The Power of Service
Allison, you are an inspiration to us all about the power of serving others. Thank you for once again, taking the initiative to spearhead this incredible 'Adopt a Family' movement you've created! Thank you for extending the invitation to all of us to be involved in such a meaningful experience for our community.
Allison has been doing Holiday Adoptions for 12 years in Douglas County. She partners with community schools to help provide families with new clothing, toy items for their children and gift cards for food.
To date close to 600 families have been supported with this program.
This is REMS 4th year participating in this program. REMS partners with Pine Lane Elementary, Prairie Crossing Elementary, Douglas County Bridge Programs, Fox Creek Elementary, and Renaissance Secondary. This year we are supporting approximatly 60 families. Each family was able to get clothings, toys, and at least $50 for groceries.
Some stories below:
Grandma and Grandpa are raising their two teen granddaughters. Both sets of grandparents have health issues, and Grandma took the bulk of the parenting tasks. This past November, Grandma passed away. Grandpa is not caring for his girls. This program was able to help with new shirts, pants, undergarmets, socks, shoes and toys. For Grandpa we were able to surprise him with favorite history books and gift cards to resturants to enjoy with his girls.
Mom and Dad have worked hard to save up and move into Douglas County to be near good schools and in a good community. This past fall they finally did it, they purchased a home here in Castle Rock. Then dad lost his job. The family has their home, but they have been forced to sell their home belongings to make it month to month. This program provided this family with clothes and new toys as well as some surprise small gifts for mom and dad that include lotions and movie gift cards as well as gift card for groceries.
Ms. Kim's and Ms. SamAntha's crews partnered together to adopt 3 families. Students in these crews developed plans to earn money on their own to purchase items for these children. These students then walked over to Walmart, picked out the needed items and then brought everything back to REMS where they had to wrap each gift carefully. The students had enough funds left over that each family also received $50 in food gift cards.
A family was brought to Ms. Allison's awareness when a new family to Castle Rock bought a home. Mom has scoliosis and a fused lumbar. The family has 3 elementary aged children and mom stayed at home to care for them. Dad was very active and would run regularly until he started to experience fairly significant back pain. Dad underwent surgery to relieve backpain. However, the surgery didn't go as planned and Dad woke up paralyzed from the chest down. He regained some feeling in his chest, but his independence was gone. They have a wheelchair that is specially formed to his body and they have a lift in their house to get him up and down the stairs but depended on his wife almost completely. Mom's pain is excruciating as well as dad's, so the children spend most of their time at their neighbors. The goal was set to get this family a second wheelchair. However, the cost of this chair is in the thousands. Multiple REMS families heard of this story and started to contribute. One REMS mom, went home to tell her children. The children then decided that they wanted to help, and on their own accord, they donated their allowance and savings. Parent's told the children that they would match their contribution, but had no idea the plans their children had. So when the children brought their money to mom and dad, and added their match, they contributed $964! It was important to these children that this family's children didn't witness their parent's pain. With their contributions the family now has the $3300 dollars needed to buy this second chair. This chair not only allows some of the physical pain mom and dad have everyday, allows the children to enjoy their parents more (since they aren't in as much pain), but allows dad some independence to go about the house.
These are just some of the ways we are CREW.
Kim and SamAntha's Crew Fieldwork
Students raised money, on their own outside of school and pooled their resources together - t
hen they went shopping to see how far they could stretch their budget -
wrapping their gifts was their finishing touch.
Here's what the kids had to say about their experience:
"50 kids raised $877! We worked as a team toward a common goal."
"I didn't earn money for myself to get more stuff for me. I did it for others in need."
"Looking over the list of their needs and wants, I realized that I have a lot to be thankful for."
"I'm thankful that my parents have jobs so that they can provide food and clothes for my brothers and sisters and me."
"We got to see the stuff and choose what we thought was best for them. We actually helped...not just our parents."
"We had to work for the money, just like our parents have to do."
