the growing room

Calendars for Public Servants

January's Service Project was to make drawings for calendars to be donated to public service people as a way of saying "Thank you"  The children enjoyed thinking about making beautiful and attractive pictures for every month of the year, we also talked about how firemen and policemen help our community throughout the entire year!

the growing room

Holiday Helpers

December's Service Project was to decorate blankets with beautiful drawings and uplifting words to donate to Holiday Helpers.  Holiday Helpers is a county program for families that would otherwise have no Christmas presents for their children.  The children especially appreciate warm clothing and blankets at this time of year as most have no heat. Our children had fun decorating and thinking of others during December.

the growing room

Coloring Books

The Growing Room made beautiful coloring books for The Network of Care, an organization that brings supplies and goody bags into the hospitals in the Bay Area. The coloring books will be given to children confined to a hospital bed and will brighten their stay by giving them something fun to do. Knowing that other children their own age took the time to make these books will be meaningful. The founder of the organization, Janet Frazier came to our Neil Armstromg site to receive the books and to talk to the children about her program to help others in need. You can read more about the organization at thenetworkofcare.org.

the growing room

Bookmarks for the Library

In September, The Growing Room Students made bookmarks for their school or city Library.  It was a great way to learn the value of reading and encourage others too.

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Backwards Walk-A-Thon

June was our very popular Backwards Walk-A-Thon, where The Growing Room Students walked for a good cause- The Special Olympics.  They did so many "backward" laps, that The Growing Room donated extra money to this very worthy cause, and our children felt really good for supporting it.

the growing room

Earth Day Grocery Bags

The Growing Room Students learned responsibilty from a special project done with recylcled paper bags.  After decorating them with "green" messages, they donated them to local stores to use at check-out, so others could celebrate Earth Day too.

Earth Day 2012

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Flower Pots & Pens

 The Growing Room students showed their school teachers their appreciation by making cute flower pots and pens for them:

The character trait was Patience

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Pennies

February's service project was all about pennies.  Each child brought from home as many pennies as they could collect.  The pennies were washed during a science project, stacked, counted by 1's, 5's and 10's, studied, used in a wishing well and finally rolled and donated to many different charities.  Some were given as part of a donation to The White Kitty Foundation.  It was fun to have animal visitors to The Growing Room!

the growing room

Respect

The character trait for January was Respect, and as a way to learn about it, The Growing Room made placemats and table top decorations for retirement homes.

The children painted, drew pictures and glued bright and cheerful pictures that were laminated for placemats.  We also made colorful vases for flowers to brighten the day for our Senior Citizen friends.

We learned that we can show respect to everyone by being thoughtful and kind.

the growing room

So much Giving

The holidays were a time for giving at The Growing Room.  It was a joy to see the kids reach out and give from their hearts.  So much goodness!  Here are some things that they were involved in:

Toys-for-Tots

Food Bank of Alameda County

Scarves & Toys for the children of Agape Village

Make a Wish Foundation

Operation Gratitude