Mini-Grant Proposal

 Applicant(s): Josie Calamaio, Katie Law, Joselyn Mays

 Date: October 9, 2003

 Address: College of Saint Mary

 Email: josiecalamaio@hotmail.com, joslc20@hotmail.com, trackerbabe20@hotmail.com

 Introduction:

 The students in the 5th grade SMART program will be doing a service learning project involving the Omaha 2000 Early Childhood Center. They will be reading aloud to preschoolers, books of their choice on different countries, and the culture that is common to that area. The project will take place in November. Although the date has not yet been set, Omaha 2000 gave us permission to visit.

 Goal

 The 5th grade students in SMART will interact with the preschoolers at Omaha 2000. Our 5th graders will teach the importance of cultural acceptance, while learning to appreciate various countries histories.

  Needs Statement

 The 5th graders will learn about other cultures while reading to younger children. They will also actively learn to have patience while interacting with the preschoolers.

 The students will learn to be unprejudiced in the way they view others from different cultures.

 The preschool class of Omaha 2000 will be served. They will have the opportunity to use the 5th graders as mentors and have a fun learning experience.

 Each 5th grader will be responsible to read a book of choice to 2 preschoolers.

Project Objectives

 The students will be able to describe cultural differences by giving examples using various countries.

 The students will be able to find these countries on a map.

Activities

 Eight 5th graders will read books about cultural differences to 2 preschoolers each. They will then lead small group discussion time and will follow with an art activity, pertaining to knowledge learned.

Evaluation

 We will be on site and note the interactions and comprehension level among the 5th graders and preschoolers. We will have a discussion time following the activity.

  We will also be taking digital pictures of the SMART girls reading to the preschoolers.  This will allow their parents to see them in action.  It will also be a little souviner for the SMART girls to take home at the end of the program.  

Personnel

 Josie Calamaio, Joselyn Mays, and Katie Law will all be at Omaha 2000 supervising the activities of the preschoolers and the 5th graders. We will each focus on two to three of the girls.

Timeline

 The activity will be in November during a regularly scheduled SMART Lab. The assessment will take place while they are on site and also on the following Lab day.

Project Budget

 The project budget will be minimal. The 8 SMART Lab girls will each need a paperback book of their choice to read aloud averaging $5 per girl totaling $40. The artwork will require paper, markers, crayons, glue, and stencils averaging around $25.  Around 16 preschoolers we are reading to will also be receiving books and will be $2 per child totaling $36. Transportation is not needed because Omaha 2000 is within walking distance. The total amount needed should average around one hundred dollars.

Sharing/disbursement of results

 We would really like an opportunity for the girls to show their parents what they have learned. A great time would be during SMART Lab open house. The girls would briefly summarize their personal books, reactions to the project, and what they have learned.