BPS Community Service Blog

History of American Education: From Revolution to 20th Century

2011-10-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

October is Education and Literacy month at Baldwin Prep School. Community service classes are busy learning about the educational system in the US, and preparing their oral reports about an education topic. The Diamonds are looking at educational systems in other countries and comparing them to the US. The Emeralds are learning about women's rights, slavery, child labor and technology and their effects on education. The Sapphires are looking at forced labor and war's effect on education around the world. The Rubies are examining issues in education like taking arts & music out of school, the budget crisis, inequalities in education and how learning disabilities are addressed. Lastly the Opals are reading with the kindergarten through third graders and helping them learn their lines for the Feast.

Community Service Details for the BPS Open House - 9/28/11

2011-09-27T18:13:00.001-07:00

Community Service atBaldwin Prep School

Every 7^th – 12^th grader will have atleast 35 hours of community service class time and some of them will have morethan 70 hours this year. During class,we will be covering the following topics and character traits each month:

August/September- 9/11 Commemoration, US Veterans, Emergency Preparedness & Safety - citizenship,compassion and forgiveness. Theguest speaker is from the American Red Cross. Students are collecting items to be sent to US soldiers in Afghanistan. What part does citizenship, compassion and forgivenessplay in giving your life to your country?

October - Educationand Literacy - integrity, wisdom andpurpose. The guest speaker is fromthe Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. All students are reading a community service topic for their Octoberbook report in English. How can we applyintegrity, wisdom and purpose to our own education to do more for the world?

November/December - Hunger and Poverty - sharing, givingand kindness. The guest speaker is apreviously homeless person from the Homeless Coalition. Students will have the chance to feed thehomeless, participate in rice sorting, and donate items for an adopted family. We will also look at our own food consumptionand what we throw away. Is sharing,giving and kindness enough at this time of the year?

January - St. Jude Children's Hospital -empathy, endurance and courage. Theguest speaker has personal experience with St. Jude. Students will participate in the annualMath-a-Thon to raise money. We will alsoexamine the causes, effects and financial aspects of cancer in America. Why does a family need empathy, endurance andcourage when their child has cancer?

February - Health and Fitness - confidence,assertiveness and fairness. Studentswill participate in Presidents Physical Fitness Day, Walk-a-thon for Diabetesand the Jump Rope for Heart event. Wewill discuss personal choices of eating, exercise and social habits as well ashow health is connected to many of our other topics. How can we display confidence, assertivenessAND fairness in our fitness and health activities?

March - the Environment - conservation,cooperation and problem-solving. Students will participate in a beach clean-up along with examining theschool’s recycling and conservation efforts. We will also discuss acid rain, ozone depletion, alternative energysources, erosion and carbon footprints. Can the environment be saved with conservation, cooperation andproblem-solving?

April/May - Animal Welfare - responsibility,loyalty and friendship. Studentswill participate in a collection for Safe Harbor and/or Peggy Adams, volunteerat a dog wash and listen to a guest speaker on animal welfare issues. We will also discuss endangered animals, extinction,shelters and how we can live in harmony with our animal friends. Are you responsible, loyal and friendly whenit comes to animals?

October Reading List for 7th-12th Graders

2011-09-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

The month of October is Education & Literacy Month for Baldwin Prep's Community Service classes. If your student is in 7th - 12th grade, they are being asked to select a book to read for the month of October from one of the books lists found here for their English class with Mrs. N.

There are fiction books and non-fiction books, and the topics include health, hunger, literacy, elders, disabilities, gardening, animals, AIDS/HIV, homelessness, the environment and even social change. Students may purchase the book from Amazon to add to their library (or ours when they are done) or they may borrow the book from a local library. Mrs. Sax also has pulled dozens of books from the Baldwin Prep library shelves that may be checked out now and returned after the book report is given.

If you have any questions regarding this assignment, please contact Mrs. Sax at school or email her at mrssax@baldwinprepschool.com.

Amazon Book List

Learning About Forgiveness, Citizenship & Compassion

2011-09-06T07:44:00.001-07:00

Last week, our community service classes focused on the character traits of forgiveness, citizenship and compassion. Not only did we learn the definitions and discuss how each related to our study of veterans but we debated the traits as well. We discovered that each of us have different ways of applying forgiveness and compassion as well as deciding who receives our forgiveness and compassion.

Opals Collecting Food

2011-09-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

In the fall of 2010, the Opal Group collected over 200 lbs. of food and donated to the CROS food pantry in Riviera Beach. It was a great learning experience for the Opals and they are ready to collect food again this year. We will be doing that around Thanksgiving.

News Coverage for our Shoe Drive

2011-09-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

In the spring of 2010, our community service class held a shoe drive to benefit those with no shoes. We collected over 900 pairs of shoes and WPTV covered the story.

Excited to Get a Jump on School?

2011-08-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Did you have an amazing summer, filled with new experiences, but you're ready to back to school? Or are you wondering what we are going to do in Community Service class? Have no fear! Here's what we are going to be doing for the first week ...

The first question we will ask is what did we do over the summer that served others? How did we lend a helping hand, or help our community? Did you have a job? Did you donate time to an organization? Did you go to camp, travel or spend time with family and friends? There are many ways to serve others and we will discuss some of the ways we did and not even realize it.

The second question we will ask is what is community? Who is it? What does community look like? We will draw some pictures to explore these questions.

After we have a sense of community, let's look at the word service. What does it mean to serve? Does it mean different things to different people? How many ways can we serve? How can we apply the words community and service to our year long class?

Our Community Service Calendar

2011-08-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

This year, we are having community service class twice a week again. We will be covering a wide range of topics and addressing them on a local level (the pollution in the Intracoastal) as well as a national and international level (the toxic dump in the Pacific Ocean). In addition, we will be discussing character traits around these topics. Here's our calendar:

August/September - 9/11 Commemoration and our Veterans - citizenship, compassion and forgiveness
October - Education and Literacy - integrity, wisdom and purpose
November/December - Hunger and Poverty - sharing, giving and kindness
January - St. Jude Children's Hospital - empathy, endurance and courage
February - Health and Fitness - confidence, assertiveness and fairness
March - the Environment - conservation, cooperation and problem-solving
April/May - Animal Welfare - responsibility, loyalty and friendship