The CLSO Service Blog

The Service Toolkit – A guide for teachers wishing to incorporate student-led service into their classrooms.

Angela — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:37 +0000

With all the information that has been published on service in schools in the last few years, it can be a daunting task to sift through myriad resources to find the most effective tools for your classroom. Many teachers and administrators eager to implement service in their schools simply do not have the time to research and plan for successful, meaningful service projects and programs for their students. That is why we have created this Service Toolkit, which draws upon resources that we have selected for their ease of implementation, their high quality, and their effectiveness when utilizing them to create student service corps. Additionally, we have added our own set of original resources, which we created specifically for work in NYC public schools. The Service Toolkit is a culmination of a year’s worth of work with NYC students of all ages on service projects and programs. Everything in this toolkit has been used with great success in the NYC Community Learning Support Organization’s public schools.

Some highlights of the toolkit are:

A complete introduction to service and service activities
Worksheets and planning documents to help you plan and implement a variety of service projects
Hundreds of service project ideas
Ideas for reflection activities
A carefully curated list of potential non-profit partners for service
A select list of extremely useful online resources for service

We hope you find this a valuable and useful resource during the upcoming school year!

TO DOWNLOAD THE SERVICE TOOLKIT, CLICK HERE.

Earth Service Day for 4th and 5th Graders!

Angela — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:40:16 +0000

The CLSO School Service Coordinators are pleased to announce Earth Service Day, an exciting opportunity for your 4^th- and 5^th-grade students! This special day will consist of environmentally-themed stations run by partner organizations (Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Solar One, The League, Green Apple Corps, and Spoons Across America along with many others), where students will participate in fun, hands-on, environment-and-health-related service activities.

Students will get the chance to learn about urban gardening while planting seeds, get to know more about energy conservation while watching solar-powered car demonstrations, and learn how to make healthy food choices while making nutritious meals amongst many other activities. The activities will be followed by lunch and organized earth-themed games in the park.

Where: Herbert Von King Park in Bedford- Stuyvesant (map)

When: 9am-1pm on Thursday, May 20^th

Food: Students should bring their own lunch

Registration: We will cap Earth Service Day at 300 students, so be sure to register as soon as possible!

***To register, please contact Angela Ortiz (contact info below) no later than April 30th with the following information:***

1.) Name, email address, and phone number of Contact Person for this event

2.) Name(s) of Teacher(s) and Additional Supervisors/Chaperones attending

3.) Number of Students Attending and Grade Level of Students

We look forward to seeing you there!!

Service Spotlight: M.S. 577

DeskWorker — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:13:26 +0000

M.S. 577 Cares About Its Community. Over the course of the year, M.S. 577 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has been working tirelessly to address social issues identified by the school’s students and teachers. What follows is a summary of their accomplishments thus far:

Breast Cancer Awareness; We kicked off the school year with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Our students donated money to this cause and showed their support by wearing pink. In addition, when our goal was reach 3 of our staff members shaved their heads in front of our students to show the support. M.S. 577 collected $2987.87 for this cause.

Drug Awareness: During Drug Awareness month the students where encourage to wear red to support this cause of being drug free. Our SAPIS worker, JoAnn Rufrano conducted workshops with our students to remain drug free. Pencils, ribbons and bracelets where handed out to our students to reinforce their commitment.

Penny Harvest: Our school partnered with Penny Harvest to raise funds for causes in our community. We had an assembly with our students to kick off this fund raiser. Our students identified causes that they were concerned about. We are now in the process of selecting foundations to donate our monies to, and will likely split the money between a local animal shelter and a local children’s hospital.

Letters To Santa: Getting into the holiday spirit, our M.S 577 family decided to participate in Macys Letters To Santa. Macys donated money to the Make – A -Wish foundation for every letter received.

Thanksgiving Food Drive: Our PTA helped organized this food drive. We donated can foods to a food pantry that provides meals to underprivileged families in our community.

Help For Haiti: After hearing the devastating news, our students were compelled to help the Haitian community. Our students raised $1,379.50 to the Haiti Relief Fund. Our staff and our students were elated over the overwhelming contributions collected for this cause.

Service Spotlight – PS 110

Angela — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:38:38 +0000

PS 110 “The Monitor” in Greenpoint, Brooklyn has made school service the focus of its student government this year. At the beginning of the schoolyear, the student governmnet discussed different community issues and decided that the issue they wanted to address most was one within their school community: bullying. The student council brainstormed ideas for a year-long anti-bullying campaign. They settled on a slogan, “Buddies are Better Than Bullies”, which they use on all their posters and at the end of all of the announcements they make.

