Skills for Success December 2012

Skills for Success

December 2012

Tis the Season for Service

The holidays bring families, schools and communities together to celebrate, but they also remind us that there are less fortunate members of the community who need assistance. If you're planning a holiday service project, consider transforming the experience through service-learning. Lions Quest curricula offer step-by-step lesson plans to connect service to academic coursework, empower students to take leadership roles in the process, and give students opportunities to reflect and celebrate the service experience. If you're looking for a service partner, contact your local Lions club. Lions can bring professionalism, experience and funding to make your service project a little better, and someone's holiday a little brighter.

Numbers of Note

One in ten kindergarten and first grade students will miss a month or more of school this year.
"The brain at positive is 31% more productive is than the brain at negative, neutral or stressed." In addition, dopamine floods the system at positive and opens up the learning centers of the brain. Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage.
Grateful teens are 17% happier, and they experience a 13% drop in negative emotions and a 15% drop in depressive symptoms, plus decreases in drug and alcohol abuse and problem behaviors at school.

Research and Resources

In Social and Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention, CASEL explores the role that SEL can play in reducing bullying in our schools.

The Consortium on School Networking's 2012 Horizon Report highlights emerging technology likely to have an impact on K-12 education and provides a toolkit to better understand it.

Building Citywide Systems for Quality: A Guide and Case Studies for Afterschool Leaders helps cities and communities strengthen and sustain quality in afterschool programs.

What's a Hidden Bully looks at a small but influential group of popular-aggressive children and their influence on school culture.

Grants Opportunities and Special Events

Apply for an afterschool computer lab valued at $15,000 from GTECH. Designed for inner-city youth, ages 5-15, located in certain states. Rolling deadline.

Schools affected by Hurricane Sandy in the Tri-State area can apply for a Scholastic Book Grant. Scholastic will also accept donations for impacted schools. Deadline is December 31.

Middle and high school students, working with a faculty adviser, who develop an original mobile app concept to address a need in their school or community can win $10,000 in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge. Deadline is January 18.

Remember Dr. King and his legacy of service by celebrating the MLK Day of Service on January 21. Visit www.mlkday.gov for resources to plan, promote, and serve.

Connect with OST professionals at the 2013 Best of Out-of-School Time (BOOST) Conference on May 1 - 4 in Palm Springs, CA, and at Beyond School Hours XVI on February 20 - 23 in Jacksonville, FL.

Join other service-minded professionals in Denver on March 13 - 15 for the 2013 National Service-Learning Conference, Without Limits, hosted by the NYLC.

In the Community

Check out our Lions Quest Workshop Schedule.

Join us at the 2013 NAA Annual Convention in Indianapolis, IN, on Apr. 7-10.

Find a Lions club in your community.

Lions Quest Resources

Program Catalog

Order Materials

Common Core Correlation Guides

Curriculum Maps

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