A fifth-grade teacher in Kansas City, Missouri, wanted volunteers in her classroom--to help her individualize instruction, work with students who have emotional problems, and allow her more time to plan her instruction. But when two adults volunteered to help, she couldn't think of anything specific for them to do. Here are suggestions for…

The SMILES (Senior Motivators in Learning and Educational Services) program was initiated in 1977 by Salt Lake City School Volunteers, Inc., a nonprofit organization working with the Salt Lake City School District, as an addition to an established, successful school volunteer program. The purpose of the SMILES program is to recruit and train older…

Presents an overview of the volunteer-taught "Omnibus" enrichment program implemented in Windsor, Colorado, to meet the needs of academically gifted elementary students. Outlines lesson plans and activities for a six-week, hour-long course on genetics for fifth graders. (NEC)

The Mechanicsburg Area (Pennsylvania) Phone Pal Program is a telephone reassurance program in which an older volunteer calls a child who is home alone before or after school. Calls are made at the same time each day. These daily calls provide both younger and older persons with a safety verification, in addition to fellowship. Phone Pal is…

This paper describes the Helping Our Teachers (HOT) Program, a community volunteer program started in the fall of 2000 at Julia P. Bryant Elementary School in Statesboro, Georgia. The purpose of the program is to formally organize all parent volunteers to help teachers and staff with school-related activities previously shouldered by…

Chapter 1 of this document introduces AgeLink, a 5-year model intergenerational child care project for school-age children. The project implemented after-school services that linked children with volunteer older adults in 17 western North Carolina counties. Ten sites participated in the project between 1984 and 1989, and 11 sites currently have…

Explains the Bookends program, which combats a community's lack of books for its children. Describes how this grassroots nonprofit organization collects books for schools and youth organizations that either do not have operating libraries or have libraries that are so depleted that they cannot adequately provide all of their children with books to…

Given the strong interest in school-based mentoring programs, Public/Private Ventures visited two exemplary mentoring programs chosen by the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA). One program was in Green County, Oklahoma, and the other in Jacksonville, Florida. Researchers talked with parents, teachers, children, and mentors to learn more…

RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) is one program of ACTION--The Agency for Volunteer Service. ACTION, created in 1971, is a Federal agency which administers a number of volunteer programs. Its purpose is to provide a recognized role in the community and a meaningful life in retirement for older adults through significant volunteer service.…

Describes KID-ABILITY, the sexual abuse prevention program of the Girls' Club of America, now being expanded to other youth-serving organizations nationwide, which aims to increase children's self-esteem and confidence, and help children learn how to assess and obtain help in problem situations. (Author/BB)

The Thomas J. Pappas Regional Education Center in Phoenix, Arizona, is a magnet school for homeless students from unorganized territories, military installations, Indian reservations, and national forest lands. This "accommodation" school, supported by federal grants, in-kind business donations, and committed volunteer mentors from the…

Discusses the benefits for both schools and senior citizens of programs that actively involve senior citizen volunteers in the schools and briefly outlines some of the beneficial effects of the experimental Teaching-Learning Communities program in the Ann Arbor (Michigan) schools. Available from Association for Supervision and Curriculum…

Using the concepts of normalization, mainstreaming, and individualized instruction, a big brother/big sister program was developed in which 16 severely handicapped autistic children (4 to 15 years old) were tutored by nonhandicapped and educable mentally retarded elementary students. (CL)

The Carl E. Gilbert School (Buena Park, California) was officially "adopted" by Kraft Foods, Incorporated, in November 1982, creating a community partnership between business and education. Fifty-two Kraft employees volunteered to donate their time for 1 hour a week to help teachers of the kindergarten through the sixth grade. They…

Over 1,000 colleges and universities have joined the America Reads initiative and have placed Federal Work-Study students in high-needs schools, the majority in urban settings. Few outside the reading field recognize the complexities associated with instruction for emergent readers, particularly for students who arrive at school with few literacy…