Service Teaches Powerful Lessons
As part of the strong academic program, we empower our students to be responsible citizens through service learning initiatives. All members of the Nashoba Brooks community, from preschoolers to eighth graders, are involved in meaningful service activities. Our goal is to channel students’ interests and talents as we open their eyes to new ideas, diverse experiences, and global awareness. Not only do students develop skills that will serve them throughout life, they build lasting relationships and develop a better understanding of problems and how to solve them.
Example: Recycling Unit
Each year the third graders organize and lead a school wide recycling effort. They begin by performing an analysis of campus recycling needs followed by an engineering design process, making and testing recycling bins for school use. They then cheerlead the effort through poster-making, assembly presentations, and writing announcements. The theme for the project is based on the 3Rs — Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. And because service learning is embedded in the interdisciplinary curriculum, students take their enthusiasm, and their questions, back into their math classroom: How many cans do we still need to collect? Given the number of students and teachers at our school, how many cans/bottles would we each need to bring in? In addition to integrating service learning with lessons in math and science, students are learning to communicate and negotiate in preparation for leading in our larger local and global communities.
Learn more about a couple of our other Service Learning projects:
Food Drive to Help Kenyans, Report on Service Learning project in The Concord Journal, January 29, 2009
Service Learning and Global Understanding, an article by Polly Vanasse, Service Learning Coordinator
Cooking Up Change in Malawi, an interview with Johannah Murphy offering context for the work that connected the women of her African village to students at Nashoba Brooks.