Mitchell Students Make Visit To Needham Senior Center

Twenty-one students from Mitchell Elementary School, along with principal Dr. Mike Schwinden, paid a visit to seniors at the newly opened Center at the Heights. The students brought handmade cards, posters, and snowflakes to decorate the walls for the Christmas season. 

“Our students haven’t stopped talking about their visit since returning. It was such a special opportunity for us,” said fifth grade teacher Colleen Soldato.

Soldato added that the students were able to sit with the seniors during a pizza lunch and “learned about things they share in common as well as how learning has changed over time.”

Although this was the students’ first visit to the new Senior Center, Mitchell has had a long commitment to building relationships between its students and seniors in the community. This has included visits to Avery Crossings, volunteering, and becoming pen pals.  — Hometown Weekly Staff

Valentines for Soldiers

5th Grade student make Valentine's Day Cards for Deployed Soldiers

Students in Mrs. Soldatos' 5th grade class have been corresponding with deployed soldiers. This pen pal community service project has taught the students the importance of supporting those people who protect our country. They have attracted the attention of COL Brent Cummings who is planning to come to Mitchell next month to thank the students and talk to them in general about the importance and impact of community service. He is planning a fun team building activity for the kids. COL Cummings is currently a fellow at the Fletcher School, Tufts University and lives with his family in Belmont.

Mitchell Student Council

The Mitchell Student Council, under the direction Mrs. Karen Tiberi, has been very busy serving the community this year. In December they raised $250 for animal care at the Medfield Animal Shelter. This donation was matched by a challenges grant, doubling the impact of their hard work. Later in January, they raised $2,764.56 for the Alliance for Children Foundation to help families in Haiti. Working on the home front, they established a Media Center Volunteer Program where 4th and 5th grade students organize books and materials every Monday and Wednesday in the Media Center. Looking ahead this dynamic student council will raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Pennies for Patients is a program to raise money for cancer research.

Local Efforts Yield Big Faraway Results For Needham Students

Teacher Amy Flax (far right) and her fourth grade class pose with LOOSE CHANGE poster,
 collection jar, pencils and ziploc bags at Broadmeadow Elementary School.
(Susan Curtin/Hometown Weekly)

BY SUSAN CURTIN • Wed, Jan 15, 2014

“Loose Change” from a lot of people adds up quickly - $1,500 so far, from the Broadmeadow Elementary School community, to be exact. The money is earmarked for schoolbooks, pencils and other materials at small rural schools in the high mountains of Peru.

The Needham project sprang from two fourth grade teachers, Amy Flax and Sue Nealon, who visited Peru last summer on a trip inspired by Wayland middle-school teacher Daniel Fernandez-Davila. Fernandez-Davila, who hails from Peru, returns each June and treks by horseback to isolated villages – so remote they lack electricity — bringing badly needed supplies (books, pencils, paper, and even construction materials) to help build and provide classroom basics to children there.

When the Meadowbrook teachers saw for themselves the good work being accomplished, they felt compelled to launch a complimentary project in Needham to educate their students about Peru, and provide a service experience, too.

Their project captured the imagination of their fellow fourth grade teachers at Broadmeadow. “Jessica Ohly, Karen Hwang and Heidi Smith were immediately on board and got excited about the project. Our principal Emily Baberman enthusiastically supported us,” explained Flax. “So we went to work.”

The teachers invited Fernandez-Davila to Broadmeadow who gave a presentation to the entire fourth grade. The story of how few school supplies their Peruvian contemporaries had to work with resonated with the kids. In late November, they began labelling collection jars, making posters and going classroom-to-classroom to explain the project and their goal: to send supplies back to Peru by collecting loose change. Students went home with plastic Ziploc bags that said “Loose Change” and as a result, “the money is pouring in!”

The Needham Bank stepped up, too, allowing the teachers to use their change-sorting machines for free. Special education teacher Cathy Lunetta brings pounds of change to the bank each week to turn it into cash for Mr. Fernandez-Davila, who purchases the needed materials. “The Needham Bank has been so generous and kind to us,” explained Flax.

