Mentoring & Tutoring
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.
Eighth-grade students in a language arts class chose relevant community issues, and created public service announcements to raise peer and public awareness. A group of six students focusing on teen pregnancy became immersed in the project and wrote, designed, and later participated in the production of a public service campaign for television and print.
School is an introduction to the greater world in so many ways, including how to bridge age and cultural differences. One group of 7th and 8th graders collaborated with 1st graders in an ongoing, multi-faceted project to do just that.
Third grade student's poor reading scores had become a major community concern. In response, high school students planned the Health Occupations and America Reads Program to improve reading skills for children in local schools as well as those across the state. Student leaders planned the project and even wrote the grant proposal.
Third graders decided they'd had enough of bullies on the bus. Enlisting the help of 5th graders, they worked with other students, school administrators, and bus company personnel to better understand the problem and implement solutions. As a result of the students' efforts, the number of bullying incidents was cut in half.
A middle school's formal student handbook didn't fully meet students' needs. Missing from the list of rules, regulations, and procedures was a student perspective on adjusting to a new school. Seventh graders created a kid-friendly handbook that personalized the usual rules and regulations with original illustrations and helpful hints.
Special-needs students chose nondisabled peer buddies to assist them in mastering the skills necessary to shop for groceries and prepare a nutritious meal. The special-education students began by practicing their ability to read labels and recipes, along with the math skills to make change for food purchases. As a group, they chose an ethnic theme, searched for appropriate recipes, and planned and prepared the meal for a multicultural celebration.
By using a school's nature trail, students and teachers transformed biology from a series of facts to be learned into a hands-on experience. The high school students also led tours of the trail for second graders, teaching them about the local environment.
When a Head Start teacher expressed the need for books and games for her students, a 5th-grade class decided it could do more than just raise funds to purchase materials. The students created books and games, tailoring them to each Head Start student.
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.
Seventh- and 8th-grade English Language Learners received a grant to support a program in which they would tutor younger students. As students used to receiving academic help, they were excited for the opportunity to assist others.
Concerned about the number of students in her school who were reading below grade level, one principal implemented a multi-grade peer-tutoring program. Both the tutors and the students they helped increased their reading proficiency.
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.
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.
Based on research showing that families who eat dinner together are more likely to be engaged civically in their communities, one elementary school started a program where students would bring home a recipe and ingredients for biscuits and a set of dinner table discussion questions.
When fifth-graders and a physical education teacher noticed a lot of students in their elementary school were out of shape, they worked together to create a physical fitness challenge that could be replicated at school's across their school.
Students participate in an aging sensitivity course taught by AmeriCorps members and then applied their new knowledge in several projects that promoted senior safety, including the identification of potential environment hazards, disposal of hazardous waste, and preparation of emergency kits.
Students used brown and white eggs and an expansion of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme to illustrate how no one should be judged by their skin color.
