We Read:
Peace Week in Miss Fox's Class, by Eileen Spinelli
and
Beatrice's Goat, by Page McBrier
We Made:
"Mite boxes" so that the children may save money for our service project. Every year, we do at service project during summer reading program, to teach the children the importance of giving back, and to show them that the world is bigger than they are. This year, we are raising money for Heifer International. As all three of our summer programs (kids, teens and adults) are participating in the same service project, I set us the lofty goal of raising enough money to donate a goat, just like Beatrice received in the story we read. In order to make this more managable for the children, we created these little card stock banks, to give them some place to save all their pennies. Though one child did confide in me that he was planning on saving quarters instead!
We Were Visited By:
La Manchan goats! Because I don't do anything by halves, I just HAD to have a goat at the library for this program. How was I supposed to convince a bunch of children that goats were cool, and that they should be donating money for one, if I didn't have a goat to show them?! At first, one of our teen volunteers was going to bring her 4-H goat, but there were scheduling problems. I really wanted to kick off our summer by stressing the importance of being a global citizen and being a giving, peaceful person. And to do that, I NEEDED a goat. NEEDED! So, in the eleventh hour, my director convinced her friend to take off from work and bring his goats! The kids learned a bit about the breed, about donating to Heifer (as the family had done that when they bought their first goat), and about why having a goat is such a wonderful, valuable experience for the people who have them, in foreign countries and at home. And of course, both goats received lots of love and pets from the kids in attendance! Thanks Dora and Freedom! You are two of the nicest goats I've ever met!
We Ate:
Apples and peanut butter. I purchased apples of many different colors and used this as a teaching opportunity. I asked them what was different about the apples and they told me that the colors of their skin were different. And then I asked what was the same. "They are the same on the inside," one child called. "They are all apples," said another. Exactly.
You are so creative and wonderful at what you do! Lucky kids!
Posted by: Amy | June 25, 2011 at 08:25 PM