Cultural Community Outreach Event By Karen Finn

“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 ( 2014)

 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.

 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

 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

 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

 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

 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

 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

 Local businesses: ◦ Stores or community-based organizations can sell merchandise  Local restaurants: ◦ Restaurants can serve food from their establishments

 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.

 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.

 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.

 Amazon. (2014). Retrieved June 22, 2014, from  Causes of Poverty. (2013). Retrieved June 21, 2014, from issue/2/causes-of-poverty.  Human Rights Dimension of Poverty. (2014). Retrieved June 21, 2014, from sionsOfPoverty/Pages/Index.aspx.  Kline Chartock, Roselle. (2010). Strategies and Lessons for Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Primer for K-12 Teachers. Pearson Education.