Service learning

I am so excited to finally be raising money with my class for Pennies for Peace, an organization started by Greg Mortenson (the author of Three Cups of Tea) and his Central Asia Institute that raises money to build schools in rural Pakistan and Afganistan. I've wanted to participate in this project since I read the book last year, and it just fit right in to Service Month. (We choose a character trait each month to focus on with kids -- Respect, Cooperation, etc.) We read an article about schools and the lack thereof in Afganistan, and an article about Mortenson that was in the Rocky Mountain News, and then started collecting pennies. We've got 44 cents so far. The trick for me is finding ways to keep it going, to remind kids what we are doing and why, so it doesn't just peter out and become 'one more thing'. After all, collecting pennies doesn't really count as service -- but volunteering at the soup kitchen just wasn't going to work out for us. So I need to keep making the connection. Wish us luck.