• Longfellow will require 5 hours of verified service for each of the first 3 quarters.
•   If you have completed 2 hours of service during the summer prior to your 8th grade year, you may include those.
•   If you were called to serve Longfellow this summer, "start to success" "orientation" "packet preparation" you may include up to the full 5 hours required for the first quarter. 
•  Hours do NOT carry over from one quarter to the next. (If you completed service for NJHS or confirmation or the scouts or for any other reason, you may use those hours toward your civics requirement. 
•  Service does NOT include:
•  free babysitting (unless it is for a community event SO that parents may attend),
• volunteering to help a private business such as...Veterinary hospitals (unless it is for a community service they provide) SO if you're not sure, please check...don't assume.  Again… no work for a private business or at your parents office…unless they work for a charitable organization.  The business will appreciate it, but it is not service learning.
• Trash pickup, unless it is part of an organized community effort (which you can organize, but you’ll need to provide evidence)
• Service to your place of worship that is associated with instruction of the religion or the religious service itself.  (if you babysit so that others may attend, play music or sing for the benefit of the church community, that is a service to your community, but not participating in the actual service, please save those hours for your confirmation or consider it a contribution as a member of your religious group.)
• Service records and reflections are due one week before the quarter ends (unless you have signed up to help with a project that will be completed the last week, in which case you need to let your civics teacher know.)
• The most heavily weighted portion of the service requirement is the reflection piece.  Please be sure you will be able to demonstrate service to the community and the connection to what you have learned in school about being a responsible member of the community.
• Service DOES include:
•  assistance for your elderly (elderly does NOT mean 50ish...) or disabled neighbors...please get out there and rake their leaves, shovel their driveways when it snows...help them out. In these circumstances, you may have to insist that they allow you to do this for them.  If they insist on paying you, ask them to donate what they would have given you to their charity of choice.  Then, very important, have your parent sign your service record to avoid embarrassing your neighbor.
• Opportunities posted below:

2009 - 2010 Service Learning Opportunities:

1. Repair/bind/tape class set of script/playbooks for English Dept. at LMS.  Please see Mrs. Miller, V-14…work for 2 students, one hour each. Grab a pal and be the first to snag this opportunity to help your school. Email Kayne.miller@fcps.edu

2. Community Service Project
For 7th and 8th grade Students
For Share
Holiday Relief Program

Saturday, November 14
9:30 am – 5:30 pm
At all McLean Grocery Stores

You will be asking shoppers to purchase food or Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and the Holiday Shop for low income families in our community.

We will have a pre-event 30 min. training session after school at:
Longfellow Middle School, Wednesday, Nov. 11     and
Thursday, Nov. 12

Training and working at the event will count as community service hours

We need some parents to help as well

Contact Bonnie O’Neill to sign up for a shift
bonniewithshare@gmail.com

Mrs. O'Neill will be at Longfellow to train volunteers on Wednesday, 11/11 and Thursday, 11/12.  Students may pick either training day, whichever is convenient, but all volunteers must go through training which also counts toward service. The training lasts between 20 and 30 minutes, so if students have other obligations after school, they may be dismissed to that or may stay and help make posters for the event.If they stay for the entire training hour and serve on the 14th they will have invested 3 1/2 hours in community service toward either NJHS or Civics requirements.Although this is officially an NJHS activity, many more students are needed than signed up so we want to make it available to the entire 8th grade. Please let your friends know about this opportunity too!