Community Building & Development
Looking for project ideas? Browse or use the advanced search to find examples that meet your desired academic subjects, grade levels, project types, and keywords.
Tip: The grade levels and subjects listed are only our suggestions. With a bit of creativity, project examples can be adapted to meet the needs of different ages and curricular goals.
Bus shelters are some of the most visible items on many roads. Second-grade students decorated a shelter in an effort to spread their message of cultural appreciation.
Most students do not think they are old enough or powerful enough to exact widespread change. But 6th- through 8th-grade students in a politics course decided they could make a difference, and they voiced their opinions in a very big way: They acted as citizen lobbyists in their state legislature.
In a school focused on service, 8th and 9th graders shined in their work with their community's hungry, homeless, orphans, and elderly—reaching out to a soup kitchen, and orphanage, and a nursing home.
Students wanted to honor those who had a positive impact on the community. The youths interviewed local heroes and compiled those interviews into a book. They honored the local heroes at an awards banquet and gave readings of the book at their school.
Youths created a school-orientation video that prospective students and their parents could view at home. The video is narrated in English, Hmong, Somali, and Spanish, ensuring that it serves the entire school community, including English Language Learners and their families.
An intergenerational project helped history students discover interesting, but often overlooked, historical resources in their newfound friends from a local senior center. The youths met periodically with the seniors to document the elders' life histories - a process that included formal, recorded interviews - and did additional research into the events that had shaped the seniors' lives.
When the internet service provider in a rural town decided to leave the community, students at the local high school stepped in and took over its operations. Students provided service to 450 members of the community, including a senior center where they assisted the seniors with their computer needs.
While assessing community needs, students noticed that a local historic graveyard was in a state of decay, and they decided to do something about it. They developed a plan to restore 166 headstones, of which 50 were vandalized and 116 were destroyed by age and weathering.
For one group of 6th through 8th graders, environmental science was anything but a textbook subject. Having learned in school about one of their state's main water systems, the students were excited to put their knowledge to practical use by testing and reporting on nearby water ecology.
After much discussion about the cultures represented within their classrooms, 3rd through 5th graders grew curious about the groups present in their neighborhood. They created a classroom museum to educate the community about its diversity.
In response to negative impressions of teenagers among local residents, high school students launched their own radio talk show to address teen issues in a positive way.
As part of a communications curriculum, kindergarten through 6th-grade students invited a representative from a local food pantry to speak to them. The speaker explained that many people in the community were hungry, and the students were moved to organize a food drive.
Rivers, lakes, and oceans offer important resources to the cities built on their shores. Sixth through 8th graders in one such city kept their body of water clean by issuing a unique public service announcement.
To kindergarteners, students in the upper grades of their school can be intimidating and unapproachable. One 5th-grade class decided to bridge the distance by writing and presenting each younger student with a book.
Though recycling was already a part of everyday life throughout their school, 1st graders knew they could improve the system by integrating into it a reusing policy. The students put this idea into action by crafting notepads out of used paper.
Most people would not be thrilled to attend something called Solid Waste Camp. But one group of 6th through 8th graders quickly moved beyond any squeamishness and realized its role in cleaning up the planet.
Students spend a lot of time at school, in class and in extracurricular activities, so their school neighborhood is a second home to them. Fifth graders demonstrated their ability to be good neighbors by organizing a march for peace in their community.
For every student, the first day of school is emotional, but for those students entering elementary, junior high, or high school, the first day is particularly intense and even a bit frightening. One group of 4th and 5th graders decided to use its expertise to create an orientation book to make the transition easier for incoming kindergarten students.
When their school replaced the students' holiday gift exchange with service projects, 2nd-grade students decided to help the hungry. The project opened the students' eyes and the community's hearts.
Fourth and 5th graders worked with artists and authors to create and publish a book about their state. By weaving social studies with art, the students learned about their state in a way that was both unique and enjoyable to them.