They began their campaign by writing nine separate 30 second anti-bullying public service announcements and reading them over the course of three weeks over the school PA system after the morning announcements. After those three weeks, the entire school dedicated and entire morning to their anti-bullying initiative. Teachers in grades 3-5 were given a Time For Kids article on bullying that they read and discussed with their students. Teachers in grades PreK – 2 read a book of their choice that centered around the them of bullying (e.g. Mean Jean the Recess Queen). At the end of the morning each classroom in the school wrote their own anti-bullying oath and displayed it in the hallway.

Next, the student council challenged the school to an anti-bullying poster contest. The entire school (PreK – 5) partcipated in the contest. The winners were very hard to select because of there were so many excellent entries! The student council did choose the winners, however, and each winner was awarded fun prizes selected by the student council members themselves.

This spring, the Ps 110 student council is planning to write an anti-bullying play that they will perform in front of the entire student-body!

Don’t be shy…

Angela — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:18:47 +0000

Hi everyone!

First off, thanks to those of you who’ve been reading and interacting on the blog so far! Your particpation in our online community is greatly appreciated. We envisioned this as a place where teachers, school staff, and students could take an active part in sharing ideas and inspiring each other to keep making positive contributions in their communities. Your participation is an integral and valued part of this. So, when you visit, be sure to interact! Don’t hesistate to leave comments, ask questions, participate in the polls, share your service stories, or just let us know how service has had an impact in your school. We also welcome feedback, so please let us know how we can make the blog better by letting us know what you would like to see more of in the future.

Secondly, we encourage all of our readers to visit often. There will be frequent updates, including more school service spotlights, service ideas, teacher spotlights, and resources to help you carry out meaningful service projects in your schools.

Lastly, if you would like to see your school or an especially service-oriented faculty member featured in this blog, please contact Angela at AOrtiz26 -at- schools.nyc.gov, Katie at KOwens26 -at- schools.nyc.gov, or Annie at ATurner2 -at- schools.nyc.gov.

Thanks again for reading, we look forward to hearing from you!

Yours in service,

Angela, Annie, and Katie

Service Spotlight – PS 124

Angela — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:02:54 +0000

This week’s Service Spotlight Series ends with a closer look at the service activities that PS 124, the Silas B. Dutcher school, in Park Slope, Brooklyn has incorporated into its school culture. With the support and guidance of Principal Annabelle Martinez, PS 124 is answering President Obama’s call to service with an intergenerational project that is projected to include every student in an act of service to their community by the end of the school year.

The school has partnered with the Park Slope Geriatric Day Center (PSGDC) and the Methodist Hospital in Park Slope to offer their students, aged 4 – 11, various opportunities to give back to the community in a positive way. PS 124 believes that service empowers children and helps them develop respect, responsibility, citizenship and empathy for others. According to Joanne Manna, the guidance counselor at PS 124, “Service is nothing new at PS 124. We have a number of on-going in school service projects in our building including the 5th grade School Service Monitors who specialize in peer tutoring and peer helping, 4th grade Ambassadors who meet and greet parents and guests, and serve as chaperones on service outings, and our latest project: the 3rd grade “recyclers” called The “Green Team” . We have raised money for animal shelters, saved animals on the endangered species list, collected pennies for patients, held a canned food drives for the needy, and we have just recently ended a week long bake sale called “Help for Haiti” for the earthquake victims. Everyone in school pitched in and we raised $680!” With so many uplifting acts of service already going on at the school, it’s amazing and inspiring that PS 124 finds the time to contribute to their community even more. Still, they have found yet another way to give back via their intergenerational project at the Park Slope Geriatric Day Center.

Students from PS 124 have visited the PSGDC at least once a month this school year, with each month bringing a new activity to the center. Their first visit came in the form of a Halloween Parade for the residents of the PSGDC. Students dressed up in their Halloween costumes and paraded over to the PSGDC to meet the residents and share Halloween treats. The following month, PS 124’s 2nd and 3 rd grade Special Education class along with the 4th grade school ambassadors, went over to the PSGDC to share stories and Thanksgiving dessert with the retirees. Oscar, a 2nd grade student at PS 124, when asked why he liked visiting the senior center, said, “Celebrating Thanksgiving with our friends is a gift from my heart!” In December, Kindergarten classes from PS 124 visited the Methodist Hospital and PSGDC and sang carols for the residents, visitors and staff. With the help of their parent coordinator, 2nd and 3rd graders also got the opportunity to spread Holiday cheer at the center, in the way that only children can.

