Grade Level: K-2

Academic Areas: Health

Duration of service: Year Long

Character Virtues: Responsibility, Civic Virtue and Citizenship

Service Areas: Environmental, Human Services

Service Learning Project:

A project that partners k – 2 students with JHS students. During a unit on the environment students will learn to recognize important aspects of their community. Students will work in teams with the junior high student partners to plan, clean and maintain a specific area in a specified amount of time. The Junior High Leadership groups will consist of seventh to eighth grade students who will partner and direct elementary students during the project. Student teams will make recommendations about how these cleaned up spaces could be used for the benefit of the community.

Learning Goal: Students will be able to describe a safe and healthy environment and identify the problems within their surrounding environment.

Standard: Health, Physical education, and Family and Consumer Sciences Standard #2, A safe and healthy environment

Learning Goal: Students will identify and evaluate possible solutions to improve the blocks in the community.

Standard: MST#7, Interdisciplinary Problem Solving

Community need: Surrounding properties and vacant lots are littered with debris making it unclean and unsafe for neighborhood children.

Possible Community Partners: Local hardware stores, community leaders, civic organizations and senior citizen centers, faith based group, residents and local colleges

Objective: Students will assist junior high Leadership Groups in cleaning up the surrounding neighborhoods.

Objective: Students will maintain gardens, birdfeeders and monitor neighborhood for debris.

Virtue: Civic virtue and citizenship

Objective: Students will work cooperatively to create a safe and clean environment within the community.

Virtue: Responsibility

Objective: Students will create a plan of action for continued maintenance.

1. The junior high partners will lead a discussion with the elementary students about the differences in trash and treasures. During the discussion, a list will be compiled and the trash and treasures categorized. Next, they will compare and contrast the items listed to determine what to do with the various items.
2. Students will tour local neighborhood blocks and identify and record areas that are in need of care and repair. The record keeping can be the form of photos, to-do lists or drawings.

 Key Service Activities

1.  Students will go to their assigned neighborhood block on a rotating basis to clean, repair and beautify the area.
2. Students will develop presentations to make to the school, block association and/or PTA about areas they have beautified. They will give recommendations for use of the space.
3. Students will create and deliver flyers to residents of the neighborhood about the project.

1. (oral) Students will discuss how local residents view their efforts and the improvements on the block. The focus will be on how the adults view students as responsible citizens.
2. (written) Students will keep a written or picture journal to record their feelings of citizenship and responsibility during the project.
3. (performance) Students will create a photo timeline that will reflect their contributions to the community

Clean Up Party" organized by school and residents during final big clean up. Parents and community members are welcome to volunteer in the celebration. (food, supplies, cooking, etc.).