One way to educate everyone about the homeless is to address the topic as part of the school's curriculum. The appropriate time of the year for everyone to get involved would be during National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week ( November 16-22, 1997 ). Consider the suggested outline as a way to introduce homelessness as an interdisciplinary approach into the curriculum.
A). Introduce the topic "Homelessness" to the entire school.
Assembly - Invite a guest speaker from the National Coalition for the Homeless or a person who runs a local shelter for the homeless.
Show a video/movie suggested on this web site (allow the user the option to click to the page ).
B). Extend discussion/activities in all subject areas.
English/Literature - Write monthly newsletters suggesting ways to help the homeless.
Social Studies - Develop a questionnaire by the class about homeless/needy people and distribute to the entire school for a response.
Mathematics- Create a statistical chart or graph based on the results of the questionnaire distributed by the Social Studies class.
Science- Outline the types of nutritional foods and clothing that can be donated for the homeless.
Start an after school club that will involve school and community with projects for the homeless.
The Arts - Compose or write a caring song about the homeless.
Design a logo for a monthly newsletter or a club.
Role play as a homeless person for a day.
Foreign Language- Write a letter in various languages that can be sent to different countries expressing our concern and how we can work together on the nationwide problem of homelessness.
C). Apply a K-12 Internet Reference Center.
An Online Field Trip About Homelessness.
Allow students to take an in-school online field trip by referring to the address of this web site.
D). A follow-up summary
Write a report about the accomplishments or projects that the school achieved and send it to the local newspaper.