The fundraising efforts run until February 14. For more information about Loose Change, check out the website hatunruna.org. To contribute, contact someone you know at Broadmeadow School, or mail a check to Loose Change c/o Antonia Hieronymus, 15 Reservoir Road, Wayland, MA 01778, and you will receive a receipt with the tax deductible information.
 — Hometown Weekly Correspondent

Hillside Studemts Collect Ffood for the Needham Food Pantry

The third graders at Hillside regularly collect food for the Needham Food Pantry.  During the month of December, Mrs. Dummett's class delivered these items to the Community Council.  They packed and unpacked a van full of twenty five bags of nonperishables! In order to learn about the Needham Community Council and its services.

 The third graders then took a tour of the Community Council given by Sandy Robinson, learning about how the people of Needham help each other out during hard times. Just before the winter break, Mrs. Dummett's and Mrs. Hsu's classes decorated holiday bags to fill with various personal care items.  These items were also donated by Hillside students.  The bags were then delivered to various senior centers in town.

Community Service Learning at the John Eliot Elementary School

By Mardy Claus, Eliot CSL Coordinator
Community Service Learning is in full swing here at Eliot. Throughout the fall we have had visitors from both Cradles to Crayons and Generic Ministry come and speak with our students in grades 3 - 5. They shared their missions; helping those in need. Their visits coincided with two community service learning projects that were taking place. Our annual clothing drive was in full swing when Julia Boyaval from Cradles to Crayons came to visit our school in October. Helping the children to understand the needs of others, she shared with them the activities that take place at Cradles to Crayons. Learning compassion and the benefit of giving to others what you no longer need, was a very powerful message for the students to receive. As you can see by the pictures below, the generosity of our Eliot community once again came shining through.  At the conclusion of the clothing drive we sent 60 bags of children's clothing, shoes, and boots to Cradles to Crayons. In addition to that several bags of men's clothing went to the Fort Square Presbyterian Church in Quincy, 15 bags of women's clothing to Rosie's Place in Boston and 6 bags of linens, mens and women's clothing to Circle of Hope here in Needham.

Sandwich Tuesday, an event that occurs every third Tuesday of each month that we are in school, is a very busy day at Eliot.  This community service learning activity involves the entire school. Each month the students in the KASE program decorate brown paper lunch bags. The first graders collect toothpaste, the second graders donate chap sticks and the third graders bring in clean pairs of socks.  All of these items are gathered along with sandwiches that are made by one of the fourth or fifth grade classrooms. The class of the month brings in all the ingredients needed to make the sandwiches and the students take about 30 minutes of their day to make on an average of 90 sandwiches that are distributed by Generic Ministry to the homeless in Boston.

 

 Back in October two gentlemen from Generic Ministry came to the Eliot and once again spoke with students in 3 - 5 grades.  They spoke of their mission to help those who live on the street in Boston. The children were touched by the compassionate work Generic Ministry does as they viewed the inside of the van full of many items that their clients might need at any given time.

Each month we chart all the items collected and display them on a bar graph in the lobby of the school. The class that prepares the sandwiches are asked to do a quick writing piece about the experiences.  Student voices are very powerful. Here are some of the students' thoughts.
    "It teaches a good lesson on how you don’t have to get anything back when you help someone, it’s a reward of its own."

"What I thought about Sandwich Tuesday is that we made a really big change to someone’s life.  A homeless person getting this sandwich could possibly change their day.  Even though we are only 9 and 10, we can still make a change."

"People like them are depending on us and have faith that people like us would help them. Sandwich Tuesday is a great thing."

"Helping others was extremely heart felt. I felt honored in doing that kind of thing and I’m still going to work on it. Who know making sandwiches was so fun?"

"Sandwich Tuesday really helps people understand that you shouldn’t think only for yourself, because there are people on the streets of Boston who feel not loved, hungry, cold and lonely.  I’m so glad that I can make an effort to help them feel better."

"No matter how old you are or how much money you have you an help so many in need. It will make you feel good about what you did, and it will make the other person feel good that you did it."

"Making sandwiches is the first step in my life to start making a difference."

