Be The Change: Type IIIs

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" -Ghandi

The students at JJ Harris have taken this quote to heart as they have identified problems in their school, community, and world and worked all year to make a positive impact on the problem!

Mrs. Hughes and I had around 50 students in grades 1-5 sign up to work on a Type III project to address an area of concern and make a change! Students worked for the entire year to identify the problem they wanted to focus on, research, research, research, survey the impacted audience, contact an expert on the topic, interview that expert, and create a product or service to impact the problem.

Last night we had our Type III Showcase and it was simply amazing!  Our students were beaming with pride as they shared their projects with parents, teachers, and community members.

I would love to share all of the projects with you, but I don't have time to write all that up. Instead, I will share with you a few. These aren't necessarily the best...ALL the projects were AMAZING! These are just the ones I was able to get a picture of without the students being in the picture during the busy showcase (I don't post pictures of students in case you haven't noticed).

M, a fourth grader, was concerned about how difficult it is for new mommies to take care of babies. She created a class to teach to new moms and a painting that would make new mommies feel joy. She taught her class to the Bundles of Joy group at St. Mary's Hospital and donated her painting to them.  

J, a.k.a "The Helping Boy" as he has named himself, was very concerned about issues of poverty. This is a very real issue for our kids, as about 98% of our students are on free and reduced lunch. He decided to have a food drive to donate to the local food bank. The president of the food bank actually came to JJ Harris to meet with Jonathan to talk with him about the food bank and gave him advice for his project and his future in general. Jonathan collected several boxes of food after lots of research and advertising. 

J and J, third and fourth grade brothers love soccer and wanted to focus on the issue of soccer injuries. These boys created a website to help kids prevent and treat injuries. They emailed a doctor at UGA who works with the soccer team, and he came to the school to speak with the boys back in February. He also brought a portable xray and showed them xrays of different soccer injuries. So cool! The boys also created a photo story to put on their website. 

J, a second grader, was concerned about the lack of fashion at JJH (our kids wear uniforms) and  was also appalled by the use of real animal fur in the fashion world. She created her own accessory line out of "faux" fur, including necklaces, bracelets, earrings, belts, wraps, and arm sleeves. You should see them on the models. They are actually really cool. She also wrote a fashion show for the talent show on the last day of school. 

K, R, and K have a love for helping animals. After interviewing a local vet, these fifth grade girls found out about an organization that helps find a home for pets whose owner has been a victim of domestic violence. The girls decided that they wanted to raise money for this organization and held a penny war within the school. I think it surprised them at how much work this endeavor was going to be. They made about $70 total. Which is pretty good for a project run completely by fifth graders!!

C and D, a third and fourth grader,  were saddened by the pain caused to children with cancer. They spent months researching all about cancer, emailing families who had children with cancer, and following blogs. They decided to put on a bake sale to raise money and sold Hershey Kisses at Valentine's Day. They raised around $150 and used the money to buy toys, games, puzzles, and coloring books to keep kids entertained in the hospital and make them smile. The girls will go to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta to deliver the care packages. 

M, a first grader, was interested in a project about safe driving. She researched all about seat belt safety, speeding, and texting while driving. She got very interested in trying to stop people from texting while driving and decided to start a petition where drivers could sign to promise not to text and drive. Once people signed the petition, they got a brochure that she made with information and a bracelet. 

J and B, both fourth graders, are OBSESSED with snow leopards. They also both love art. They created this awesome snow leopard sculpture with the help of our art teacher and wrote a report to share information with others about snow leopards. They will auction off the snow leopard and use the money to symbolically adopt an endangered snow leopard.

Aren't these amazing? And the best part is that there were about 40 more of these projects. All of which were seriously just as amazing.... Don't believe me? How about the second grader that rescued her neighbors from a burning house when the babysitter fell asleep and therefore planned a babysitting class for kids.... Or the student that created a website to teach kids about healthy living including information about health, a meal plan she developed, an exercise plan which she developed, a video, and links to games for kids! Or the student who raised money to buy books for kids in Africa.  See....I'm not kidding...I could go on and on and on....

We are so proud of the kids at JJH for identifying real world problems that were important to them and making a change in their world! With students like these, what a great future we have ahead of us all!