Originally published in The KC SAC Connection; issue 3: Winter 2000
Brenda Jeannette Smith, Lee’s Summit R-7 School District
Kids' Country Seniors is part of the Kids' Country Before and After School Program in the Lee’s Summit school district. At Greenwood Elementary the program is offered to children in grades 4-6. The program creates a safe environment while providing an enjoyable atmosphere that includes team-building skills, study sessions, service projects and enrichment activities.
In a class meeting at the beginning of each month, students help plan monthly activities, including special inserts to the monthly newspaper they write, edit, and publish.
They also do a monthly service project which they plan and carry out. Service projects this school year include collecting money for Leukemia Research, providing Thanksgiving Dinner for three families, adopting a family with seven children for Christmas, and planning a Valentine Party for the younger Kids’ Country children.
Each child is assigned a specific job in the school, which they do every afternoon. Some children help classroom teachers; others empty recycling containers into a large bin.
Some children are a part of the "Wee Deliver" mail service, a program which partners with the United Postal Service. Three Kids' Country Seniors were sworn in as official postal workers at Greenwood Elementary School, and their daily job is to process and deliver mail from children and teachers to other children and teachers in the building. These daily duties are an important part of the Kids' Country Seniors program.
Enrichment activities include hands-on learning experiences in the areas of math, science, career possibilities, and social issues. Recently they have hosted and interviewed several guests who spoke about specific careers.
Kids' Country Seniors has been a good addition to the Greenwood Elementary School.
Brenda Jeannette Smith is a Site Coordinator at Greenwood Elementary School in the Lee's Summit R-7 School District.
