Reflection On Volunteering At Ruth Fyfe Elementary School

It’s widely recognised that the more involved parents are in their child’s education, the better the pupil performs at school. Whether, it’s just being aware of their progress and understanding their achievements or parents taking a more active role and becoming involved with the school itself.

Family involvement in education can help get families involved in school and knowing what their child is learning

I spent my middle school years and early high school years helping out in Mrs. DiIanni’s 3rd grade classroom at Lee Elementary in Middleville. While helping Mrs. DiIanni with little things like filling and grading papers, I also helped the kids with problems they were working on. I had a lot of fun helping them with educational art projects and learn to write in cursive. I had also helped organize some of their holiday parties, and well as joined them in the festivities. I had done so many things with these kids and I hopeI at least impacted one of their lives.

For my community service, I have been going to Lyndon B. Johnson Head Start Program, or LBJ. At LBJ, it is my responsibility to look after children and clean up after them. The teachers there set up many activities for the kids to work on, most of the time they finger paint. The teachers also set up small field trips. For example, we once went on a field trip to a house that had set up a pumpkin patch and many other activities for the kids. The house we went to wasn’t very far from LBJ. The children had so much fun choosing a pumpkin and playing different games, and I had fun helping them and taking care of them.

I volunteered at Chiefland Elementary School, under Ms. Sidorenko’s supervision. After doing my twenty hours of volunteering at Chiefland Elementary School, I have gained new knowledge on how religion works in schools. If you grew up in a small town area like I did, you would know that religion around here is not a touchy subject with many people. Many faculty administrators who work in the school system happen to be Baptists or Christians. Therefore, people are able to throw in religious assessments here and there without getting into too much trouble. In this case, at this school, everyone goes to the same church or partners with each other’s churches. Before I go on, let me just say, even though I am a Christian, I think that religion shouldn’t be a topic talked during school hours. My reasoning for this is because children are there to get an education and to learn about the world around them. Teachers barely have enough time to teach the concepts that are mandatory, if we add religion it will just offend students and teachers won’t be able to get their job done. Now that society is changing and is starting to accept individuals more, I have noticed this school is having a hard time accepting that.

Throughout high school, I volunteered at a reputable childrens therapy facility called Equi-kids. Equi-kids is a nonprofit organization that teaches disabled children how to interact with animals and build core strength on horseback. I have volunteered as a horse-walker and side-walker for thousands of lessons and watched each student gain remarkable confidence. Even some of the most severely disabled riders have found comfort alongside the helpful staff and loving animals at the farm.

For my third trimester service project, I provided help to my school. I went to daycare for two hours helping Mrs. Riley. I helped kindergarteners with their homework inside so that they wouldn’t have any homework to do when they got home. I also helped run a couple games and make sure everyone was making smart decisions on the playground. I then helped Ms. Maynes in the 5th grade classroom for two hours as well. I helped her with cleaning the students desks, I helped with correcting papers and putting them in numerical order, I finished coloring a Mary drawing to put on the bulletin board, and I also helped punch out some letters so she can use them in the classroom. Ms. Maynes was also kind enough to bring me down to the Kindergarten classroom

Before beginning my volunteer work I faced quite a dilema. Where could I influence children, help them develop their leadership potential, educate them about agriculture, and have fun-all at the same time?

During class I am no longer the kid that makes fun of them, instead I ask them if they need help. I tell the other kids to be quiet because it takes a lot of courage for someone who struggles with reading to read in front of the class. For instance, during my Physical Science class my freshman year we would often read a section aloud. Our teacher would have us do popcorn and everyone need to read once. The kids that were bad at reading would get snickered at and if they struggled with a word while reading I would tell them it. I would also be constantly shushing the kids who would be laughing and telling them to be quiet. This why I stand up for those kids that struggle with any aspect of school whether it’s reading, writing, math, science, or history I try my best because they are trying their

I am contacting you because I would like to volunteer at Fox Elementary. Is this something that I could do? I left SSD last year hoping that I could find a full time teaching job at the elementary level. I have faith that something will turn up eventually. In the meantime, I am subbing for SSD, but have time one day a week to volunteer. Can I reach out to some teachers and see if they would like some assistance?

Teachers can increase parent participation in the child’s learning by, updating them in upcoming activities and events; so they can be included in their child’s education, stay informed in their child’s successes and concerns, participate in special events, and

The second parent I interviewed for this project spent many years on our SAC committee. She began volunteering in the classrooms prior to her SAC experience because she feels that it is a parent’s job to see that their children are properly educated. The time in the classroom led her to SAC because she wanted to become more involved and to learn more about the policies and procedures governing our school. At one point in time, her combined hours in the classroom and on SAC totalled over ten hours a week. She wishes that more parents would feel this sense of responsibility because it changes the culture of the building.

Studying to become a teacher has offered me the opportunities to see inside classrooms and speak with teachers and parents alike. Listening to both sides and viewing first hand, I can attest that parents volunteering in their children's schools has countless positive affects. Some of these pros include having extra help in underfunded classrooms, being informed about your child's education and in view of, leads to student's academic achievements increasing.

I did my volunteer work at a local daycare in my hometown, Tahlequah. The site is called Tahlequah Early Learning Academy (TELA) and is a side site to Cherokee Nation Early Childhood Unit. I did not know of this center until I did my volunteer work. I really didn’t even know the building was in use because it use to be the old central for grades 5th and 6th. This building is located a couple of blocks west of Tahlequah High School.

I have volunteered at multiple facilities such as MD Anderson, Habitat for Humanity, Disaster Relief at church but for this assignment I wanted to do something different. I constantly do volunteer work due to the company I work for, Gap Inc. has an organization for employees Be What’s Possible and donates money for the hours I volunteer to the non-profit organization of my choice. My good friend is part of the education department here at UHD and said that some students from other classes were volunteering at juvenile facilities and I was intrigued, therefore I teamed with my volunteer leader for Gap and reached out to see if volunteering there would be an option for me and