Helping Families in Poverty

1. Helping Families in Poverty Cultural Community Outreach Event By Karen Finn

2. “Wherever we lift one soul from a life of poverty, we are defending human rights. And whenever we fail in this mission, we are failing human rights.” ~Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General (www.ohchr.org, 2014)

3. Diverse Needs of Our Community • Our district is comprised of culturally and socioeconomically diverse families. • An estimate of 35% of the students at our school district qualify for free or reduced lunch. • Many of our students are without food, adequate clothing, school supplies, or medical resources.

4. Charity Event for Families in Poverty • Overview: • Location: WVH Middle School • Date: a Saturday in September, 2015 • Format: similar to a fun fair; attendees will stroll from one station to the next • Participation: students, parents, teachers, district leaders, and local businesses will all have roles in the event

5. District-Wide Involvement • This cultural community outreach program to support families in poverty will be a collaborative effort between all three schools in the district, and between all of the classrooms at each school. • Preteaching • Planning • Organizing • Executing

6. The Teachers’ Roles • Teachers will teach about poverty in the community and in the world. • Preteach students at school before the event • Host learning booths with information about poverty for the event attendees to view • Teachers will host read alouds, using texts about the issues of poverty. • Conduct read aloud sessions at school to provide background knowledge to students • Conduct read aloud sessions during the event to share information with attendees

7. Teachers Educating the Community http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

8. Teachers Educating the Community http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

9. The Students’ Roles • Before and/or after the event: • Consider how they can each help families in need • Create games and materials for event stations • At the event: • Host games and activities for attendees to play • Collect monetary donations • Collect item donations • If not volunteering, students should be attending the event

10. The Parents’ Roles • Before and/or after the event: • Create and post signs throughout the community, advertising for the event • Assist students with the collection of needed materials for games and activities stations • At the event: • Supervise stations run by younger students • Sell tickets for games, activities, and food stations • If not volunteering, parents should be attending the event

11. The District Leaders’ Roles • Before and/or after the event: • Organize efforts by students, parents, and teachers • Invite local businesses to participate in the event • Send home invitations to families to attend the event • At the event: • Manage the event • Encourage families to participate in the efforts to help support families in poverty

12. The Local Businesses’ Roles • Local businesses: • Stores or community-based organizations can sell merchandise • Local restaurants: • Restaurants can serve food from their establishments

13. Increasing a Global Perspective • The global perspectives of all students, including English language learners, will be increased because: • Students will be given the opportunity to work collaboratively around the topic of helping families in poverty • The information about the local and global issues of poverty will be presented to students in many ways.

14. Connection to Standards • IL Social Science Standard: 18.B.2a: Describe interactions of individuals, groups, and institutions in situations drawn from the local community. • IL Social Science Standard: 18.B.2b: Describe the ways in which institutions meet the needs of society.

15. Connection to Standards • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

16. References • Amazon. (2014). Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://www.amazon.com. • Causes of Poverty. (2013). Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://www.globalissues.org/ issue/2/causes-of-poverty. • Human Rights Dimension of Poverty. (2014). Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/DimensionsOfPoverty/Pages/Index.aspx. • Kline Chartock, Roselle.  (2010).  Strategies and Lessons for Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Primer for K-12 Teachers. Pearson Education.