This post is brought to you by WeAreTeachers, the Allstate Foundation and WE
As a former teacher and current mother of two middle schoolers, I know that learning doesn’t have to be confined within the hours of the school day. Plenty of teachable moments and learning opportunities exist when you leave the confines of the school building, especially when you use the time to volunteer. Students of all ages can make a difference in their communities and the world by volunteering, fundraising, and raising awareness about causes that matter and if you’re not sure how to start, the WE Volunteer Now program can help.
About WE Volunteer Now
WE Volunteer Now empowers educators to explore the impact of volunteering in their classroom by providing all the necessary resources to organize a student volunteer activity. From finding a senior home to visit, setting up a donation to a local food pantry, or raising awareness about a cause students are passionate about, WE Volunteer Now makes it easy to get started thanks to resources and mini-grants to ensure that volunteerism becomes part of the classroom curriculum.
Every year WE Volunteer Now provides 500 mini-grants of $250 to schools and classrooms to help youth give back to their local communities. Now is the perfect time to share this opportunity with your child’s teacher and for teachers to sign up. Since teachers are busy, WE Volunteer Now makes it easy by providing these campaign resources to integrate volunteerism into the classroom curriculum:
- A step-by-step guide on how to get started with service learning curriculum in your classroom volunteering ideas
- Teacher checklists to keep you on track
- A worksheet for you to complete with your class that can help you determine what volunteering option is best for your students
- WE Volunteer Now curriculum
7 Reasons Students Need to Volunteer as Part of Their Learning
Photo by Celia Ortega on Unsplash
Volunteerism provides today’s youth with knowledge, skills, and resources to be leaders who can change the world for the better but if additional reasons are needed to justify volunteerism as part of your curriculum, here are 7 reasons WE Volunteer Now should be part of every student’s educational experience.
Inspire your students to make a real difference
The WE movement provides students with a chance to make a difference in their neighborhood and the world through collaborative learning around a shared passion.
It’s easy to fit it into your curriculum
One of the most challenging aspects of implementing new curriculum is finding resources and time to integrate it into your day but signing up for WE Volunteer Now is the first step. The WE Schools Kit can help you figure out which action or campaign your students want to work on throughout the year. The kit is packed with ideas for teachers and students to brainstorm ideas and set goals.
Earn your way to WE Day
After your class has found the project they want to work on, finished it, and reported the results, you’ll get a chance to earn your way to WE Day. This stadium-sized event (there are 6 held annually in select cities across the country!) brings together amazing speakers and performers for inspiration and also to honor volunteers for their work.
Be a part of something HUGE
Every act of volunteerism matters. Last year, 4,200 schools and 1.3 million students across the United States signed up and participated in WE Schools. Cumulatively, that’s a lot of volunteer hours spent making a huge difference!
Help your students earn service learning hours and AP credits
In our school district, middle and high schoolers are required to earn 75 student service learning (SSL) hours in order to graduate and in some districts, kids as young as elementary ages log hours spent on service learning and volunteering. The WE Schools framework gives students more options to gain volunteering time as part of your integrated lessons to deepen understanding of concepts being learned in class plus it’s a great learning experience for hands-on learning.
Instill a love of volunteerism in your students that they’ll have forever
In this hectic world of achievements and grades, kids and families may feel like it’s hard to find time to give back but WE Schools and the WE Volunteer Now campaign show us all how accessible volunteering can be!
Apply for one of the 500 mini-grants to get $250 towards your project!
And those 500 mini-grants of $250 each to put towards your project? Think of grant money like free money! Grants are distributed on a first come-first serve basis to eligible schools and groups to support a volunteer project.
In order to be eligible for WE Volunteer Now’s mini-grants, you must:
- Be based in the U.S. and registered in the free WE Schools program
- Plan to use the provided funds between October 2017 – October 2018
- Include students/youth participants in grades K-12
- Participate in the WE Volunteer Now Campaign
*The full list of eligibility requirements can be found here
To apply have an educator, administrator, or adult group leader to fill out this application for WE Volunteer Now. For more information, visit WE Volunteer Now to learn more about volunteering, service learning, and the grant application and let your students be inspired by these volunteer opportunities.
This post sponsored by WeAreTeachers, the Allstate Foundation and WE but all opinions are my own.
I agree. Volunteering is so good for all of us no matter the age but it is especially great for young people to shift the emphasis off of themselves sometimes and to think of others. It is a great confidence builder too where they often learn new skills. Also those mini grants are awesome!