What’s happening in Homeroom?

By , 01/25/2020

Homeroom Image of Ms. Mooney’s class

For 5th graders, Homeroom is an important time to connect with one another. We use Responsive Classroom practices, such as Morning Meeting, greetings, sharing and community building activities. We also use homeroom as a “study hall” for students to complete assignments, read, or study.

Recently, classes 501 and 502 have taken on a larger project in Homeroom. In 2019, the Students Rebuild organization posed The Hunger Challenge. You may remember that students last year, during Family Fun Night were part of the Ocean Rebuild Challenge. Last year, students made sea creature creations out of recycled materials. For each sea creature, $2.00 was raised for ocean conservation.

This year, the Hunger Challenge is an effort to raise money to end hunger and food insecurity, eliminate all forms of malnutrition, and build inclusive and sustainable food systems. Classes 501 and 502 have been learning about this issue, and were surprised to learn that 1 in 5 children faces hunger or food insecurity in the U.S..

In an effort to raise awareness and brainstorm ideas, 501 and 502 took part in a mural project. They were asked to design a mural that would help get people’s attention regarding this issue. Each student contributed a design, and we went through a voting process in both classes in order to narrow it down to one solo design idea. Students voted for Bethnie’s design, which depicts fork, knife, and spoon, and a ribbon detailed with hearts:

Students in both classes have been working to transfer Bethnie’s graph paper design to a large scale mural.

This week, the design was completed! Our next step will be to record our individual ideas for ending child hunger and reducing food waste. The mural is impressive, in both its scale and its significance.