Making Our School A Better Place

Imagine a group of students willingly giving up time from their recess and lunch breaks and working hard to get a few spare minutes of class time, all so that they can make our school a better place! Those are our kids!

Since beginning our most recent Social Studies project, the children have been very excited to take part in small group projects to improve our school community. Our Social Studies curriculum has a large emphasis on developing skills, and this project has focussed on (a) collaborating with others to make fair decisions, and (b) making an age-appropriate contributions as responsible citizens.

The children began by brainstorming ways to make our school a better place. They each recorded an idea that interested them, as well as several ways to make a fair decision.

Meeting time! Children met in their small groups. They shared their idea and listened to others. As a group, their task was to fairly agree on a way to give back to our school. 

Sharing and listening. 

Using rock, paper, scissors to decide.

It wasn't always easy to agree, and some were initially disappointed with the kind deed their group decided upon. However, after realizing that they actually got to go beyond the walls of our classroom and work as a team, EVERYONE was excited!

Some students chose to shelve library books. It was neat to learn how the letters on the side of the book tell us where a book belongs. 

Another group decided to help the Grade 4's with lunchtime recycling. Each student worked with an older buddy to learn how to clean and sort drink containers. 

Gathering and sorting drink containers.

One group offered their help to the teachers down our hallway. Boy, did the work pour in! They bagged cereal, sharpened pencils, sorted books and crayons, and did anything and everything to lighten the load for our staff!

Sharpening a HUGE pile of dull and broken pencils.

The last group of students chose a thoughtful way to make our school a better place. They wrote kind notes to our hard-working staff! The delivery was the best part!

Delivering notes to our Custodian, Assistant Principal,
Secretary, and Principal.

As this week winds down, it appears as though most of the projects will continue informally, with kids from different groups crossing over and helping with their peers' initiatives. The children had so much fun and were so proud of their contributions!

If this is the difference they can make as children, imagine what they could do when they group up?