Magazine Literacy Bee

Hi everyone! My name is Ron Buchanan and I teach kindergarten at Creative Arts Charter School in San Francisco. Recently, my class has been doing a lot of science work in the area of ecology and recycling, so I was trying to figure out a good field trip to support that. Visit a recycling center? A neighborhood garden with a composter? Or perhaps pick up trash at the beach or a nearby park like Alamo Square? Nothing seemed to be working out, at least nothing with some real zip. So I tried something new--last Saturday I hooked up with VolunteerMatch.com and posted that I was interested in helping the environment. Right away they had me linked with the KinderHarvest program, which provides a route for helping us get our schools' and families' "gently used" magazines to local homeless kids and youth. I exchanged some emails with John Mennell, who right away was very enthusiastic about letting my class spearhead this effort within our school community. John also proved very helpful and responsive in providing me with the basic information on how to get started. Really, he has made it very easy. So right now, with the valuable assistance of my gem of a student teacher, Erin Carder, we are currently looking into local programs that service homeless kids and families. I even mentioned KinderHarvest to my students yesterday at dismissal time, and they seemed genuinely enthusiastic to get involved. It's very exciting to think that my students will be getting a unique, hands-on experience in helping reuse products, and thus "saving the earth" in their own small way. Also, they will get the added bonus of actually being able to help in some small way those who need it, which I am sure will be a real awareness-raiser as time goes on.