We love a good book, movie, quote, or story that helps motivate our kids to give back to their communities. What are some resources that you have used to get those good juices flowing? Share them with us, and we will pass them on to our readers!
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
Looking for a proven way to have your school make a difference in the community? Then you should know about KIDS Consortium. The KIDS stands for Kids Involved Doing Service-Learning, and this nonprofit serves schools and community groups through its award-winning educational model by helping educators work with kids in grades K-12 to identify, research, and address community challenges using knowledge and skills from the classroom.
The KIDS Consortium website has examples of existing projects by grade level on topics including animal welfare, literacy, veterans, school beautification, injury prevention, and physical fitness.
The KIDS Consortium model of service learning involves critical elements including:
This formula has resulted in greater student leadership, a deeper understanding of the community, and millions of lives touched — students, teachers, and those in need.
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
When school starts up again, we focus on getting our kids ready. What about our getting our teachers ready? Every year, teachers in America spend hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets on school supplies for their classrooms. Many classrooms are without the basic building blocks of learning including paper and pencils. Treasures4Teachers (T4T) is a great group that enables teachers to obtain needed supplies but also receive professional development workshops that enhance classroom activities.
Here’s how it works: teachers can become a member of T4T for only $35. This gives them access to the T4T store and warehouse of supplies where they can fill a huge, reusable bag with all the materials they need for only $5. (On average, the retail value of the materials is $75!) The organizations has available a wide variety of materials including craft supplies, containers, books, maps, small furniture, carpet samples, binders, writing materials, wood, wire, sponges, and so much more!
Here’s how you can help. Donate items from their wish list. When Treasures4Teachers receives plastic or cardboard tubes, they see the opportunity for teachers to create musical instruments, spectroscopes, rain sticks, light experiments, or time capsules! Things you might consider throwing away could be unusual materials for class project or decorations! Donated materials can be shipped to: Treasure for Teachers, c/o Barbara Blalock, 16634 South 32nd Place, Phoenix, AZ 85282.
You can also make a financial contribution. $25 will buy 500 pencils. $50 will buy 1600 crayons. $100 will buy 22,500 sheets of filler paper! You can consider making a donation in honor of or in memory of someone you care about or for a special occasion. Click charitable donations to see how you can donate by mail, phone, or online.
Remember, in the eyes of creative educators and kids thirsty for learning, a paper bag isn’t just a paper bag! It can become a puppet, a costume, or part of a science experiment! Sort through items you have around the house with your kids and help teachers turn them into something magical this school year!
© YesKidzCan, 2011
Media. Can’t live with it. Can’t live without it. How many of you have turned off the television or tossed aside the newspaper because the news stories were sad, gruesome, sensationalistic, or tiresome? Conversely, how many of you have been grateful for “breaking news” on severe weather conditions, traffic problems, sports highlights, or significant current events updates?
Some public opinion polls show Americans see the media as politically biased, inaccurate, and an obstacle to solving society’s problems (Media Research Center). So in this tabloid-infested, Internet-crazed, simulcast world in which we live, we are happy to report some good news. There are actually places to turn to for good news. And, over the next few months, we are going to highlight these oases of positivity, kind acts, and inspiration stories — starting with the following two outlets:
The GoodNewsNetwork (GNN): GNN is a clearinghouse for sharing positive, compelling news stories from around the world. The site has different sections to peruse including Family Life, Recreation, Business, Earth, Health, and even one called Inspired! Each of these sections gets more specific with topics such as Pets, Sports, Celebrities, Science, Religion, and one of our favorites, Great Kids. No matter what your area of interest, GoodNewsNetwork captures the compelling and rewarding information on that topic.
YES! Magazine: YES! Magazine is an award-winning, ad-free, nonprofit publication that supports people’s involvement in solving today’s social, political, and environmental challenges. For more than 12 years the magazine has encouraged the public to submit work as well as make free use of their published articles. They publish stories about real people working for a better world along with tools to use and pass along. Their pages give a voice to people who are making change and have highlighted topics including slower living, how to save our cities, farming jobs for veterans, and how the left and right can unite.
So here’s today’s breaking news: there is good news out there. And we will continue to let you know where to find it — immediately following this commercial break…
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
We all want our kids to play fair on the sports field. How about playing “Fair Trade” as well? Did you know that there is a sports equipment company called Fair Trade Sports that has launched a full line of Eco and Fair Trade Certified sports balls for soccer, football, basketball, and more? This means that when this equipment is manufactured, adults workers are receiving fair wages in healthy working conditions. Think of it as socially responsible sports balls!
Fair Trade Sports’ products have an additional cool factor with words like 
“RESPECT” printed on the equipment and apparel. And, following in the footsteps of trailblazing companies like Newman’s Own, Fair Trade Sports donates all their after-tax profits to children’s charities. Sounds like a team we want to be part of!
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
School volunteer activities are right around the corner! To help you get prepared for this busy back-to-school time, we’d like to tell you about VolunteerSpot, a great resource that has a time-saving and sanity-saving online coordination tool for organizing all your volunteer efforts. VolunteerSpot’s free online sign-up sheets make parent participation at school, sports events, and in the community a snap! No more passing around clipboard sign-up sheets or putting up with reply-all emails or phone tag just to help out.
With VolunteerSpot, ANYONE can launch a free sign-up calendar, and invite people to help in minutes. Parents choose their spots (when to help and what to bring) through a link in an email invitation or a button on your website or online group page. The best part is, once signed up, VolunteerSpot sends automated confirmation and reminder emails to keep everyone on track.
