turkeys for giving

This past week, we have been talking at-length with the students about community service. The children were told to bring in boxes of cookies that would be given to homeless people at the next Midnight Run event. The school community service committee tried to make the project more meaningful to the children by telling them they should do a chore in the house to earn the money needed to buy a box of cookies. Some of our students did this. I felt, however, that even with the chore caveat, the project did not drive home what it means to serve our community. During a time of Thanksgiving, it is important that our children truly understand how fortunate they are... Furthermore, they should understand that we are all responsible for the well-being of our communities. Even young children can make a difference in the lives of others. Having mom buy a box of cookies that is going to go to some nebulous Midnight Run project, in my opinion, does not show the children this fact...

So, I suggested that we in Kindergarten take on a more hands-on approach to serving our communities. I called a local children's hospital where I volunteer and basically asked them, "What are your needs? How can we support you?" The woman on the phone told me that we could make some decorations for their Thanksgiving feast. Many of the children are too ill to go home for the holidays (they essentially live at the hospital) and the staff wanted to make the feast look lively and home-like for the patients. I told the rest of my teaching team that I felt we should have the girls help the children's hospital and really speak with them about what it means to serve our communities. We all agreed that making something for fellow children who were less fortunate than our students would be of great meaning to our kids.

We set to work. After explaining the project and the hospital's feast to the children, we gave them 3-D turkeys to decorate, strips of paper out of which they made chains, and a giant turkey picture on which they wrote get well notes. It was difficult to strike a balance between having the children truly understand the meaning behind community service and making sure they did not become depressed over the issue. Some children came up to me and asked me if the hospitalized patients would be able to go home soon. I explained that some of them would, but others would have to stay there longer. This only motivated the students to work harder on their decorations.

At the end of the day, we were all extremely excited about the work we had done. The children truly felt like they were serving others and knew that what they did would bring a smile on the faces of the patients. They also began to better appreciate all that they possess. For example, one child said, "I love school so much. I am so lucky that I get to go to school every day. I really hope the children at the hospital get better soon so they can go to school too." What could be more precious than that?

We often underestimate the ability of young children to understand what it means to serve others. This is especially true in our more well-off communities. I say, it never hurts to try. School should be about having children do new things. Education is such a progressive field, so let's allow our children to be more active in changing our understandings about the world. My students actively understood what they were doing, and with their project, they made a small difference in their community. We should want our children to learn that they can make a difference - they are, after all, our future.