Service Learning
Service Learning at Mirman is an opportunity to integrate community engagement opportunities into the broader curriculum from Kindergarten through Upper School 4. These community engagement opportunities include service projects specific to themes assigned within each grade level, larger all-school community projects which engage the entire school, and additional service initiatives developed and led by some of our student leaders. Service Learning is an educational approach where learning objectives can enhance student growth and elicit positive change in the broader community. Our Service Learning program involves commitment from strong parent committees, administrators, faculty and students.
Read more about our Service Learning initiatives on the blog below!
Before Spring Break, our Room 4 students visited nearby Sylvan Park Elementary to buddy up to promote literacy.
With a lot of hard work and a little agility, Mirman's Service Learning team was able to pull off the annual day of service despite area wildfires.
Kudos to all who turned out to help in the first event between the partnership between Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) and Mirman School!
Click here to access archived Service Learning stories in our Newsroom.
Service Learning by Grade/Room Level
Kindergarten and US 1 — Identity and Transition: Students will take on both roles of mentor and mentee as they support in developing their environmental identity on and off campus, all while supporting the campus in transitioning to a more environmentally aware community. Specific projects will be geared towards educating our campus on reducing food waste, developing a composting program, sustaining our community gardening (including our edible garden!)
First grade and US 1 — Change and Transition: Students work in partnership with organizations such as Heal the Bay. They will work on tackling specific questions such as: "How do we think about our planet and our impact as collective change agents? Additionally, students will be connected to our transitioning recycling program on campus and finding ways to collaborate around educating our community in this area.
Room 3 and US 2 — Origins and Connections: Students will partner with organizations such as Wise and Healthy Aging in order to develop community connections beyond the Mirman campus. Students will have opportunities to learn about origins by collecting oral histories, engaging in games, and fostering rich connections with seniors.
Room 4 and US 3 — Systems and Evolutions: Students work to bring resources to partner schools including STEM supplies and activities and/or resources to support literacy. Students will examine whether or not our educational system has evolved, and why or why not these evolutions may have occurred.
Room 5 and US 2 — Perspectives and Connections: Students act as leads in hosting our Special Olympics event for students from The Help Group. Our students will focus on gaining the various perspectives of working with students with different abilities and develop authentic connections. Students will also explore the complexities that exist within access to food and hunger. The will also engage as leads in the Empty Bowls Project and One Voice Program.
Empty Bowls Project
The Empty Bowls Project uses ceramic arts to fight hunger. At our Mirman Helping Hands event, Room 5 and US 2 students will create handcrafted bowls which guests can purchase. Guests select one of the bowls and are served a meal of soup and bread. Guests take home their bowl as a reminder of how many go empty around the world. Money raised from the bowls will be donated to organizations fighting hunger locally. The organizations will be selected by our student leads.
Mirman Helping Hands
Helping Hands is a community wide Service Learning event which engages students, staff, and families in service learning activities specific to each grade level theme and area of focus. US4 and Community Connections Student Advisory Council students will lead the Helping Hands event with the support of staff and parent sponsors within the Service Learning Committee.
One Voice
The Mirman Community is invited to participate in the One Voice Holiday Program in Santa Monica. Each year, the One Voice Holiday Food Program provides holiday food baskets, toys, and books to 2,500 families (12,500 people) living in poverty in the Los Angeles area. All of the families are referred through the Head Start Program and meet federal and state mandated poverty levels.