OBJECTIVE
Students plan and implement service projects to create positive change in their communities.

MATERIALS
The Kid's Guide to Social Action - Barbara A. Lewis

• To engage your class in the book, read aloud pages 50 and 51. These two pages comprise a section called "Kids in Action." The passage shares the story of a girl who created a program to help the homeless.
• Ask your students, What do you think inspired Amber to create Happy Helpers for the Homeless? What did Amber accomplish in her service? What do you think Amber got out of her volunteer work?
• Tell your students that they are going to learn about a group of students who, like Amber, set out to create positive change in their community.
• Have your students read the story of Jackson Elementary School students found on pages 7-11.

• Was it easy for the Jackson Elementary School students to solve their problem? What made it challenging?
• How did the students educate themselves about the problem they were confronted with?
• Wouldn't it have been easy for the students to give up on their project? Were people eager to help them? Why do you think they kept at it? What did this story teach you about being persistent?
• These Jackson Elementary School students inspired other students at their school to do great things. Have they inspired you? In what way?
• What can you do to have an impact in your community?

• Make copies of the What's the Problem handout found on page 16 of the book. Make enough copies so that each of your students has one.
• Copy the Brainstorming I: Come Up With Ideas and the Brainstorming II: Choose Your Main Idea handouts found on pages 177 and 178 so that you have a two-sided handout for each of your students.
• Inform your students that they are going to create positive change in their community, much as did the Jackson Elementary School students they read about — they will identify a problem and plan a service project that helps address the problem.
• Divide your students into small groups of four or five.
• Distribute the What's the Problem handout and have the small groups identify topics of interest to them.
• With topics from the handout in mind, have the groups decide what problem they would like to address. (Students can always choose a topic/problem that is not on the handout.)
• Once the groups have chosen a problem to address, have them come up with service ideas to address the problem. They can use the Brainstorming I: Come Up With Ideas handout to come up with service possibilities and they can narrow their search to one option using the top section of the Brainstorming II: Choose Your Main Idea handout.
• The groups should next complete the bottom of the Brainstorming II: Choose Your Main Idea handout in order to create a plan of action for their selected service project. Before students do this, however, encourage them to learn more about their selected problem by surfing the Web, by reading magazines articles, and so on.
• Give the groups time to present their plans of action.
• Have your students vote on the service project idea that interests them most. (Have each student vote twice so that they do not vote solely for their own idea.)
• Have your class implement the selected project. (Your students can use the book to help them identify the resources and tools available to them.)
• Have your students use journals for reflection as they implement the service project.
• Celebrate the success of the service project.

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