With Your Friends

According to The Department of Education, children who live below the poverty line or come from a non-English speaking home are much more likely to fall behind their peers in reading skills. What's worse, the inequality starts between kindergarten and 3rd grade.

Engage children with storytelling to teach them spelling and other literary skills.

What to Consider

• Will you help kids at your school, or travel to a nearby community that may need extra support?
• Is there an age restriction for tutors or students?
• Is there an application process?
• Where will you recruit tutors from?
• Will you offer general homework help or address a specific subject area?
• Which subjects will you cover? At what levels of advancement?
• Will the tutors be working one-on-one or can they lead group sessions?
• Where will sessions take place?
• What hours will people tutor?

You don’t have to be an animal expert to help out at your community’s shelter. You just need to have the time and desire to lend a helping hand. (And it doesn’t have to be a lot of time, either.) Here are a few ideas on how you can help!

Teach a class

Teaching shelter dogs to sit, stay, walk calmly on a leash or shake paws will make them infinitely more adoptable. The Humane Society and SPCA of Austin, TX, for example, have a team of volunteers who spend their time playing with puppies and taking adolescent dogs to obedience classes.

1. Find a shelter. Search for one near you.

• Don’t pass on a mean message or embarrassing picture of a classmate.
• Save an anti-gossip pledge to your phone. When you receive a mean message, send that person back the pledge saying that you won’t spread negative words or images.
• If someone is harassing you by text, save them and show someone who can help.

Creating a neighborhood watch sounds easy enough, right? That's because it is. But here are a few tips on what's exactly involved in getting your watch up and running.

Meetings

The last thing anyone wants is more meetings to attend! With a neighborhood watch there are really only two major meetings that need to happen.

The First Meeting

Distribute the nutritional information of food served in the school cafeteria and encourage your classmates to make healthier choices. Try one of these approaches to get the word out.

Is your school behind the green times? Help get things moving! Brainstorm some ideas on how your school can save energy every day, and present your case to the principal. 

Here's a list to get you started:

Everyone can make a difference. Whether it is recycling or cutting showers short, everyone has the power to help put an end to global warming. So what are you waiting for? Here are some ways you can help our planet.

Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Replace light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. By using three CFBs, you will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide and $60 a year.

Fill the Dishwasher

You don’t have to run your dishwasher every time you eat. By filling it completely, you can save $40 and 100 lbs. of CO2 emission a year.

Write to your state officials.

Write to your representative and ask him/her to ban animal racing. If you live in a state that has greyhound racetracks, tell your state representatives to ban dog racing.

Ask your representatives to co-sponsor the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act