Learn and Serve Projects

Cleburne County
Quitman School District (Continuation)
Contact: Kelly Allen
Phone: (501) 589-3485

"Reading At Renegar"---7th and 8th grade students will read and visit with the elderly residents of Renegar Apartments twice a month. The students will also record stories told to them by the residents. These stories will be kept in journals by the students, photos will be added and a book will be published at the end of the year and presented to each Renegar Resident at the Recognition Banquet.

"Parent/Student Reading Night"--Parents and students in grades K-8th will read together and the students will teach the parents how to take a quiz on the computer, this will increase both parents and students reading skills.

"Story Hour"-- Community Members read to Preschool-2nd grade students once per month. After the stories are read the students do arts & crafts or play games.

"Community Closet"--Clothes, shoes and school supplies are available to students, parents and community members year round.

Students in grades K-8 hold a yearly food drive and humane society drive. The students also collect and count items for the school wide recycling program.

Students will help write and take photos for the local newspaper and the school newsletter.

Students and Master Gardeners--The Master Gardeners will help the students plant flowers, bushes & trees, and will teach them how to care for them, this will be an on-going project.

Local Police and Fire Department will visit and talk to students about safety and career awareness. A mock drinking and driving accident will be planned using local police, fire, ambulance, air rescue and other community members for all 9th-12th grade students.

Project List

Craighead County
Valley View Elementary School
Contact: June Horne
Phone: (870) 935-1910

The Believe and Achieve After School Tutoring/Mentoring Project will provide service opportunities for junior high and high school students in an after school tutoring/mentoring program for elementary at-risk students two days per week. Student volunteers will be matched up with K-3 children to develop personal relationships as they tutor and mentor them. Regular classroom teachers will prescribe daily activities and the project will be directed and supervised by two certified teachers.

Project List

Crawford County
JJ Izard Elementary
Contact: Mary McCutchen
Phone: (479) 471-3150

1. Students will learn about pet care from research and interviews with veterinarians. Students will prepare a “How to Care for your Pet” booklet to be distributed to other students. Students will also volunteer at the local Humane Society.
   
2. Students will research the vegetables best suited to grow on school property. Students will learn how to develop a garden from planning the location, tilling the garden, planting, caring for, and then harvesting the vegetables. Upon harvesting, the food will be donated to the Frank Turner Gospel Rescue Mission and the local food bank.
   
3. Students will plan Saturday lunches, prepare them, and deliver to adult workers at Habitat for Humanity building sites.
   
4. Students will choose a product to market during lunch and recess and will use profits to sponsor a child in the Make A Wish Foundation.
   
5. Students will work with the Master Gardeners Club and the County Extension Office to plan, plant, and care for a garden on school grounds. Upon harvesting, the food will be donated to the Frank Turner Gospel Rescue Mission and the local food bank.
   
6. Students will participate in learning activities concerning the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to society. Students and parents will hold a coat and story book drive on this day, whereby community members can drop of used coats and books that will be donated to the local homeless shelter and the Salvation Army.

Project List

Desha County
Arkansas City Elementary School
Contact: La Warn Rodgers
Phone: (870) 877-2455

Arkansas City Public School District will develop and implement the Learn and Serve Project for the 2003-04 school year to rebuild and maintain a safer more environmentally inviting city park, create a colorful pamphlet of well-known community sites to also include the myths/facts as well as design and landscape a welcome sign for the city. The students will be involved in the planning and implementation of the project with help from leaders in the community, participating teachers, and parents.

The planned projects will be based on Arkansas curriculum frameworks in the areas of literacy, math, and science. Students will also build communication and leadership skills while learning the value of community service. Throughout service, students will record their experiences and provide written and oral reflections of these experiences. Some of the enhancements to the park will include: Students assisting in mixing concrete for foundation devised to build a small pavilion, students will design a garden area, build planters and landscape around the vicinity while placing hand-painted name plates near plants, paint scenic riverboat themes on trash barrels, assist in placement of basketball goal(s) in park and refurbish old playground equipment.

