Seasonal Projects
December
- Tales
for Tots - Collect new or gently used books to provide for kids in
homeless shelters or children's hospitals.
- Letters
from Santa - Coordinate with elementary school classes in your district
to have students write letters to Santa that will be delivered to your group.
Have group members write individualized responses to the children from Santa
and deliver them back to the school to be distributed.
- Deck
the Halls - Assign each grade level a hallway and sponsor a holiday
hall-decorating contest. Award a treat of some kind to the class with the
best decorations.
- Warm
Fuzzy Drive - Collect hats, coats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, and
blankets and donate them to a local shelter to help the homeless survive the
cold winter months.
- Food
Fight - Challenge a rival school to match or beat the number of cans
your school can collect in a holiday food drive. Create a plaque or trophy
for the winning school out of recycled cans and empty food boxes.
- Snowman
Contest - Celebreate Build a Snowman Day on December 19th with a
snowman building contest. No snow? Have individuals or groups create "snowmen"
out of non-snow materials such as Styrofoam balls, felt, pillows, white plastic
trash bags, or other materials. Award prizes to the most creative.
- Winterfresh
Teaching - Present teachers with an appreciation note reading "Although
it's winter, thank you for staying fresh with your teaching!" Attach
a package of Winterfresh chewing gum.
- Gift
Wrap Service
- Set up a gift wrapping table - with permission, of course - at a local mall
or department store. Wrap holiday packages as a fundraiser by charging a small
fee per package, or get into the spirit of the holidays and perform the wrapping
as a service project.
- Pictures
with Santa
- Have members of your group dress up as Santa, Mrs. Claus, or an elf. Create
a holiday background in the lunchroom or commons area and charge a small fee
for students to get their picture taken with Santa and friends.
- Singing
for Seniors - Visit a local retirement home or nursing home and sing
holiday songs for the senior citizens. Bring some board games and spend some
time visiting with the residents.
January
- Souper
Bowl - Work with art students or local artists to create ceramic
bowls that will be used for a soup and bread dinner to raise money for a food
shelter. Paricipants pay for the dinner - or donate a designated amount of
nonperishable food - and get to keep the handmade bowl.
- Freshman
Care Packages -
Help freshmen survive their first round of midyear exams by preparing care
packages with snacks, pens, and other goodies. Deliver one to every freshman
in the school with good luck wishes for their exams.
- Not
a Zero - Present teachers with an appreciation note reading "When
it's zero outside, you add warmth to the classroom. Thanks for all yu do!"
Attach a Zero canddy bar.
- Kindness
and Justice Challenge - Promote the idea of performing acts of kindness
(helping others) and justice (standing up for what's right) by planning activities
for the Kindness and Justice Challenge (www.kjchallenge.org)
during the two weeks followin the King National Holiday.
- Leadership
Lock-In - Spend a night at school with the members of your organization.
Provide refreshments, leadership training sessions, teambuilding games, and
plan ahead for the rest of the year.
- Software
Drive - Conduct a drive to collect software that students have outgrown
or grown tired of. Work with elementary teachers to redistribute the programs
to students who have computers at home or set up a check-out system for kids
to use the programs as a reward for completing all their work.
- Walk
for Warmth
- Organize a winter walkathon to raise money to help pay for the fuel bills
of needy people in your community.
- Senior
Greeters
- To help build more positive relationships between teens and senior citizens,
invite seniors to come in one day a week to serve as greeters in the morning
for students as they arrive on campus. Provide refreshments for the senior
greeters once the bell rings.
- Stress-Free
Week
- Plan a week of activities after semester finals that focus on fun and allow
students to de-streess from the rigors of exams.
- Dash
for Cash - After selling chances for one dollar, draw the name of
the person who has 15 seconds to pick up as much money as he or she can from
the $100 that has been spread out on the basketball court at halftime of a
game.
February
- Seniors
Valentines - Send a letter to all teachers in the district asking
students to create Valentines to send to people in nursing homes and hospitals.
Student council provdie each teacher with 10 sheets of red and pink construction
paper to use for cards.