The end of the school year is rapidly approaching and long-term projects are being wrapped up. One of the more interesting projects Cindy worked on this year was called “Books of Hope”. As part of their participation in this project, students from Nathan Twining elementary and middle school wrote books that were sent to Uganda.The 6th graders were working on a unit concerning ancient Egypt and wrote stories by reworking traditional American fairy tales within an Egyptian setting. The 5th graders wrote an original story on a topic selected by the student (everything from an ABC book to the story of a student’s trip to the hospital).
The project allowed U.S. children to learn something about the experiences of children faced with difficult and dangerous conditions and also to participate in an authentic language arts activity resulting in the production of a book. The books become reading material for children who have few resources.
A page on the Twining web site offers additional information about the project. A local grant from the Qwest foundation provided a way to extend the project by preserving and sharing the books for other audiences. The books were converted to enhanced podcasts with Garageband or Kid Pix. Sometimes sharing involved a parent who might be away from home. While clearly not facing problems of the magnitude faced by the children from Uganda, Twining school is located on a military base and these students face their own challenges as parents are deployed.
If you are curious, the podcasts are available from the Twining web site (use link provided above).
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