Group Opportunities
We love groups of volunteers! There are so many different ways groups can get involved, but listed below are a few ways groups have frequently volunteered their time. Adopting a classroom requires a regular commitment, but the rest of the activities can be a one-time or sporadic event. In addition, over the course of the year many needs not listed here come up that are perfect for groups. Contact Caroline Smiley at csmiley(at)miescuelita(dot)org or 214.526.0220 ext. 20 to find out how we can work with your group.
Adopt a Classroom
We have various companies and groups that adopt a classroom, a very fun way to get involved at Mi Escuelita. The groups form teams of four and each team adopts one classroom for one day a week. This involves coming to read to the class from 12-12:30 PM on their designated day. The four teammates share the responsibility, each taking one week of the month to come read to their class. Reading to the kids encourages in them a love for reading and helps them with pre-reading skills. Exposing the kids to various people and accents deepens their understanding of English.
Requirements:
Number: Any multiple of four or whatever way you'd like to break down your team.
Time: 30 minutes, between 12 and 12:30, one day a week for the team.
Skills: Patience, ability to read in English.
Spend Time With the Kids
Either spend time in a classroom, usually in the mornings, working with the kids in the different centers, reading books with them, or playing on the playground with the kids or teach some kind of lesson. We’ve had people do presentations on safety, teeth brushing, hand washing, nutrition, safety with animals, and a variety of things relating to the lesson plans. This would involve usually around a 30 minute or so activity in each classroom. Exposing our kids to more English, new faces, and giving them more one-on-one attention helps them learn more. It is also an encouragement to the teachers.
Requirements
Number: 2-12 people is ideal.
Time: Between 30 minutes and three hours in the morning preferably or between 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM.
Skills: Patience, love for kids, or props and good plan if you are teaching a lesson.
Assemble Family Literacy Packets (Homework)
These packets are plastic bags with sheets of instructions and materials necessary for the parents and children to work on a project together. They can either be done here on site or they can be done offsite, like at a school or in an office break room. We need 3600 packets done every month, so we are happy to have a group come and assemble 50 or 5000. We are part of the First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative, which means that we strive to improve literacy in three ways: child literacy (what we teach in the classrooms), parent literacy (which they get through GED and ESL classes that we teach or refer), and family literacy time, aka homework time. Every night, the parent is expected to spend 30 minutes working on homework with their child. Three nights a week, they check out books from our library and read to them, and the other two nights a week, they work together on projects for school. These packets give the parents and children something to do together, enhance the parent-child bond, gets both the parents and children reading together, and establishes the nightly homework routine.
Requirements
Number: As many as possible.
Time: You need to set aside at least an hour to set up and get into a rhythm. This can be done any time.
Skills: Patience for repetition.
Manual Labor
These projects are done on an as-needed basis and vary from painting to breaking down classroom or cleaning up playgrounds. Many of our facilities are in need of a little extra care and any time that a group can donate to help keep things clean and safe is more time the teachers can spend with kids instead of with maintenance, more money that goes directly to the kids' education, and it helps keep our kids safe and healthy.
Requirements
Number: 8-75, depending on the project.
Time: Three to five hours or more, depending on the project.
Skills: Willing hands, whatever skills the project requires.
Holiday Volunteers
Barnes and Noble Gift Wrapping
Wrap presents at the Barnes & Noble store across from North Park between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This activity generates cash contributions and children’s books for Mi Escuelita.
Navidad en el Barrio Gift Project
Between Thanksgiving and early December, help sort donated gifts. This activity generates Christmas gifts for Mi Escuelita children and their siblings.