"I felt really great about Sandwich Tuesday because we were making a difference in the world one step at a time."

 "My experience with making sandwiches for Sandwich Tuesday was amazing because when I was helping the people it made me feel like I was a better person.  It’s so much better to give than to get." 

Compassion for others seems to be a common thread throughout most of the community service learning projects that are done at Eliot. Tying into the Social and Emotional curriculum, these projects lend themselves to teaching our students to think about others and to realize how very fortunate they are to be a part of a community that truly cares for them and about their safety.
The Giving Project is an annual event during the holiday season that the faculty, staff and families of Eliot take part in.  It is a time when we can help to ensure that our own Eliot families in need receive gifts to help make their holidays special.  One such family expressed in an email to our guidance counselor, Mrs. Brenhiser, their thanks for the wonderful donations received. "I honestly just wanted to reach out and thank you, 2 weeks ago I was in tears of sadness, today I am happy they have a tree and toys under it. Thanks so very much, you are amazing." Truly validating this project's mission of compassion and helping those in need.

Last but by no means least, the Eliot students have started a correspondence with an Eliot alum serving in our armed forces. Collections of Halloween candy, and various toiletries have been sent to the troops. Holiday cards expressing their thankfulness for all the soldiers service have been mailed off. We anxiously await hearing back from them.

Hillside Avery Crossing Partnership

Grades K and 5 Buddy classes of Mrs. Strakosh and Ms. Hsu are partnering with Avery Crossing to provide some holiday cheer to the senior residents. The classrooms plan to make several trips during the school year (just a walk up the hill) in order to present a song, poem or cards with seasonal or holiday themes. 

Their first visit to Avery Crossing was for Thanksgiving, on November 26th. The children recited some Thanksgiving poems and sang a Thanksgiving song to the residents. The children also gave the residents handmade cards. In the future, Mrs. Strakosh and Ms. Hsu hope to actually assign "senior" buddies to their children in order to develop more meaningful and personal relationships.

High School Student Evaluated the Bay Colony Rail

Photographs and comments by Andrew Noble, who trekked the proposed bike trail to evaluate obstructions and concerns. 


These pictures were taken along the proposed Bay Colony Rail Trail path, starting at the end near Needham center and heading away finishing near Charles River Street. Overall the main issues with the path at this point are obstructions: trees, downed limbs, shrub growth, etc. The growth becomes denser the further it is from the Needham end (most likely due to less foot traffic). The growth will most likely need to be cleaned out before any construction of the path can be started. Most of this growth is small scale though, and should be easy to remove with a few exceptions that may call for the usage of equipment. Furthermore, there are many houses along the proposed path which may cause some friction with town residents. Many of the houses are set back and away from the trail, but a few are close to the trail and would be able to clearly see the trail. None the less there should be no problem with the land itself. With the exception of a few slightly sloped parts, the trail would have fourteen feet (seven on both sides from center of flat land for construction. (There is one stretch that could cause concern with the width as immediately at seven feet from center the land steeply drops off on both sides)

High Rock Overpass

Nearby Residences

Fallen Branches Obstructing Trail

Pollard Book Drive

Over several weeks and along with seven other 8th grade students, this student collected, sorted, packed, and delivered over 3,000 gently used books donated by the Pollard Middle School community. This project fulfilled what the students needed to do as part of the Grade 8 Community Service Learning Program.  The social issue that these students focused on during this project was illiteracy.  They researched and read articles about illiteracy and then focused on an action plan of how they could do their part to help stop illiteracy by collecting books for schools who were in need of these resources.  As seen here, she read some of the books she delivered to the students at Kennedy Elementary School in Brockton, MA.

Pollard Middle School students have just finished carrying in all the boxes of gently used books that they will be donating to Dearborn Middle School in Roxbury, MA.  Here they stand in Dearborn Middle School's library.  This school receives books from us on an annual basis and the books are read by students both in and outside of school.

Two eighth grade students read to kindergarteners at Winthrop Elementary School in Dorchester, MA.  As a result of their book drive, hundreds of books were donated to this school to help to fill up their new library.