Project List

Faulkner County
Vilonia Middle School (Continuation)
Contact: Cathy Riggins
Phone: (501) 796-2940

Vilonia Middle School is dedicated to using this grant as a vehicle to implement programs with a primary focus on veterans, and the significance their role has played in our country's freedom. Students will work through the guidelines of the Veterans History Project in conjunction with the Library of Congress. In addition, activities will be designed to meet the goals of the America's

Promise and Arkansas State Standards as students target the following areas: (1) literacy (2) environmental awareness (3) technology in the classroom (4) community interaction and (5) student achievement on the Arkansas Benchmark Test.

Project List

Franklin County
Altus Denning High School
Contact: William Sanderson
Phone: (479) 468-6111

Altus Denning High School will conduct a Homeland Security/Disaster Preparedness project. Students will identify seniors who are in need of kits that could be easily accessed in the event of a disaster. Items that students have placed in the kits include a blanket, a lantern, easy to prepare food items, water, rock salt, and batteries.

Project List

Howard County
Mineral Springs High School
Contact: Judy Cassady
Phone: (870) 287-4747

Mineral Springs High School is sponsoring a Drug Awareness Day (D.A.D.). Mineral Springs High School offers a community service class, the members of this class wanted to help educated other students and the community about the problems associated with drugs. The class was going to do a skit originally, they have expanded the idea to a whole day of presentations and displays. They also plan on having competitions for each grade level K-12 with prizes. D.A.D. will be presented Oct. 24th as a culmination of Red Ribbon Week.

Project List

Jefferson County
Townsend Park North Elementary School
Contact: Dornetta Hobbs
Phone: (870) 575-0709

Townsend Park students will conduct a walking and fitness program designed to include family and community patrons. Students will complete math problems and writing prompts associated with the planning, development and implementation. The majority of the schools community population are of low to moderate income and lack the knowledge and resources to fully participate in health clubs and some sporting events. The area of most of the community is a crime ridden area. This project will provide a safe haven for our student and community to participate in a structured exercise program and receive health information.

Project List

Logan County
Paris High School
Contact: Gerald Henry
Phone: (479) 963-2247

Paris High School 2003-2004 intergenerational Learn and Serve program will involve two projects. The first project is an extension of the natural disaster preparedness project that was highly received in the Paris community. Students will identify seniors who are in need of kits that could be easily accessed in the event of a disaster. Items that students have placed in the kits include a blanket, a lantern, easy to prepare food items, water, rock salt, and batteries. The other project that will be interrelated with the first one will involve documentation of recollections for those citizens who have served in the U.S. military during conflict. The Veterans’ History Project recollections will be submitted to the Library of Congress as part of the National History Collection. Partnering libraries and historical societies will have the option of accessing these important memories. Reflections by students will reinforce writing skills and are aligned with the Arkansas frameworks.

J.D. Leftwich High School
Contact: Judy Patterson
Phone: (479) 969-2640

J.D. Leftwich High School will also conduct a Homeland Security/Disaster Preparedness project. Students will identify seniors who are in need of kits that could be easily accessed in the event of a disaster. Items that students have placed in the kits include a blanket, a lantern, easy to prepare food items, water, rock salt, and batteries.

Project List

Lonoke County
Cabot Middle School
Contact: Judith Hipp
Phone: (501) 941-7335

The grant that our Builders' Club at Cabot Middle School South received has three parts. The first part is "taming our wilderness". Our school has a walking trail that has been neglected and is overgrown with briars, poison ivy, and underbrush. That will be cleaned out so the students can once again walk the trail. In front of the school is a very old cabin that was bought and brought to the campus. It is used during our Frontier Festival and at other times by classes meeting in it. The area around the cabin needs attention. Several dead trees need to be removed, bridges need to be rebuilt, and underbrush needs to be cleared for the students to take full advantage of the area.

The second part of the project involves making adult bibs and lap quilts for residents of a local nursing home. Items will be bought, and the students will make the articles for the residents.