In February, PS 124 plans to attend a Valentine’s Day dance at the PSGDC. “Having the children from PS 124 visit our day program is a highlight for our members,” said Josephine Brown Director of PSGDC. “The energy and the laughter of the children really brightens up the day for adults with memory loss, who are too often isolated or in settings where they only see older people. They really appreciate that the kids WANT to come to the Center and share some time together. Intergenerational activities benefit everyone!”

Check back periodically to see more of the wonderful service activities PS 124 is cooking up for with their new friends at the Park Slope Geriatric Day Center throughout the year!

Poll: What kind of support do you need in order to plan and carry out service projects?

Angela — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:12:27 +0000

Please take a few seconds to complete this poll and let us know what kinds of support you need the most in order to help plan and carry out your service projects! Click on the link below to go to the poll.

Take the Poll: What kind of support do you need most in order to plan and carry out service projects?

Thanks!!

Service in Schools Spotlight – PS 28

Angela — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:43:32 +0000

Comprised of 3 students from each 3^rd 4^th and 5^th grade classroom, the PS 28 Warren Prep Academy student council in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, has made student-run service its main focus this year. Through an exploration and discussion of the issues that face their school, local and global communities, the PS 28 student council identified two areas of need that concerned them the most: animal welfare and the safety of children in their communities and around the world. From these two areas of need, the students formed the Campaign for Animal Welfare and the Save the Children Committee. In their weekly meetings, each committee has been learning about their chosen issues in depth, as well as discussing and planning possible service activities that address their chosen issues. The Campaign for Animal Welfare has been orchestrating a school-wide awareness campaign that teaches the importance of adopting from animal shelters, and educates the school community about the plight of homeless animals in New York City. In December, the Campaign for Animal Welfare organized a bake sale and pet food drive to benefit the Brooklyn Animal Care and Control Center in East New York. The students brought their donations to the Brooklyn Animal Care and Control Center in January and were able to take a tour of the shelter, learn about the different animals living there, and were encouraged to keep spreading the word about animals that are in need of loving homes. Also in December, the Save the Children Committee organized a toy drive to benefit the Brooklyn Children’s Center, a children’s psychiatric hospital in Bed-Stuy. Because the PS 28 student council could not visit the hospital for liability reasons, the students organized a pen-pal program to communicate with the children living at the Brooklyn Children’s Center. The extra love and support that the students provide to the children at the hospital is equally matched by the loving replies from the children at the Brooklyn Children’s Center. In the future, the PS 28 student council is planning more activities that help address the problems they see members of their community facing. Through this, they’ve learned that no matter how small you are, it only takes a little effort to make a big change.

Service in Schools Spotlight–MS 57

DeskWorker — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:09:27 +0000

The Community Leaders of M.S. 57 in Brooklyn—a group comprised of two classes of seventh and eighth graders—recently initiated a successful recycling campaign in their school. M.S. 57, also known as the Ron Brown Academy, had attempted to “go green” for a few years, but this had been more of a hope than a reality until the Community Leaders took it upon themselves to lead their school in recycling during the past few months. The students led an advertising campaign within their school, ensured that each classroom had two trash bins—one with red duct tape covering it to designate it as “Red for Recycling”—and presented to their peers about how to recycle properly. When asked about the project, one Community Leaders student stated: “We made 57 better by making students follow the rules of recycling,” and his teachers agree that the recycling effort has helped to improve the school, especially its culture. The Community Leaders, in addition to continuing to monitor the recycling program in their school, are moving forward on plans for their next service project, one focused on helping to provide Haiti with disaster relief in the wake of the recent earthquake.

Service in CLSO Schools Spotlight – PS 133

Angela — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:16:04 +0000

This week’s first Service Spotlight is on PS 133 in Park Slope. PS 133 has been integrating service into its highly creative enrichment clubs this year. In the “Senior Buddies Club” children have written letters, created personalized artwork, and participated in the making of a class quilt to be presented to residents of a local senior center. One second grade class has been discussing the issue of hunger and homelessness, and what it means to give of your time, treasure and talent. On a trip to a local soup kitchen, they will be donating placemats and “Care Cards” that they’ve made for the patrons. The Pantomime Club is researching dance and movement and creating a performance around the issue of fitting in and bullying. These are just a few of the wonderful service projects benefiting the kids at PS 133 and their surrounding community!