Hello fellow moms:
I decided to pursue my goal of attaining PA teacher certification and, ultimately, teaching Secondary Biology. My first class started tonight and I am trying to brainstorm ideas for a class project. My goal is to, by the end of the semester - December 14, put together a project/event etc. that benefits the community. It doesn't necessarily have to involve a school, but it should impact children's lives. So far I have thought about organizing a book drive or utilizing my church resources to sponsor some sort of career fair. The reason I am posting this is to ask what things you think need to be done in your community for your children.
I live in the Norristown School District and I know there are many kids that don't have a lot of opportunity outside of school to advance their educational interests. Does anyone have a Girl Scout Troop in need of help or an upcoming project associated with education that I may be able to help organize or facilitate? I was also thinking about putting something together along with the Police Athletic League, local MOMS club or library. I am open to suggestions and would appreciate your input. Some additional information: my background is in Science and I have a 1 year old so a project I could bring him along would be excellent.
I love anything that promotes reading! Getting books into the hands of low-income kids, reading to them, literacy classes for parents, etc. Once a child loves to read, then the child will love to learn.
I live in the Spring Ford school area. And I feel that they don;t have anything for after school learing for the kids 2years ago they had a bible class thing for after school and was free and that was really cool but nothing since then. Around here the teachers don't care and alot of the parents don't either.I love the idea of what you are doing. Please let me know what you end up doing. It would be nice if there where more future teachers or present teachers that would want to do that. Best of luck.
You could play to your strengths, and run a Science Night or Science Club in one of the Norristown Elementary schools. Getting kids excited about math and science in the early years is a great idea, and benefits especially those kids who don't have access to fancy summer camps and parent trips to the Franklin Institute, etc.
Maybe even make it a long-term project, by lining up a high school student or group to help you, and they can continue or expand the science club after you're finished with your graduate project. I don't know about Norristown, but our high school requires the kids to do a community service project for graduation - you can take advantage of that requirement to solicit local help for your project.
Just a different idea.
C.,
I'm volunteering at my local library to try out new ideas so that we can get more minority children to access the library's services. The library has several story hours but the number of minority children that attend is very low. So perhaps you can help your local library with a similar project. As you probably know, exposure to books and being read to are key to promoting positive reading habits in young children. Minorities are consistently scoring poorly in reading assessments through their public school years. Good luck with whatever you choose!
It's a shame that this wasn't done before school started since alot of kids in Norristown are low income and a great thing would have been to go to local stores and bigger stores asking for donations to fill backpacks for education.
I also like the idea of doing a book drive then giving out the books to kids from low income families.
I have a Cadette troop of 6 girl scouts, out of Phoenixville, if there is anything we can help you with let me know.
C. - You may want to contact the P.A.L. (Police Athletic League) Center on Harding Blvd. They are always looking for volunteers for educational things. Maybe you could organize a science club or science day?
Good luck! =)
Couple neat ideas that I have seen have been one where you make an identification sheet of your child. Parents come with there children and you create a sheet with height, weight, hair, eyes, finger prints and current picture. Parents can use this in the case of an emergency.
Or how about clean up a park or community area? Pick up the trash, maybe even plant a tree or something.
what about organizing free or low-cost SAT prep services or a program to assist with colllege applications (and cover the cost of these applications)? - this is often inaccessible for low-income kids. this will have greater impact than any 1-day event or book drive. good luck!
