I really like Read to Feed. Have you heard of it? It is an action program from Heifer International that seems a perfect fit for Summers-Knoll. Like our school, it emphasizes global education and is a service-learning program.
This is the way it works: Children learn about the difference they can make for a family (either here or in another country) by donating an animal of their choice. We started by reading a great and true story called Beatrice's Goat. This is the story of a little girl in an eastern African village whose life is changed dramatically by a gift of two goats. These goats provide enough income to enable Beatrice to go to school – and, more importantly – their offspring then go to other families in a widening circle of hope. Immediately after I read this, children invariably want to know how they can help. This is when I introduce the concept of Read to Feed. (Alton Brown does a good job of explaining it in the above video.)
This money raising bit can be done in any number of ways. I usually leave it up to individual families to decide. Most families pledge a certain amount for each book or each time period their child reads with them. I will also pledge a minimal amount for each book read – it can’t be much, because I will be donating to 14 children!
I would like to do this for a one-month period. At the end of the month, the class will count up the money raised and decide on an animal to donate. This is an amazing math lesson all on its own!
I hope you will agree that it is a worthwhile program. We will do this for the month of October. A packet of information will be coming home tomorrow, September 27th.
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