Service Learning

Common Core 4. NF.6 Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100. For example, rewrite 0.62 as 62/100; describe a length as 0.62 meters; locate 0.62 on a number line diagram. N.MR.04.27 Add and subtract fractions less than 1 with denominators through 12 and/or 100, in cases where the denominators are equal or when one denominator is a multiple of the other, e.g., 1/12 + 5/12 = 6/12 ; 1/6 + 5/12 = 7/12 ; 3/10 - 23/100 = 7/100. [Extended] Summary The purpose of this service learning project is to have students collect books that they no longer use or want and donate them to a community in the Ukraine that is very much in need of childrens books. This service learning project fit in perfectly with the month of March because it was March is Reading Month. The whole elementary school participates in a variety of things that inspire the children to read and the students get the opportunity to showcase around the school how many books they have read during the month of March. For my service learning project, I did a book drive. During the month of March, children from all grades in the elementary brought in books that they simply no longer want or books that they have out grown for March is Reading Month. At the end of March, these books were packaged up and will soon be sent to a school in the Ukraine through the P-Global group on Alma Colleges campus. Each year PGlobal sends Alma college students to the Ukraine to help teach the students there English. These books would assist the students learning and help develop their English speaking skills as well. The books will be put in suitcases for the P-Global students to take to the Ukraine with them; therefore, the P-Global

students will only be able to take 50lbs. each of books, according to flight regulations. Any books left over that cannot fit in the suitcases will be donated to local classroom teachers to help expand their classroom libraries. I also plan on having all the children in the elementary write cards to the children in the Ukraine and send those with the P-Global students as well. After all books were collected, we weighed and recorded the amount of pounds of books in each box. We then added all amounts up to get a total 117.6 pounds and then we rounded 177.6 to 118 pounds. Then the students went back through and calculated the fraction amount for each box. For example, if one box had 25.8 pounds, the students had to rewrite that number as 25 8/10 or 25 4/5. By collecting approximately 118 pounds of books, we not only reached our goal of 100 pounds of books but we exceeded that amount. Therefore, we raised an amount that is over the amount that the P-Global students could take with them to the Ukraine and we were able to donate the remaining 18 pounds to improve local teachers libraries for their students. Therefore, this service learning activity was a great way to give back to communities both world-wide and locally.