Coin-spiracy 2003/04
UNI Coins in Action - Abbotsford
Find out how individual schools in Abbotsford are spreading kindness by clicking onto a link from below:
Abby Middle School
The students at Abby Middle School have been very busy with their Coin-spiracy activities. Using the democratic process, the students voted on places in the community where they felt their assistance was most needed.
Initially, the students presented numerous ideas, which were all recorded and then, by a ballot vote, they further narrowed down choices to five. The areas the students chose to offer their assistance (as their kind act to another) was the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Jackson Elementary, Bevan Lodge Senior's Home and the SPCA. For their kind act to the environment, the students focused their attention on cleaning up surrounding areas by Mill Lake and Ravine Parks. Once the final decisions were made as to where the school would pay forward their kind acts, the students then made a personal decision of where they would like to participate and divided into groups. Every group visited the areas listed above a minimum of three times.
In the case of the Bevan Lodge Senior's Home the students enjoyed roughly ten visits. Each student was appointed a buddy and the pairs spent the next few weeks working on art projects and playing games such as shuffleboard. Wonderful relationships developed out of these times together.
Click on the thumbnails below to view the larger image.
The students who went to the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) packaged supplies to be sent to needy countries around the world. On their first visit to the MCC, students packed shoe boxes full of school supplies for children in Africa, on another visit their mission was to package blankets and coats for the Ukraine and on their final visit, Abby Middle Students loaded large buckets of health care items such as towels, shampoo, tooth brushes, soap, etc to be sent to families in Afghanistan.
At Jackson Elementary (another Coin-spiracy school) the older Abby Middle students teamed up with their younger Jackson buddies to work on art projects and spend time reading to each other. The younger buddies really looked up to their older friends.
Another group of students spent several of their days cleaning up garbage in the beautiful parks near their school. The students felt it was important for other students to see them in action picking up litter because it may encourage them to do the same.
Auguston Traditional Elementary
Kind Act to self:
Our first kind act was the one to ourselves. For this act our Committee (one student from each class grades 1-5 - Lindsay, Jasmine, Jeffery, Elizabeth, Ted, Emily, Morgan, Jayden, Josh and Yasmine) thought it would be a great idea if the whole school went on a walk through our neighbourhood together. We thought this was a great kind act for ourselves because we would be outside breathing the fresh air, we'd be exercising and we'd be with our friends. We went at the end of one cloudy November day (Nov. 14/03) and for the half hour we were walking the students were singing Christmas carols, talking with their friends, teachers and some parents who joined us. Everyone had a great time. After the walk we discussed how everyone felt and reminded them that every time they went outside for a walk with friends or family they could get that same great feeling back. This was a wonderful way to launch our Coin-spiracy campaign!
Kind Act to the environment:
Our Kind Act to the Environment was the idea of one of our teachers, Mrs. Berson. She thought it would be a great idea if we could reduce the amount of garbage that students and staff brought in their snacks and lunches everyday. Our Committee did a presentation at an assembly to tell the rest of the school about our "Garbage Free Lunch" week. We encouraged the students to bring lunches with food that didn't come in packages so that there wouldn't be any garbage to throw away when they finished. The students brought plastic containers, water bottles and re-used their plastic baggies. Our custodian kept track of the number of garbage bags going out every night for the week before and the week of our kind act. He was happy to report that we went from approximately 6 bags of garbage every night to just 2! What a big difference it made. We continue to encourage everyone to keep bringing garbage free lunches and snacks.
Kind Act you performed and your experience as a "giver":
Our Kind Act for another was a two part act. Beginning on December 8 we had a donation drive for the Abbotsford Community Services Food Bank/Christmas Bureau. For two weeks we collected new, unused toys and warm, new or gently used clothing at our school. At our Christmas concert on Wednesday, December 17 we asked for donations of a food item to the Food Bank as admission to the concert. The Food Bank picked up the food at the concert. Our toy and clothing drive ended on Friday, December 19. We had an assembly that day where Dr. Dave Murray was our special guest. He did a presentation for the students on the kinds of things people donate to the food bank - one was actually an empty can! We then did a quick review of our kind acts and passed the coin on to Dr. Murray. We reminded the students that the kind acts and the giving don't stop just because we have passed on the coin! After school our committee loaded up the donations - 9 bags of clothing and 5 bags of toys - and drove them over to the Christmas Bureau. The students were feeling great about giving so many nice things to families in our community. They learned that changing our world needs to start right here in our own back yard. They learned to be thankful for what they have and that it feels good to be able to share that with others.
The Auguston Song
The Auguston Song, written by Auguston's first principal, Marg McDonough. It is sung to the tune of the Glen Campbell's hit, "Galveston."
|| Coin-spiracy 2003/04 ||
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