Goals

The goals of this site are to:

1. Broaden the idea of Peace and Social Justice to extend beyond service projects and character formation.(This discussion is directly related to the reading of Westheimer and Kahne, “What Kind of Citizen?”)
2. To introduce two projects for social justice:
1. To continue our computer rebuilding project and digital access program - Towards the last three months of the the 2004-2004 school year, the Generation Yes students joined with Jeff La Tour to eliminate e-waste from the environment, to learn how to build computers with old computers that people donated to the school and to provide computers and access to children who do not own a computer. This project integrates our commitment to creating sustainable communities, to awareness of digital access and to creating a learning environment through hands on repair and building of computer systems.
2. Food Pantry and Blogs - We will be visiting and blogging about our food pantry in Ballston Spa. Some of the topics we will be researching are:
• The history of the food pantry
• graphs and charts designed by our Generation Yes students documenting the uses of the pantry, times when the pantry is low on stock
• when people are most in need of food
• an ideal "grocery list"
• some of the causes of poverty in Ballston Spa and some solutions.
• Parents and Teachers are invited to be an active part of this on line conversation that will seek an awareness of those in our midst who may be in need and solutions we can arrive at together in our local community.
3. To provide resources for the teachers for the school year 2005/2006 for classes they may want to use this year regarding our school theme. These sites were selected because they promote non-violence, respecting diversity, teaching generosity, learning to live with violence, and becoming part of a global community of caring (iearn).
• Peace Tools for Teachers
• Teaching about Diversity Lesson Plan
• Learning to Give
• IEARN
• How to Teach Children about Living in a World with Violence
• Peace Begins with Me
4. To Provide Sites that will provide reading material for both the parents and teachers of St. Mary’s School and also give them opportunities to participate in various social justice issues.

v Institute for Policy Studies

v Youth Noise

v Do Something.org

v Global Response

v Youth asE-Citizens

v Voices of Youth Social Development and World Peace Stop the Hate.org

5. To keep in mind the school’s commitment to caring that extends to social justice as it relates to the Earth and the circle of life. With this in mind, I have linked back to the Earth Site that I created last year and I added the Free the Planet Site.
6. To Assemble links to various Catholic Teaching on Peace and Social Justice – This is part of the web site because of the Catholic Identity of our school and to give the parents and teachers a feel for the best in our religious tradition.
1. Salt of the Earth
2. United States Catholic Conference on Social Justice
7. To promote an awareness of the needs of people outside the community of Ballston Spa, NY.
1. United Nation Millennium Goals
2. Millennium Villages Project