The last part of the project involves building a pavilion that will serve as an outdoor classroom. It will have a cement floor, metal poles, and a steel roof. Benches will be built around the edges of the pavilion for seating. This can be used by the students and the members of the community.

Project List

Newton County
Deer Elementary School
Contact: Melissa King
Phone: (870) 428-5433

Deer Elementary has five Learn and Serve projects for this year that the 5th and 6th grade students will be participating in.

1. Veterans History Project where the students will plan and have a Veterans’ celebration day. The celebration will consist of an appreciation luncheon with requests being made of the veterans for their participation in the Veterans History Project. The students will interview the participating veterans and send a copy of the video to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Also they will make copies for the local library and school.
   
2. Methamphetamine Awareness Brochures: The students will work with the 14th Judicial Drug Task force in production of a brochures about the harmful effects that methamphetamines have on people including children. The brochures will also include information on how to help with the methamphetamine problem in our area as well as how someone can receive help for their addiction.
   
3. Parent Center Manipulative Boxes: The students will produce manipulative boxes pertaining to mathematics and literacy for the school's parent center. Upon completion of the boxes they will be placed in the parent center available for checkout by the parents.
   
4. Early Learning Baskets: Students will create baskets filled with items and information on how the local parents of toddlers can give their child a sound start. The students will also host a parent night where they will be assisted by the Learn and Serve teacher team and literacy specialist in make and take sessions. These sessions will show the parents how they may take everyday household items and turn them into learning tools for their toddlers.
   
5. Literacy Partnerships: Once a month the 5th and 6th grade students will meet with the kindergarten and first grade classes and read with them. They will listen to them read and help them with their developing literacy skills. They will also read books to the kindergarten and first grade class members. Also the students will assist the kindergarten and first graders with their Accelerated Reader test in the mornings before school.

Project List

Pulaski County
J.A. Fair High School (Continuation)
Contact: Martha Rains
Phone: (501)447-1700

J.A. Fair Systems Magnet High School has received a follow-up grant to complete development of an outdoor classroom that will introduce our primarily urban students to the world around them.

Learn and Serve America's support will allow the school to construct the actual pavilion and surrounding gardens. In these gardens we will have native plants, medicinal herbs and trees, worm beds, compost areas, and vegetable and fruit gardens. The medical and environmental magnet strands will be responsible for the overall development of the gardens with the Community Based Learning classes taking charge of the food plots.

A portion of the funds will be used by the social studies department to plan a unit on the importance of imported food crops to the south and its economy.

Project List

Union County
Parkers Chapel Elementary/ High School
Contact: June Wells
Phone: (870) 862-9767

PROJECT CONNECT is a youth community service program in Parkers Chapel designed to connect all students in grades 5-8 including physically or cognitively disabled students, with community organizations. Students will provide a service to the Parkers Chapel Community by researching and documenting the history of their community in conjunction with developing and implementing a beautification project, including the development of landscaping of the only original school building still standing High school ecology students will mentor students in grades 5-8 to provide service to the Parkers Chapel Community.

Project List

Van Buren County
Shirley Alternative Learning Center (Continuation)
Contact: Vicki Sandage
Phone: (501) 723-4907

At Shirley Schools, a small rural district with approximately 540 students, service-learning programming is driven by a training cycle. New students are recruited each year and are given training in team building, defining and evaluating possible projects, and processes for moving through a selected project. As projects are completed, new ones are identified through a school/community survey, and then initiated. Currently, projects are continuing in maintenance and expansion of gardens, greenhouse development, maintenance of food closet, development and presentation of character principles and life skills lessons for elementary students, creation of reading resources for K-1, and collection of area oral history. Recently initiated projects include creating trauma kits for high school and elementary, painting murals to clean downtown, refurbishing high school benches, writing teacher profiles for publication in the local newspaper, creating teacher compliment boards that allow students to tell teachers how they are appreciated. At present, approximately 175 elementary and high school level students are participating, along with 15 community members and a full complement of the district’s teachers, administrators, and staff members.

