I can not stress enough the importance of volunteers in our schools! The schools have lost a significant amount of funding this year do to the current economic state. In order for the schools to run efficiently and on the same level as in past years, we as parents need to step it up. This does not mean you need to spend endless hours in the classroom, one hour a month would help the teachers and the schools more than you know!
I know what your thinking... I don't have the time or the money to help right now. Do you have the time to blog? Or spend $3 on that Starbucks cup of coffee? Isn't your child's education more important?
I will hop off my soap box now and tell you about what I've been doing in the schools.
Kids kitchen. What is kid's kitchen?
Once a month I come in and teach the 2nd graders how to create in the kitchen. Our school is fortunate enough to have some amazing teachers who used their own money to build and stock a kitchen just for the kids.
This month we used a recipe from a book the kids are currently reading. The recipe in the book is thunder cake. A chocolate and tomato based cake cake topped with chocolate butter cream frosting, yum!
The kids were divided in to groups of 5, then the recipe was split into dry and wet ingredient teams. They were instructed on how much each measuring cup and spoon measured. For instance.. If they had 2 1/2 cups of flour in the recipe they would measure out 2 1/2 scoops. I told them that each cup= 8 oz. so if they had 2 then another 1/2 how many oz. would they have in total? Not only a cooking lesson but also a math lesson.
In the end the kids were given time to frost with decorators bags and decorate with strawberries. They all enjoyed the time exploring cooking and also the time to be creative.
I sincerely hope that you can find the time to help out our schools. Take some time to decide what you can offer. Monetary, supplies, time, or talent.
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6 comments:
Aren't you fortunate to have a kitchen stocked at your school for activities such as this? I used to love helping out at school when my kids were young- was even a Girl Scout Leader. Those days are over, but I remember them with pleasure. ( I suppose home ec class has gone the way of dinosaurs?)
Yes, it is called life skills now :)
That's an awesome concept for teaching! We used to be fortunate enough that Alexis didn't have to have a paying job and she spent tons of time in the clinic and library. We feel so guilty that we can only help out with $$ now, because we know they'd rather have the help.
Monetary and supplies are soooo appreciated in the schools also! I also have had the privledge of staying home with the kids for quite a long time, now that they are getting older I feel that I can branch out and start a career!
When my two were in school early on I was there as often as I could to help!
Popped in to say hello! I don't have kids yet, but my mom always volunteered for our classes and it made such a difference!
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