Broadmeadow comes alive with Service Learning!

Students at the Broadmeadow School are immersing themselves in acts of service!  

First and Fourth grade buddy classes learned about a company called TerraCycle. They learned that TerraCycle works with "families, schools, communities, and even corporations to find tips, stats, facts, tactics, and news to help them live a greener, cleaner lifestyle."  Students in these two classes found ways to eliminate the idea of waste in our school and worked on spreading the word of "zero waste" throughout the Broadmeadow community by increasing environmental awareness and action.  Here is an excerpt of a letter written to our principal:

Dear Ms. Gaberman, Let us tell you about our recycling project. Our project is about recycling and how we can make the world a better place through recycling. We were wondering if we could speak about our project in classrooms and maybe speak in an all school meeting or over the loud speaker. We've made posters in our classrooms and wondering if we could hang them up. We've also made boxes in our classrooms for people to recycle Elmer's Glue containers and Scotch Tape containers in. We hope you like our ideas, bye!From,Mrs. Schenker and Ms. Ohly's classrooms 1/10/14

Members of the afterschool Service Learning group, made up of students in 3rd through 5th grade, worked closely with the Needham Community Council to stock the shelves of the food pantry full of essential items.  The kids decided to focus on the issue of hunger and organized a food drive for the Needham Community Council Food Pantry.  In addition, the kids read books about hunger, listened to a representative and former "guest" of the Food Pantry talk about the great service the Food Pantry offers Needham families, and students even incorporated a "Free Rice Challenge" to encourage the Broadmeadow community to play games on freerice.com and earn rice donations for the World Hunger Programme.  On their final day, students went to the NCC Food Pantry and literally stocked the shelves full with the donated items! 

The Broadmeadow Third Grade Team decided as their Caring Community Service Learning Project to also partner with the Needham Food Bank.  Their theme was centered around "Caring Begins Close To Us ". Third Grade parents and children were given opportunities to volunteer at the Food Pantry.  Students used math and literacy tie ins with the food and materials being donated to understand more about local and global hunger needs.

Another round of the afterschool Service Learning group found their members working closely with the organization, A Room to Grow.  Through research, guest speakers, and videos, students learned about poverty and the mission of this organization: "to enrich the lives of babies born into poverty throughout their critical first three years of development." Through their good work, and the generosity of the Broadmeadow community, the Service Learning group raised $218.00 and collected 310 books for A Room to Grow.

In conjunction with the 100th day of school, Kindergartners worked hard to collect 100 pairs of socks.  The donations were sorted, counted and used for a variety of Kindergarten math activities. They were then donated to the Circle of Hope charitable organization. Kindergartners learned that Circle of Hope is a Needham-based organization that serves individuals and families in Boston who are living in homeless shelters, as well as those in transition and struggling for independent lives.