Oct 2009
Irvine kids try to break reading record
10/13/09 09:28
| Irvine kids try to break reading record | BY SEAN EMERY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Grant will help Irvine students work with charities
10/13/09 09:27
Grant will help Irvine students work with charities
BY SEAN EMERY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A new three-year, $86,000 state grant will bolster a joint Irvine Unified School District and Team Kids program that teaches students to work with local charities.
IUSD will team up with Team Kids to craft a “service-learning” program meant to mix community projects with classroom instruction focusing on academic and civic skills.
Team Kids is already well established at Irvine schools, helping to connect students with police officers, fire fighters and other role models, teaching them about real life issues such as hunger, homelessness and the environment, and raising money for charity. More than 20,000 kids have taken part in Team Kids since 2001, raising more than $200,000 for local charities.
This year, 22 Team Kids and IUSD teachers will take part in the new “service-learning” program, along with 2,800 students from five elementary schools. The program will begin at Vista Verde, Alderwood Basics, Deerfield, Springbrook and University Park.
The teachers and students will begin by coming up with a menu of possible community projects, which they will apply for “minigrants” to carry out. At the end of the first year, teachers will begin crafting a districtwide curriculum and future plan for the “service-learning” program.
The number of students and teachers taking part in the program is expected to double by its second year, and then triple by the third, IUSD Service Learning Facilitator Abby Edmunds said, as middle and high schools enter the mix.
If the program proves successful, the district would become eligible for another three-year “sustaining” grant from the California Department of Education.
BY SEAN EMERY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A new three-year, $86,000 state grant will bolster a joint Irvine Unified School District and Team Kids program that teaches students to work with local charities.
IUSD will team up with Team Kids to craft a “service-learning” program meant to mix community projects with classroom instruction focusing on academic and civic skills.
Team Kids is already well established at Irvine schools, helping to connect students with police officers, fire fighters and other role models, teaching them about real life issues such as hunger, homelessness and the environment, and raising money for charity. More than 20,000 kids have taken part in Team Kids since 2001, raising more than $200,000 for local charities.
This year, 22 Team Kids and IUSD teachers will take part in the new “service-learning” program, along with 2,800 students from five elementary schools. The program will begin at Vista Verde, Alderwood Basics, Deerfield, Springbrook and University Park.
The teachers and students will begin by coming up with a menu of possible community projects, which they will apply for “minigrants” to carry out. At the end of the first year, teachers will begin crafting a districtwide curriculum and future plan for the “service-learning” program.
The number of students and teachers taking part in the program is expected to double by its second year, and then triple by the third, IUSD Service Learning Facilitator Abby Edmunds said, as middle and high schools enter the mix.
If the program proves successful, the district would become eligible for another three-year “sustaining” grant from the California Department of Education.