And lastly, there was one very impactful story shared by one group:
"When we were going through the check-out lane, the lady working asked us what we were doing. When we explained it to her, she asked what organization we were with because she and her son are homeless. As she rang up our stuff, we realized we were over budget. We took some stuff out, but we were still 20 cents over. We were trying to decide on one more thing to put back. The cashier took 20 cents out of her own pocket and told us she'd cover it so we didn't have to put anything else back. And she's struggling just like the families!"
Kim shared - "Wow! What a life lesson and real-world role model of generosity that we could never have planned for! I know I will hang on to this one for a very long time. "
Joyous Chinese Cultural School
Fieldwork
Our purpose:
To use our study of a complex, local, ecological topic (wildland fires) to illustrate our big ideas: interconnected systems and cycles and scientists have specific ways of finding things out. Students learned to work as ecologists in the field, they gained and used background knowledge that helped them understand what experts have to share, and are now using their gathered data to draw supported conclusions and make recommendations to stakeholders (ie. ski resort, home, business owners, etc). The are also learning how to look at a complex issue from multiple perspectives and to come to consensus as they try to solve the problem of forest - and land - management.
To serve as an example for those who benefit from a model, here is an email sent to Keystone Science School to develop this fieldwork experience:
Hi Jillian,
Lisa here. First, thank you so much for all of your work on this! I think this case study and our time at KSS is going to be exactly what we were aiming for:
- A complex, local, ecological topic
- An illustration of how systems and cycles are connected
- An opportunity to learn to work as scientists in the field
- A chance for the kids to gain background knowledge and use the conclusions they drew from their data to make decisions and (hopefully) recommendations
- An opportunity to investigate and understand multiple perspectives and interests (stakeholders)
Anyway, the kids will arrive Wednesday with a fairly solid grasp of the following:
- scientific method
- carbon cycle
- earth's systems (hydrosphere, geosphere, etc.)
We are currently working toward the kids understanding (or having exposure to) these concepts too:
- Food chains/webs
- Biodiversity
- The four basic fire management methods
- A basic history of fire suppression in the U.S.
We are trying our best to make sure they arrive with an investigable question - using the model you sent to us:
How does the management style (clear cut, prescribed burn, suppression, or let it burn) affect ______________?
What I'm wondering:
- Will you guys have time to show them the different tools available to them?
- Will you be able to help them identify independent and dependent variables?
- Will we have time for them to create any organizational charts/tables, etc. to record their data in?
Thank you again for all of your (and your staff's) hard work and preparation!
:) Lisa, Kenny, and Hope
Calendar
Week of December 18 - 22nd:
Climbing Week
Monday, 18th:
Ms Jenny's Crew on fieldwork 9 -2
Tuesday, 19th:
MTSS 7:30 a.m.
Mr Tyler's Crew on fieldwork 9-2
Kenny's Crew fieldwork 9:15
Wednesday, 20th:
The Beat
Professional Development: 1:30 Library
* Group Gathering
* Individual planning time
Thursday, 21st:
Math Professional Development 7:30 Jill's room
Friday, 22nd:
Ms. Jill & Mr. G. Fieldwork 9-1
Staff holiday party 4:30-8:30 Jen's home
Winter Break!
Week of January 8 - 12th: (3 day week for students)
Monday, January 8th:
8:30 meet in the library for a Morning Meeting
Work on creating Rock Art during the day as fits your schedule
3:30 Acknowledgement Circle for Doug
Wednesday, January 10th:
Professional Development in library for teachers leading Winter Voyages
* Additional training from Amanda, our school nurse
Friday, January 12th:
No Students
Professional Development 8:30 - 10:30 (continuation of sharing Learning Expeditions)
Planning time
Have a great weekend!
Deborah
Stress and holidays seem to go hand-in-hand.
Tyler's got it handled!
Stress and holidays seem to go hand-in-hand.
Tyler's got it handled!
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