Can We Help?: Kids Volunteering to Help Their Communities

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to allow students to explore the role of volunteerism in their communities as they become community helpers through a service learning project to engage in action within their local areas. This lesson introduces various social studies concepts of civic responsibility while allowing students to think critically and examine their own feelings of empathy and ways to enact these feelings to help others.Design/methodology/approachStudents create a class service project after they explore the content of the trade book and related resources and teach and learn with one another about helping their communities. Students will expand their learning and apply critical thinking as they note similarities and differences in community helpers’ abilities and their own abilities while they identify themselves as citizens of a community.FindingsFindings include actively engaged students independently and cooperatively participating in meaningful and relevant learning. The lessons are designed so that they may be differentiated for differing needs of early childhood students and for students with special needs. Further, the lessons encourage an interdisciplinary approach to teaching social studies in the early grades.Originality/valueThe value of this lesson is apparent in the way it allows early childhood students and students with special needs to recognize their own roles as volunteers and agents of change in their communities. This lesson provides ample support for teachers working with early childhood students and students with special needs who may have few experiences with service learning prior to these lessons.