Magazine Literacy Bee

We in kindergarten are only halfway through our magazine drive, and I'm pleased to say that our box for collecting them is full! With two weeks gone since this all started here at Creative Arts Charter School and two weeks to go, it looks like we'll easily reach our target numbers. What a great feeling it gives us to be taking action, for the children and adults alike. Plus, the students in my class are broadening their understandings, getting a hands-on lesson in the issues of conservation and homelessness. The latter problem, especially, has touched many of the children. Although it would seem impossible not to notice such a thing in San Francisco, a five- or six-year-old growing up here can be quite insulated, and may not have actually given it much thought. A magazine drive like this not only opens young eyes to the plight going on right now outside in our neighborhoods, but shows them how crucial it is to care. In my view, what better education can we provide?

Kindergarten is hosting a KinderHarvest Magazine Drive! We are collecting "gently used" copies of magazines for kids like "Highlights," "Ladybug," "Click," "Spider," "Your Big Backyard," etc. and donating them to local organizations that serve homeless youth and families. Please deliver your gently used kids magazines to Ron's kindergarten class by Friday, June 8th. Help us care for homeless children, promote literacy, and conserve paper--all at once! Thanks, Ron and the kindergartners.

In order to get the word out to my kindergarten families, I am utilizing the all-important classroom newsletter. There, I can not only let parents know about the upcoming magazine drive, but also show them how a KinderHarvest Magazine Collection relates to our current curriculum. Here is an excerpt from my current newsletter: "In talking about problems society is currently facing in protecting the environment, the main thing we want the children to understand is the importance of being positive and proactive. Classroom activities like Help Save the Earth Follow the Leader, repeated readings of Trashy Town and The Lorax, even sorting their waste after lunch teaches them that individuals can make a difference. To emphasize this, we will culminate our school year by taking action. Our classroom has begun composting, officially placing it on the job chart. We are learning about the properties of various objects while separating them (like recyclers) in our science focus on Garbage Dumps. To promote local wildlife, we will be hanging the birdhouses we made around the schoolyard. At the next Town Hall meeting we will talk about keeping the schoolyard clean, and provide Litter Getters for all the classes in the school. And best of all, we are volunteering for KinderHarvest. Basically, this is an organization that advises volunteers like us on how to keep gently used kids magazines from getting thrown away, and instead find ways to get them into the hands of homeless children. To contribute, you can bring any copies of Ladybug, Your Big Backyard, Click, Spider, Highlights, or any other magazines appropriate for children to our Kids Magazine Drive in the classroom by Friday, June 8th."

Dear interested readers,
We have contacted several local organizations with the hopes of finding recipients for the magazines our kindergarten class collects during our upcoming school drive. So far we are concentrating our efforts on those agencies that serve homeless kids and families. In contacting these places, we've discovered some important decisions we've had to make about our drive, such as exactly what age group we hope to serve, and how important the actual magazine content is. We hope to speak further with each organization soon to put a plan into action. On the other end, we are in the planning stages for our school magazine drive--how and where to advertise, and to what extent the kindergartners can be involved in the process--the creation of posters and flyers, delivering announcements at school assemblies, receiving and organizing donations, pasting labels, inserting thoughtful messages into delivered magazines, etc. etc. What an incredible opportunity my students have!

Hi everyone! My name is Ron Buchanan and I teach kindergarten at Creative Arts Charter School in San Francisco. Recently, my class has been doing a lot of science work in the area of ecology and recycling, so I was trying to figure out a good field trip to support that. Visit a recycling center? A neighborhood garden with a composter? Or perhaps pick up trash at the beach or a nearby park like Alamo Square? Nothing seemed to be working out, at least nothing with some real zip. So I tried something new--last Saturday I hooked up with VolunteerMatch.com and posted that I was interested in helping the environment. Right away they had me linked with the KinderHarvest program, which provides a route for helping us get our schools' and families' "gently used" magazines to local homeless kids and youth. I exchanged some emails with John Mennell, who right away was very enthusiastic about letting my class spearhead this effort within our school community. John also proved very helpful and responsive in providing me with the basic information on how to get started. Really, he has made it very easy. So right now, with the valuable assistance of my gem of a student teacher, Erin Carder, we are currently looking into local programs that service homeless kids and families. I even mentioned KinderHarvest to my students yesterday at dismissal time, and they seemed genuinely enthusiastic to get involved. It's very exciting to think that my students will be getting a unique, hands-on experience in helping reuse products, and thus "saving the earth" in their own small way. Also, they will get the added bonus of actually being able to help in some small way those who need it, which I am sure will be a real awareness-raiser as time goes on.