service Learning Representative is Rebecca Heemstra. She will help me locate a nursing home to work with.
ReplyDeleteI also think Skype could be used in a variety of ways throughout this project. Students could Skype their Senior Citizen partner and share books, letters, or songs. They could also interview them via Skype.