And now, volunteers and parents who are invited to your activities can sign up from their smartphones — no apps to install! When volunteers receive your invitation (via email, Facebook, etc.) and click the link from their iPhone or Android device, they will be automatically directed to sign up pages specially designed to fit their phones.
VolunteerSpots tools are great not only for scheduling classroom volunteers, but also for parents who help with school carnivals and book fairs, parent-teacher conferences, soccer snacks, walk-a-thons, concessions stands, Scout campouts, and more!
Whether you are a room parent, coach, or committee chair in charge, one way to show our kids how much we enjoy volunteering at school is to make it as easy and fun for ourselves as possible. VolunteerSpot helps parents do just that!
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
By Lisa Novick, Co-Founder, YesKidzCan!
You may remember reading an earlier post about the teacher gifts my daughter and I gave out this past school year. We had decided to give gifts that would allow her teachers to help other teachers through one of my favorite groups — DonorsChoose. This website gets teachers from all over America to post classroom project requests that require funding.
We gave each of her teachers a DonorsChoose gift card. I already shared some of the ways my daughter’s teachers applied their gift cards. Here are two more we learned about over the summer!
My daughter’s homeroom teacher supported Mrs. H’s physical education initiative in Farmdale Elementary School in Merced, California. Mrs. H. needed balls for throwing and catching, a CD/radio player for stretching and motivation, and a parachute to learn cooperation.
My daughter’s library resources teacher directed her gift card to Ms. F’s classroom in Desert Garden Elementary School in Glendale, Arizona to support a reading literacy program. Many of her first grade students only have the opportunity to read at school because they do not have books at home. This donation will go toward bringing more books into the school library.
Talk about a teacher gift that keeps giving and giving. Getting these updates makes us feel good all over again — months after the gifts were given! Keep it in mind for next year!
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
(Excerpts from the story shared by Dawn Nelson, Stevie Nelson’s mom)
Video games, DVDs, bikes, toy cars, anything related to superheroes…this is what a typical birthday list looks like for most little boys turning six years old. However, Stevie Nelson of Tilden, NE, had a different kind of list this year. For his sixth birthday, he asked for dog food, cat food, animal treats, various chew toys and money, $6,000 to be exact, a thousand dollars for each of the Stevie’s years so far. All to benefit the Northeast Nebraska Humane Society.
His dream gift is a safe shelter for Northeast Nebraska’s unwanted dogs and cats who are still looking for their forever homes. Animals have always had a special place in Stevie’s heart. Stevie’s compassion for animals reached an entirely new level last year after his two charcoal Labrador Retrievers, Bo and Luke, went missing from their family home just two days before his fifth birthday. Stevie’s only birthday wish last year was to have his two best friends returned to him—a wish that was unfortunately never granted.
Instead of having a traditional sixth birthday party, Stevie requested that his birthday party guests not bring him any gifts, but rather bring gifts that would help the thousands of unwanted pets in Northeast Nebraska, including dog/cat food, 
vitamins, toys, collars, leashes and treats. He stated that he wanted to “fill trucks full of donations.” Word spread across the country and soon people nationwide started making monetary and product donations. To date, Stevie has raised $25, 778.19 in monetary donations and an estimated $5,000 in product donations.
According to Stevie’s mom, “He has made something so positive come out of our family’s tragedy. This is an excellent example of ‘Paying it forward.’ What is equally amazing is when Stevie’s friends in Tilden heard his story, they wanted to help him raise money so much that they split the contents of their piggy banks with him. That was incredibly touching to me.”
Stevie shared, “I am just happy to get to help more animals feel loved.” His mom added, “I have never measured the success of this fundraiser by a dollar amount. This has been a valuable experience. We are so pleased that at age of 6 , Stevie was able to look beyond himself and see a bigger picture and a desire to help others. I think we can all learn from that.”
For more information, or to make donations visit Stevie Nelson’s 6th Birthday Wish.
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
(As published in Raising CEO Kids, June 19, 2011)
When should we start teaching our kids about money? At very young ages, they seem to be awfully good at wanting to spend it! YesKidzCan!’s Co-Founder Julie has two boys ages 7 and 9. She and her husband feel strongly that if their kids want to spend money so badly, they should not only learn about spending it responsibly, but they should also appreciate saving and donating it! When the boys were ages 6 and 8, they came up with an approach to teach them how to make thoughtful and personal choices with their allowance. Here’s what they did to foster financial responsibility, awareness, and generosity in their house:
They spent time discussing the purpose and meaning behind each container, and also created a “matching savings program.” Whenever the kids place money in the savings box, the boys understand that mom and dad will match it dollar for dollar. They decided that the kids cannot touch their savings until after college. On allowance payment days, the boys take out their jar, box, and wallet and they give them the payment in crisp one-dollar bills. They watch as they choose how much money to put in each container without any coaching or coaxing.
To bring together the entire concept, they set up a family craft project. They 
purchased a canvas and, working together, created a painting about the spend/save/give concept. The painting hangs in their upstairs hallway in a spot that the boys regularly see as they race up and down the stairs. The painting has literally added color and life to a topic that can sometimes cause kids to glaze over.
Parenting seems a little easier when fun and creativity are added to the mix! Think of how much of a kick kids get out of learning fun synonyms for “money.” Words like dough, cash, bucks, or moolah. How about giving our kids equally fun ways to learn about finances? Why not make “spend, save, give” part of your family time?
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
