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Thematic Teaching
volunteerism: related resources
About the Authors | Activity Ideas | Related Resources
Find Below: PBS Web Sites, Other Recommended Links, Recommended Books
pbs online
Big Apple History: Volunteerism Primer:
http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/parentsteachers/volunteerism.html
Big Apple History: Engineer a Solution:
http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/activities/a_early/activity7/index.html
NOW with Bill Moyers: Volunteering for Beginners:
http://www.pbs.org/now/society/volunteer.html
Zoom Into Action: Service Learning:
http://pbskids.org/zoom/grownups/action/educators.html
Livelyhood: Digital Toolkit:
http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/toolkit.html
recommended web sites
The Foundation for a Better Life
http://www.forbetterlife.org/
You have probably seen the ads on television or the billboards on the highways striking photographs and short comments about values everyone can appreciate, such as honesty, caring, optimism, hard work, and helping others. The Foundation for a Better Life posts their public service campaigns on this web site along with "good news" stories. Stop by the site next time you are low or frustrated. Strong people like Christopher Reeve, the Chinese student who dared to stand in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, and Gandhi will give you the encouragement you need. You'll also get some ideas on how to help serve others in your community. The site is also available in Spanish.
Subject: Health & Fitness
More Recommended Health & Fitness Links
Habitat for Humanity -- Youth
http://www.habitat.org/ccyp
Habitat for Humanity seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. The project helps lower income families build a new home with volunteer labor. If you are 16 or older, you can join a house building project with Habitat for Humanity during your spring break or summer vacation. There are even ideas for children as young as five to help welcome a family to a new home or help with off-site tasks.
Subject: Health & Fitness
More Recommended Health & Fitness Links
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
http://www.servicelearning.org/
As the title clearinghouse indicates, the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse provides pointers and resources for multiple projects, topics, and audiences related to service learning. Fact sheets and hot topics for K-12 cover service learning, character education, citizenship, impacts and policies of service learning, and curriculum ideas. Tool kits in PDF format may be downloaded and provide information and strategies for practitioners, teachers, student leaders, administrators, and community activists interested in creating or enhancing service-learning programs. If you are just getting started in service learning projects or are looking for new resources, this is the place to begin.
Subject: Social studies
More Recommended Social Studies Links
Learn and Serve America
http://www.learnandserve.org/
As part of the USA Freedom Corps, the Learn & Serve America organization is for school aged students on service-learning, which combines service to the community with student learning. The goals of effective service-learning programs are to improve academic grades, increase attendance in school, and develop personal and social responsibility. The Students in Service to America Guidebook is found in the Resources for Programs section and may be ordered online or downloaded in PDF format. There is a link to the President's Volunteer Service Award site where you can keep track of your volunteer hours and earn an award.
Subject: Social Studies
More Recommended Social Studies Links
Idealist: Kids and Teens
http://www.idealist.org/kt/
Idealist Kids & Teens is designed to introduce young people to the nonprofit sector and give them the resources they need to get involved in their community. There are almost 50 areas of interest you can choose from including the environment, disabilities, hunger, homelessness, and health issues. Learn about kids who have already made a difference in their communities and have even started their own organizations. The teacher section provides online resources and lesson plans for service learning.
Subject: Social Studies
More Recommended Social Studies Links
recommended books
Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver
By Robert Stossel
Published May 2004
Grades: 9-12; Professional Development
Subjects: Social Studies
In his eighties, Shiver is still putting his idealism into international practice by trying to better the lives of others. Beginning in the 1960s, Shiver created the Peace Corps; was instrumental in the war on Poverty, Job Corps, VISTA, and Legal Services for the Poor; and with his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shiver, launched the Special Olympics.
More Recommended Social Studies Books
Inside: A Public and Private Life
By Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
Published March 2004
Grades: 9-12; Professional Development
Subjects: Social Studies
Califano served in Washington under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. As secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Jimmy Carter, he launched a now familiar campaign against smoking. His outspoken stance against tobacco interests in an election year contributed to his firing. Off the Hill, Califano formed a nonprofit organization that focuses on the problem of addiction called the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, or CASA. This big memoir addresses the rewards and price of public service.
More Recommended Social Studies Books
Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul: Stories to Celebrate the Spirit of Courage, Caring and Community
By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Arline Oberst, John Boal, Tom Lagana, and Laura Lagana
Published July 2002
Grades: 6-8; 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
In this collection of recollections more than 80 volunteers provide insights into the volunteer experience under the headings personal rewards, giving back, making a difference, new appreciation, love and tenderness, defining moments, perspective, overcoming obstacles, and wisdom.
More Recommended Social Studies Books