Grade 1 brainstormed many ideas about who they wanted to help this year with their Penny Panic money, and had a very close vote with refugees and endangered animals coming out on top. Since the class was so interested in both topics, we came up with a challenge that if they could make over $200 we would have enough money to help both – and they made $478.70, the most a Grade 1 class has ever brought! We decided to look at helping refugees in the fall and endangered animals in the spring near earth day. The class brainstormed what they already knew about refugees including that they have to leave their homes, often because of war, that they can’t bring very much with them, and that they often live in tents. We then moved into brainstorming what they need, making two categories: basic needs and other needs like comfort, toys, education, music, and art. We discussed how you can have your basic needs but that people need more than that to be happy. The class voted for four areas to support (we got to choose four instead of just two because they earned so much money) and decided on food, playgrounds, schools, and art, a nice mixture between basic needs and other needs. To share with the school, students voted to make videos using puppets they would create. In writing the videos, we focused on helping students think about how people would feel and why, expanding their understanding of the complexity of needs for refugees. Here are some lines students came up with for their videos:
“I am sad and scared. I am nervous.” (Ella) “I miss my paint stuff. If I had it, I could make some fun drawings to make me feel happy.” (Carolina) “I feel in the middle because we have a playground but I still don’t have a home and I’m kind of sad.” (Ayaan) “I am feeling sad because I don’t have the same food I’m used to eating.” (Alexandra) “We need a safe space to learn and make friends.” (Reece) Finally, with Mr. Williams’ help, we filmed in front of green screen so that students could choose actual images of refugee camps for the backgrounds. Please enjoy their videos in this padlet: https://trinity.padlet.org/kroybal1/ServiceLerningGrade1
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