Enhancing Our School

Suggested Activities

In this critical challenge, students develop a plan to contribute to the well-being, growth and vitality of their school. Prepare for the activities by selecting appropriate books from your own collection or gathering resources such as those cited below. Introduce the activities by reading aloud a story in which people contribute to their community (e.g., Franklin's Neighborhood) and invite students to suggest which people in the story made contributions to the well-being of the community. Ask students to think about their school community and review the contributions that various people (including students) make to the school. Without calling for responses, ask students to think about whether there are some ways in which all students could contribute to the school to make it even better. Read aloud a story about how even little acts of kindness can make a difference in people's lives. For example, in the story, Because Brian Hugged His Mother, an extensive chain of kind acts is unleashed because of a simple hug that Brian gave his mother one morning.

Ask students to work with a partner to think of how they could contribute to the school. Invite students to share their ideas and record them on a class list. Explain that the class will choose one of the ways to improve the school and develop a plan to implement it. Review the list of possible contributions and develop criteria to help make an informed decision, which may include:

• is reasonable for grade 1 students
• is affordable
• will make a significant contribution to the school.

Invite students to consider each proposal in light of the agreed-upon criteria. You may wish to adapt one of the charts and strategies in Considering Options (Support Material) to structure and assess the review of each option and use Justifying My Choice (Support Material) for students to report their selected best option.

When the class has agreed upon a course of action, work as a class to develop a plan for implementing the final decision.