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Service Events
Relevant effective practices for: Join Hands Day
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Click  next to each title below to view the abstract.
Click on a title link to read the effective practice in full.
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Brokering collaborations to include seniors in service-learning
The Wisconsin Intergenerational Network (WIN), a program of the Dane County RSVP,
accepted the challenge of generating interest in the Corporation for National and
Community Service’s SaYES initiative, to develop service-learning collaborations
that include seniors in students’ service-learning. Taking on the role of broker,
WIN used existing meeting venues and organizational frameworks to raise awareness
of SaYES and introduced a statewide mini-grant program to provide incentive to
participate. By targeting localities in the state where there were both Learn and
Serve America and RSVP grantees, the Wisconsin initiative was able to generate
collaborations due to the readiness of existing projects. The Wisconsin SaYES
brokering approach for connecting school-based service-learning efforts with senior
volunteer programs can serve as an effective model of how to generate interest in
and broker collaborations for new ventures.
Read more.
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Building a community-wide service ethic through intergenerational service-learning
A small, coastal Oregon town that has experienced many transitions in employment and
lifestyle has come together around community-wide service-learning projects that
benefit its citizens. Their efforts show what can be done through years of attention
to the components of community- and school-based service-learning projects. This
effective practice highlights this community-wide approach to intergenerational
service-learning that begins in the earliest grades and continues through retirement
for many adults, and was submitted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
in October 2006 for the SaYES Initiative.
Read more.
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Developing intergenerational curriculum for a nursing home visit
For a kindergarten at Haverford School in Pennsylvania, service-learning begins with
discussion aimed at raising awareness prior to a trip to a local nursing home.
Service-learning educators who were planning this outing asked for input from others
in the field on ways to ensure the success of a nursing home visit on Halloween day.
Although the practice deals with kindergarteners at a nursing home, the ideas could
be incorporated successfully with young children up to grade five, and the methods
can be used on other holidays or service days. The ideas in this practice were
shared on the K-12 service-learning e-mail discussion list in September 2003.
Read more.
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Engaging elementary students with seniors in a bird feeder project
This two-day service-learning project educates elementary students about native
birds while engaging them in simple hands-on activities. The project concludes with
the children visiting seniors at a nursing home to share what they have learned.
AmeriCorps members Chris Kowalski and Jo Anne Britt developed and presented the
"It's for the Birds" program for five elementary schools in Lewiston, Idaho.
Excerpted from the 1997 Northwest National Service Symposium. Read more.
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Coordinating senior volunteers to offer a watershed learning event for elementary students
For Earth Day 2001, RSVP of the Capital Region of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
partnered with several governmental and non-profit agencies to hold a "Water
Snapshot" at a nature center to correspond with other environmental activities
across the state. Learning stations were set up to illustrate the link between
watersheds and the activities within them to water quality. There were seven
stations where a total of 80 students learned about macroinvertebrates, water
flow, stream bank erosion, habitat assessment, various water testing techniques,
and created a field sketchbook. Carol Orman, RSVP of the Capital Region, submitted
this effective practice in April 2002. Read more.
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Pairing Foster Grandparents with children in Head Start
The Foster Grandparent Program sponsored by the Ohio Department of Mental
Retardation and Developmental Disabilities serves children with exceptional or
special needs in Franklin County and other central Ohio communities. In 2001, 184
special needs children at 13 Head Start programs received individualized support
and assistance from 46 Foster Grandparents. Head Start provides special training
to Foster Grandparents in central Ohio communities to help them work with children
with disabilities. The Foster Grandparents serving these Head Start children develop
relationships where both parties truly benefit. This program was highlighted in the National Service News, Issue No. 157, April 29, 2002, published by the
Corporation for National and Community Service. Read more.
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Sharing local history with third graders
Elementary students do not always get a chance to learn about local history because
it is often overlooked in textbooks. RSVP of Meigs County, Ohio, developed a program
which provides students with the chance to learn about regional history from its
volunteers. Four years since its inception in 1998, twenty-eight regular volunteers
and four substitutes now visit thirteen classrooms weekly to teach students local
history. Lessons are accompanied by hands on activities, and students take field
trips to sites of historical significance. Besides broadening their knowledge of
history, students benefit from these positive interactions with older adults by
viewing them as active and knowledgeable members of the community. Diana Coates of
RSVP of Meigs County, Ohio, submitted this effective practice in December 2001. Read more.
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Training intergenerational tutors in diversity
Volunteers who tutor reading need training in selecting and using literature that
promotes diversity, and students need to read literature with diversity themes to
broaden their awareness and encourage understanding of others. The RSVP of the
Capital Region (Albany, New York) thoroughly and effectively trains 90 tutors in
issues of diversity to serve in 11 kindergarten through third grade classrooms.
Tutors then bring this experience to their students, who learn tolerance and
open-mindedness as their reading skills are enhanced. Deborah Doolittle, program
director of the RSVP in the Capital Region, submitted this effective practice in
October 2001. Read more.
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Using hands-on project-based learning to build intergenerational relationships
Designing mentoring programs that include definite activities and outcomes may
support the mentor-mentee relationship, as bonding may be facilitated through
working together. This effective practice highlights RSVP volunteers who mentor
students in woodworking techniques through the RSVP Juvenile Detention Center
Program in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Read more.
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Using RSVP volunteers in juvenile detention centers
At-risk youth often can benefit from hearing how others have overcome adversity and
turned their lives around. RSVP volunteers in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, provide
support, wisdom and advice to youth in juvenile detention centers to help them make
positive life choices. Read more.
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