Project List

Washington County
Fayetteville High School
Contact: Nancy Smith
Phone: (479) 444-3050

Sophomores, who study American history, will interview war veterans and record their stories to share with other students and to submit to the Veterans History Project. As these students learn about the time period of the specific wars, they will enhance their knowledge through a primary source as they practice communication skills as well. These stories will be placed in the secondary libraries of our school district.

All students at Fayetteville High School will be given the opportunity to earn credit for service learning through Act 648. Students and sponsors of service organizations will be made aware of the opportunity and the accountability measures. The grant writer will administer the program for those students not affiliated with a service organization.

Juniors in the Career Academy at Fayetteville High School will include service learning as a part of their curriculum. Within this context, students will assess community needs, prepare for service, perform the service, and reflect upon that service. Students involved in all three phases of this program will be recognized at the end of the school year.

Springdale High School
Contact: Diana Worthen
Phone: (479) 750-8888

Bilingual Community Service and Leadership (BCSL) Program

Springdale High School’s Bilingual Community Service and Leadership (BCSL) program provides a meaningful service opportunity for 70 bilingual high school students. It offers a unique learning experience in that it nurtures native and second language communication and leadership skills while addressing the communication needs of a growing language minority population. The BCSL program is comprised of three segments: 1) the Bilingual Interpreters Club, 2) the Community Radio Outreach Show and 3) the Community Television Outreach Show.

Fifty students in the Bilingual Interpreters Club receive training and provide direct interpreting during parent-teacher conferences at elementary and middle schools. They also tutor elementary students 1-2 hours per week after school and interpret during community events/activities.

The Community Radio and Television Shows consists of 10 students each through a partnership with Spanish language radio and television. The shows provide additional methods for informing parents and the community of local school-community news and events. Students volunteer 3-5 hours per work and develop live daily radio and television broadcasts including researching topics and translating local news. The radio broadcasts are presented by the students while the Community Outreach Television Show gives students an opportunity to apply television broadcast skills and be mentored by a professional anchor.

Woodland Jr High School (Continuation)
Contact: Connie Crisp
Phone: (479) 444-3067

Service learning is blocked with 9th grade English and any 9th grade student with a desire to contribute to the community and school may apply for the program and receive elective high school credit. There are approximately 15 students involved in act 648 this year. Service Learning is designed for students who want to use the knowledge that they have acquired in the classroom within the community, for students who want to share their many talents within the community, for students who want to learn where community needs exist.

The Service learning classes research numerous social issues such as the homeless, the elderly, teenage mothers, abused children, low income families, etc. There are also numerous speakers from agencies where the students will be working who tell about each agency and what services the agency provides. The students are able to ask questions and express concerns. They take their knowledge to the community where they volunteer twice a week at agencies such as Children’s House, Richardson Center, west campus Nursery, Fayetteville Senior Citizen Center, Life Source, Head Start, Root Elementary, Hillcrest Towers, Northwest Nursing Home, Seven Hills Homeless Shelter, Project for Victims of Family Violence. They are trained at each agency before they begin working. They change agencies approximately every 9 weeks in order to receive experiences at as many agencies as possible during the school year. Students are also required to do a needs assessment every 9 weeks and participate in an individual student driven project outside of school time. This 9 weeks some of the agencies that students volunteered were The Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers and Sisters, various elementary school in Northwest Arkansas, Girl Scouts, Race for the Cure, etc.

The Service project for the class this year is the Veteran’s History Project. Students will interview senior citizens who fought in WWII or who helped in the US during WWII. These interviews will be video taped and sent to the Library of Congress in Washington DC. These tapes will also be housed in all three secondary libraries in Fayetteville as resources for students. This project will be a partnership with Fayetteville High School students under the direction of Nancy Smith who has also received a Learn and Serve Grant this year.

Service Learning focuses on each student to make a difference. The application of higher level thinking and communicative skills used in a “doing” setting is aimed at improving the intellectual and academic abilities of students. Service Learning is character education. The class will help to make service an essential part of students’ lives during and after their school years. Service Learning is designed to encourage the personal growth that comes from being connected to the larger community, and from being viewed as useful by oneself and by others.

Project List