MLK Jr.'s Day of Service - Monday, January 20

Willowwind School is very excited to be celebrating MLK Jr. Day by heading out into our community to complete service projects. Each student was placed in a K-6 in August to start planning their day to give back. Below is the description of what each group will be doing. Ask your student what Biome group they are in. **Please send a booster seat for this day if your child requires one.** Thank you! The Desert Biome (Ms. Christine): The Desert Biome decided to work with Make-A-Wish.  This organization helps dreams come true for children with life threatening illnesses.  We had a personal connection to this cause, as one of our Willowwind friends was a wish recipient last year.  We raised money for the organization, which we will use to purchase items for a specific wish recipient.  The child we are shopping for is traveling to Disney World, and we want to send them with travel goodies for their family to enjoy on the trip.  We will spend Martin Luther King Day shopping for and assembling this gift basket.  We will also be invited to attend the wish granting party to send this family off on their trip, though the date for that event has not yet been set.  To donate to our cause, visit our table in the entry way of the school.  We have dream catchers, stickers and notecards available for sale.  For more information about Make-A-Wish in our area, please visit their website. The Rainforest Biome (Ms. Lou): The Rainforest Biome decided to work with Iowa City Animal Shelter.  This organization helps animals find new homes all over Iowa City.   We will be traveling to the Iowa City animal shelter on Monday, January 20th (Martin Luther King JR Day). We have been raising money for the shelter since September and are really excited to have to chance to now visit them and help out at their facility. We will be visiting the shelter from 9am-11:30am. When we get back to Willowwind we plan on eating lunch helping out around the school! At the shelter we will be making bunny piñatas and fleece cat hammocks. The bunny piñatas are used as an enrichment tool for the Center's rabbits.  They are easy and fun to make.  The fleece cat hammocks we will make out of our abundance of fleece blankets to fit into our cat room havens. We will also take a tour of the Animal Center so they can see the animal's that they are helping! The Prairie Biome (Ms. Debbie): We decided to visit residents of Bickford Cottage. We have prepared entertainment in the form of two short skits that are student composed. One student will read aloud a book on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. We will also bring books to read one-on-one with the residents. We will also talk to the residents about their lives by asking questions from a list we compose ahead of time. We also are bringing a basket of fruit for those who work at Bickford Cottage and Martin Luther King, Jr. papers for centerpieces. We will arrive at 10:00and leave close to 11:00. The coordinator of events is looking forward to our visit, because she said the residents really enjoy interacting with children.  The Tundra Biome (Ms. Rachel): We chose to work with the Macbride Raptor Project.  Many students have visited the Macbride Raptor Center and had an interest in helping this organization, which works to rehabilitate sick and injured Iowa birds of prey.  The Raptor Center works hard to return birds to the wild, but also houses permanently disabled raptors at its facility.  You can learn more about the project at their website.   We'll be helping the birds by creating perches and tail sheathes to be used during their stay at the rehabilitation clinic.  We have worked hard to create many tail sheaths during the last weeks.  On our Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service, we will be building and decorating the perches for the raptor cages.  Once the weather improves, we will visit the outdoor facility and deliver the sheathes and perches for the birds to use.   The Coniferous Forest Biome (Ms. Michelle): We selected to work with Oaknoll Retirement Community.  The desire to work with Oaknoll came from the thought that our elderly community members have spent many years helping others it is now our turn to help them.  Pink Biome students have worked together to create a fun morning to spend with the residents of Oaknoll on our MLK Jr. Day of Service.  Over the course of the school year, we've written a script (The Three Little Pigs:  Willowwind's Version), researched cookie recipes to bring to to Oaknoll, and brainstormed puppet show prop needs.  In recent weeks, the Coniferous Forest Biome students have created subcommittees (the Cooking Committee, the Prop Committee, and the Puppet Show Committee) where small groups have worked together to finalize plans for Monday, January 20th's Day of Service. Throughout the morning of Monday, January 20th the Pink Biome will spend the morning at Oaknoll Retirement Community where they will interact with residents through the performance of our puppet show and playing traditional games like chess, checkers, Candy Land, Jenga, and Chutes and Ladders.  It is our hopes that young and old come together for smiles, laugh, and fun.  In the afternoon, our Biome will join together with other Willowwind friends to build community through completing projects throughout Willowwind.  We can't wait to share our experiences with you. The Deciduous Forest (Mr. Paul): We have decided to work towards creating pieces of art to be sold in a silent auction in support of the Crisis Center of Johnson County. Students will display their work in a public event to be held at the University of Iowa in the College for Public Health Building during the month of February. Students have created approximately 25 individual pieces of art to date. On Monday the 20th of January, students will work with Mr. Ryan to create a larger, collaborative piece of art.  In the afternoon, our Biome will join together with other Willowwind friends to build community through completing projects throughout Willowwind.