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January Project Ideas
Project Ideas for the Month of... January
Learn & Serve Resolutions
To ring in the new year, the Service-Learning office encourages students and teachers to assess community issues, identify solutions, and reflect on service through journals and portfolios. Here are some ways to learn and serve all year long.
Reach People in Need - Organize book, clothing, or food drives for needy families and battered women shelters ~ Design and distribute a data base report of agencies that help families ~ Record stories for the Blind ~ Perform puppet shows at Deaf organizations ~ Make cards, baskets, and gifts for veterans hospitals, nursing homes, or pediatric units ~ Serve at food pantries, soup kitchens, or homeless shelters.
Nurture Youth - Invite elementary students to Learning Festivals at middle and high schools ~ Record student New Year's Resolutions on video/audio cassette and e-mail other schools ~ Video skits to share with children in pediatric units ~ Design, word process, and publish books for daycare centers.
Honor Generations of Service - Share student-made crafts with day care and senior centers ~ Read a classic story or introduce a new one at a nursing home or pre-school ~ Welcome seniors, veterans, or retired teachers to a school performance ~ Shovel sidewalks and run errands for seniors during winter storms.
Promote Public Safety - Decorate a community tree with peace symbols ~ Post Community Peace posters throughout schools, malls, and popular spots ~ Hold a Safe Driving Rally ~ Distribute flyers on drug-free living ~ Publish guidelines for healthy lifestyles in school & local papers.
Salute Citizenship & Community Spirit - Hold a community sing-along at a local park ~ Help veterans maintain soldiers' graves ~ Post New Years Resolutions for Responsible Citizens on school/local area bulletin boards, and email to community leaders & government officials.
Enhance the Environment - Clean up local beaches, parks, or playgrounds ~ Make bird feeders for school gardens ~ Recycle evergreens in compost piles, landfills, & ground cover ~ Present shut-ins with student-grown mini-herb gardens.
Related Web Sites:Calendar of Year Round Ideas for Designated Safe Ride Program
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Peace Corps World Wise Schools Service-Learning Links
Random Acts of Kindness
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ~ All Year Long The third Monday in January. How can students and teachers make this a day to learn and serve Dr. King's beloved community? Start learning about Dr. King and his legacy of non-violence long before his birthday. Practice what he preached long after the holiday. Here are some ways to follow the nation's Drum Major of Justice, Peace and Righteousness all year long: Chronicle his Contributions - Create a Web Page Time Line of Dr. King's life. Email that and one of his peace messages to student pen pals in another country. Urge them to pass it on. Read-In - Invite the entire school to drop everything and read about Dr. King. Make sure older students read to younger non-readers. Share the Legacy - Arrange a visit to a Senior or Veterans Center. Record residents' memories of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. If a visit is impossible, interview grandparents or school staff. Publish results in school and local newspapers. Praise his Phrases - Research Dr. King's speeches. Agree that each student begins class with favorite excerpts. Provide time to reflect. Share oral or written PSA's at school and home.
Keep his Memory Green - Choose a tree symbolizing Dr. King's message of brotherhood. Invite community members to participate in a tree planting tribute when weather permits. Recall his Places - Identify, visit, and document local streets, parks, schools, and memorials dedicated to Dr. King. Display poems and photographs of sites in a library. No area dedicated to Dr. King? Lobby for an appropriate choice. Support the Man, the Movement and the Message - Learn about the future site of the Washington D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Organize a schoolwide bake or rummage sale. Contribute proceeds to the Foundation.
Lift Every Voice - Rehearse a selection of Dr. King's favorite hymns. Invite young and old to join in a Community Sing Along at a Neighborhood Center.
Chinese New Year ~ Ancient Tradition with New Service The New Year begins on the first day of the first month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It lasts for fifteen days and is known also as the Spring Festival that celebrates winter's passing. This is a special time for children who receive new clothes, shoes, and gifts of money. What could be a better season for youngsters to share traditional joys? Students can serve their home and community by bringing cheer to the elderly and the hospitalized; writing messages to their parents; beautifying their classrooms and school environments; performing skits; and organizing fun activities for their younger peers. Clean Start - To sweep away ill-fortune and welcome good luck, Chinese families prepare for the New Year by thoroughly cleaning their homes. Bring this tradition to school and clean student desks and lockers. Decorate classrooms and halls with traditional red scrolls inscribed with good luck sayings.First Flowers - Since flowers symbolize good fortune, folk decorate their homes with peonies, narcissi, and flowering branches of plum or peach. Force spring bulbs amaryllis, tulips, paper-white narcissus, and grape hyacinths in school. Observe and chart the plants' growth. Then visit an elderly center to bring flowering plants and sing New Year song.
Origin of Chinese New Year - Go online to research how a Chinese God disguised as an old man scared away the monster Nian. Write a skit about this legend. Perform it for an audience of young and old. Red Envelopes with a Message - On New Year's Eve, parents give children and unmarried adults red envelopes filled with money. Read Sam and the Lucky Money in class. Then make envelopes or licee. Write messages describing jobs students will perform at home. Instead of money, place messages in envelopes and present them to parents. Lighten up with Riddles - Held on the fifteenth day of the New Year, the Lantern Festival marks the year's first full moon. It marks the end to celebrations and signals the return to daily routines. Traditionally, riddles are hung on lanterns or walls for a lantern riddle contest. Make multicolored geometric lanterns and attach riddles to their bases. Invite younger peers contribute riddles and award small prizes to participants.
Story Time - Visit the local library and borrow picture books on Chinese New Year. Back at school, hold a Read Aloud for kindergartners and first grader