The students in 6-1 partnered with Need in Deed, a nonprofit organization that brings service learning into middle school classrooms in Philadelphia. During the course of the year, students had the opportunity to choose a social issue in their community that is of importance to them and had the chance to convince the other students in the class that their issue should be the issue the entire class studies for the year. After presenting and debating, the students settled on the issue of stress and wanted to complete a service project that could reduce the amount of stress students experience here at Masterman. The students then created an assembly program to share with fifth and sixth-grade students about ways to reduce stress and the harmful effects of stress. The designed tips for handling stress (which can be found on the web at the links below*), along with creating a centralized place for homework assignments from all of their classes. The students even introduced meditation into advisories in the morning, training students from each class to lead other fifth and sixth grade classes five-minute meditation to start the day.
*Some forms on the website may not be visible to those without a School District of Philadelphia Google account.
Calendar
https://sites.google.com/philasd.org/5th-and-6th-grade-homework