John Marshall Students form "The Clean-Up Crew"

A John Marshall student helps with brainstorming. 

The America SCORES team at the John Marshall School in Dorchester have decided that their service learning project for the Spring 2013 semester will involve cleaning up litter and other debris from their school yard. Their project, titled "The Clean-Up Crew!" has a goal of making the school a happy and clean place.

Students ask questions to Mrs. Finley. 

For the week of May 3 the team plans to gather supplies for the cleanup and to make a poster to let others know when the cleanup will be so that they can come and help. They are planning to do the cleanup on May 15th!

Donald P. shares his ideas about how to improve the school yard. 

Two students at John Marshall are excited to share their ideas!

OGPS Eyes Composting and Recycling

America SCORES students, including Jyda from OGPS, at the White House. 

Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School (OGPS) is a Boston Public School located in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The America SCORES participants at OGPS have an action plan for this semester titled “The Re-Comp” which aims to start a recycling and composting program at their school.

The team plans to invite guest speaker Dan Chamberlin of the CitySprouts organization to speak before they present their project idea to the entire school. CitySprouts is a Cambridge-based organization that promotes the implementation and maintenance of beautiful school gardens in area public school communities.

OGPS students participate in last years Poetry Slam. 

The students at OGPS also plan to make postcards to explain to their fellow schoolmates how recycling and composting helps the environment. Good luck team!

Patrick J. Kennedy Students to Help Marathon Victims

                                     

Diana dribbling on the soccer field. 

The Patrick J. Kennedy School of  East Boston plans to hold a community poetry day at their school. People will be charged an admission fee to attend and 100% of funds raised will go to the hospitals, doctors and nurses, via fresh fruit baskets, that cared for the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings. 

                                           

Students from the Kennedy School at last falls Poetry Slam. 

Heres some great photos of the students in action on the soccer field! 

McKay Team Aims to Beautify School

The team at the McKay K-8 School in East Boston have decided that their Action Plan for this semester will be to plant a flower garden in front of their school and to pick up trash and debris. Their plan, titled the "Blooming Clippers", has a goal of making the front of McKay School a more beautiful landmark in the community.

They have plans to invite a guest speaker to speak on May 1st and to hold a school-wide fundraiser shortly thereafter to raise money towards buying gardening supplies and seeds. Once these tasks are completed the team hopes to begin cleaning up and planting the garden.

The students at McKay have also been having a great time on the soccer field and are looking forward to next weeks games. Keep up the good work McKay!

GPA Boys to Help Endangered Animals

The Boys Team at the Gardner Pilot Academy have decided that their efforts this semester will focus on helping to protect endangered animals. They have been brainstorming about ways to prevent pollution and about how to decrease littering in the community which contributes to the destruction of animal habitats. 

The boys have also been working very hard to encourage good sportsmanship by supporting the girls team. They all made signs to show their support at the last game versus the Edison team and they did a great job cheering on their schoolmates!

GPA Girls Promote Importance of Playworks

After lots of careful deliberation, the America SCORES Girls Team at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston has decided that their action plan for this semester will focus on supporting Playworks. Playworks is an innovative organization that strives to promote safe, meaningful play at recess in an effort to improve children's health and well-being and to decrease bullying. 



The girls at GPA will do research to identify a Boston Public School that does not yet participate in the Playworks program. After getting permission from that school they will begin to raise money through 3 different fundraisers in an effort to bring Playworks to that school. Some of their fundraising ideas are to do a Bake Sale, a Yard Sale, a Book Sale, or to write a letter to the Mayor or to the New Balance shoe company. 



These poet-athletes have also been having lots of fun on the soccer field and have been enjoying the spring weather. Way to go girls!

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Action Plans are Underway!

America SCORES students across Boston are beginning to take action on the issues that they care about most.  Keep checking in to see what each team is doing this spring!

The McKay Girls Team can barely contain their excitement!

Teams will document their projects for a poster display at Jamboree.  They will show off their project with pictures, descriptions of the stages of their project and what they learned, poems and journal entries.  Here are some examples of past work:

Poster example

All teams will create a poster to celebrate their project.  The poster will help them share thier work with their community.  It will show the stages:

1. Discovery

2. Research

3. Action

4. Reflection

and Celebration at the Jamboree!

Mildred Ave's poster from 2 years ago

Keep up the good work!

Mather Stays GOAL Oriented!

The students at the Mather Elementary School in the Fields Corner area of Dorchester have been hard at work both on the field and off during this semester with America SCORES Boston. The Mather Elementary School has a lot of history, and carries the distinct honor of being the first public elementary school in North America.  Their school pledge encourages the same values that America SCORES emphasizes to its poet-athletes in classrooms and on soccer fields all across the country.

 

Mather School Pledge:

I must work hard today
Get smarter in every way
Helped by my teacher, my family and my friends
If I make some mistakes
I have what it takes
To keep trying ‘till I really succeed.

For their service project this semester, the students at Mather have decided to collect money to purchase and donate books to the St. Mary's women and infant shelter in Dorchester.  

Located just a half mile from the Mather School, St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children offers innovative services for young families who are grappling with poverty, partner and community violence, and other traumas. St. Mary’s works to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty and provides women and children with the resources and skills they need to help them build productive and healthy lives in their community.

Below are some great shots from the Mather Schools weekly soccer match!

Food Girl to the Rescue!

                                               

Students from the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston designed soccer crests to indicate ways they could help their local community. Casting themselves as superheroes like Food Girl, Water Girl and “Super-Powered Nature Infinity Beyond”, the students identified needs and tasks that could be undertaken with the objective of bettering their community.

One student indicated a desire to “Build any shelter for any four legged thing”, while another hoped to encourage recycling and make signs saying “Clean It Up!”

Donald McKay Community Walk

                               Donald McKay elementary students pause for a photo during their community walk.

The Donald McKay elementary team did a community walk in East Boston and recorded everything that they saw. They discussed the things that they noticed and whether it was good or bad for the health of the community.

They are getting to know their community to determine how they can best make a positive impact.

                                         Students gather information and record their ideas during the walk.

Marshall School Projects Underway

John Marshall students busy at work on their projects.

Students at the John Marshall School in Fields Corner Dorchester, were excited to share their writing as they kicked off their community service project.

Students responded to a creative writing prompt and shared their ideas with the group.  The students were asked “If you could be any object what would you be and why?”

                            John Marshall student Star J. reads from her paper describing her object of choice.

The lesson culminated with students imagining that they landed on earth as “space aliens” with the task of making a difference in their community.  What issue would they tackle?

Topics that have already been discussed include: homelessness, violence, world peace and what it means to be patriotic.

Great work John Marshall team!