In addition to the projects below, click here to read about other My Voice projects.
CHILD ABUSE: How can we encourage kids to seek help?
Grades: 4, 5 and 6 • Curriculum: Health, Science, Social Studies, Speaking & Listening, Using Technology & Media and Writing
Child abuse is a challenging topic. Even for adults. So it’s not surprising to hear a 4th grader say it’s hard to talk about it. But that’s what Jasmine William’s students at the Logan School did.
And they did more than just talk about it. The class expanded their knowledge by reading books and doing on-line research. Representatives fr ... Read Full Project
WATER POLLUTION: How can we avoid water pollution?
Grades: 4, 5 and 6 • Curriculum: Reading, Science, Social Studies, Speaking & Listening and Writing
Alexis Fallen’s 4th graders at Logan Elementary anticipated seeing graffiti and abandoned buildings on their community walk at the beginning of the year. Instead they stumbled on a more disturbing issue: “The trash is all over the streets. Why, Ms. Fallen?” they asked.
The question that ultimately drove their research was: “How do we stop littering ... Read Full Project
GUN VIOLENCE: How can we make our community aware of the harmful effects of gun violence?
Grades: 7, 8 and 9 • Curriculum: Mathematics, Reading, Speaking & Listening, Using Technology & Media and Writing
When Scott Charles, from Temple University Hospital’s Cradle to Grave program, asked the students in Susan Comitalo’s 8th grade students how many of them had witnessed someone shot or killed, most of the hands went up.
It didn’t take the class long to arrive at consensus on the topic for their service-learning project. Gun violence was their unanimou ... Read Full Project
DOMESTIC ABUSE: How can we educate our peers about domestic violence and offer positive solutions.
Grades: 6, 7 and 8 • Curriculum: Reading, Social Studies, Speaking & Listening and Writing
Through the course of their project Celeste Rodriguez’s class learned to recognize that they each had a role to play in helping stop the cycle of violence.
In the beginning months of the school year her students spent a lot of time in class discussing how they behaved towards one another and the inappropriate things they had seen at home and at school. Sev ... Read Full Project
SMOKING: How can we withstand peer pressure and stress to be smoke free?
Grades: 4, 5 and 6 • Curriculum: Health, Physical Education, Reading, Speaking & Listening, Using Technology & Media and Writing
Many of the students in Judy Acevedo’s 4th grade class have parents who smoke. So it didn’t surprise Judy that they chose smoking as the focus for their project.
In describing the project to her teacher colleagues at the end of the school year, Judy admitted that she would never have believed her students could have accomplished as much as they did: a ... Read Full Project
WATER POLLUTION: What can we do to save our water?
Grades: 3, 4 and 5 • Curriculum: Science, Social Studies, Speaking & Listening, Using Technology & Media and Writing
Robert Rivera often uses technology to motivate and inspire his 4th grade students, many of whom are English language learners. He adapted one of NID’s signature activities – “If I could change one thing in the world” – to an on-line blog where students could write about the social issues that most concerned them. This writing activity helped get ... Read Full Project
TEEN PREGNANCY: How can we educate our peers about the realities of teen pregnancy?
Grades: 7, 8 and 9 • Curriculum: Health, Reading, Speaking & Listening, Using Technology & Media and Writing
One of the highlights of Denise Eiler’s students’ project on teen pregnancy came about through serendipity. When Denise was describing the project to a colleague, the teacher suggested she might want to search in a particular school supply closet. There toward the back Denise discovered two “electronic babies” – mechanical dolls designed to look and ... Read Full Project
