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For 6th grade teacher Susheela Robinson, a radio story about a homeless girl who was Harvard-bound sparked just the idea she wanted. Robinson had in the back of her mind the need for a culminating activity as 6th graders finished reading Jerry Spinelli’s novel Maniac Magee. The book, about an orphaned boy living in a Pennsylvania town, explores themes of racism and homelessness. “I needed an active project for this particular class, so that students could feel ownership of their learning—could use what they learned.”
Inspired by the homeless girl’s real life story, Robinson partnered her class with the 6th grade English class of Liz Kiingi. Kiingi suggested a research component for the project, and the pair set students to work, assigning some carefully selected websites to examine about homelessness: how many school children are affected? What can be done about their problems?
Meanwhile, students created an appeal for packaged food that they could sort, package in gallon-sized zip lock bags, and distribute to Hutchinson Elementary School of Herndon, VA, which has a large population of students who receive subsidized meals. The Virginia school’s teachers had noted Monday-morning lethargy, and hypothesized that the source was the lack of healthy meals over the weekend. Bagged meals, slipped discretely into backpacks, could provide weekend nutrition.
The St. Andrew’s 6th grade collected enough food to fill more than 60 zip lock bags. Their work sorting, categorizing and thinking about what makes for healthy food was problem-solving behavior that connected them to impressions gleaned from Maniac Magee. The sorting raised questions about homeless children’s lives and problems: would they have can openers? Would the food be usable without a microwave? The project occurred during Spirit Week, and the work was spirited: students garbed as Ninjas or pirates worked enthusiastically.
“We tied the activity to St. Andrew’s Homecoming and to the Walk for the Homeless, notes Robinson. “Leftovers from the project went to Samaritan Ministry. The 6th grade was the biggest group to turn out in the downpour for the Walk for the Homeless on Homecoming Day.” That tells you something about the success of the project!