Service Learning Program

Caring For People and Places
Service Learning at Prospect Sierra School

Prospect Sierra's Service Learning Program forms an important component of the school's mission of "developing heart, mind, and community." The overarching goal is to translate classroom learning into action at our school and in the larger community. At Prospect Sierra, elementary students become more curious about and aware of the world around them, they discover what it takes to be engaged leaders for positive social and environmental change. Social justice and respecting differences are explored through studies of California farming communities and through the use of sign language to communicate with physically challenged buddies at partner schools. Environmental restoration (e.g. pond study and watershed restoration, learning about local birds and protecting animal habitats, leading school recycling efforts) is of equal importance in the program. Service Learning is integrated into the curricula with a specific focus at each grade level.

The Middle School Service Learning Program builds on the environmental and social justice themes introduced in the Elementary School, spiraling back to deepen knowledge and promote personal action. Opportunities for Service Learning are created at each grade level, in the classroom, through electives, and at several assemblies throughout the year. Because students are older and have greater capacity, the school offers them more choices and creates opportunity for "student voice" in shaping the program.

Action projects connect the school to the greater Bay Area and world communities and vary from year to year, depending upon what is needed and what the children feel passionate about.  Below are the themes for each grade level.  For examples of action projects, see the “Recent Projects” page.

Service Learning Themes

Kindergartners: Loving and Caring for Ourselves, One Another, and the Earth. Learning About the Interconnected Nature of All Things. 

First Graders: How Do Our Community and the Natural World Sustain Us?

Second Grade: Learning About Local Birds and How to Protect Them.

Third Grade: Diversity, Dispelling Myths and Developing Empathy for People with “Special Needs”.  How are we different and how are we the same?

Fourth Grade: Saving California’s Resources: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.  How can we reduce our ecological footprint?

Fifth Grade: Tracing Changes in our Forests Since Colonial Times: How Can We Preserve What’s Left?

Sixth Grade:  Understanding food systems: ancient civilizations to the present. Who Are the People that Grow our Food? Where does our Food Come From?

7th Grade:  Becoming our own Hero and Honoring the Hero in Others Around the World.

8th Grade:  Understanding war from multiple personal perspectives.