Group1

= **SMILES :)** =

**Communication Document:** **Assessment Document:**

http://goo.gl/zBALQ =Mentors: Mrs Saunders and Miss Costantino = = = Michaela Xuereb, Natasha Cvitkovic, Kyle Calderon , Rebecca Rodriguez, Adele Ciappara, Jarrod Borja

**O rganisation and Shared Values **
** Family ** **Fun** ** Passion **

** Aim and Purpose: **
You always hear people saying to enjoy your life when your young, others say when your in your 30's its the best time in your life, and so on. But i have never heard anyone say the best time in there life was when they where above 60. This is what inspired my group to want to work with the elderly and make that difference in making there life enjoyable and one to remember. We wish to make the elderly in the nursing home smile and be happy, we want to and will make a massive impact on there life for the reason that we have the passion to do this.

Desired Outcomes:
To help out the local community Be recognised and apppreciated by the local community For the group to be proud of what we have achieved

Questions you need to ask and answer: will we be able to complete this task ? will we have to be of a certain age to go out to a animals home? what else can we do to help the animals instead of just going out and playing with them ?

Google Doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/16-W_mPkrqC_wZ-cAhYRfafth6sLYeFJYBDhfZePl9vs/edit?hl=en_US

Blog
6/9 MX - today in deal the year nine students where introduced to using a wikispaces blog in order to present and inform people about what we are doing to help the community through the organization my group has chosen. My group has chosen to be there for the elderly, in a nursing home. we have chosen to do this because my group is very passionate about giving the elderly a enjoyable time and one to remember. Last week we organized possible idea's of activities such as bingo, & lawn bowling etc. we also came up with a list of foods we could bring to them as our group would like to provide the elderly with a big breakfast that they would enjoy. We are hoping to make these activities run for around 10 weeks in order to give time for us to bond with the elderly, and get to know them so that they are comfortable around us, and also to make there life more entertaining. In the session last week we also found another group having the same passion to go to a nursing home too, therefore my group and the other group combined in order to make out groups one big group so that there is more of us and it is more easier to get to be able to run a lot more activities with the elderly. We are currently writing a proposal in which we will be sending to the nursing home that we wish to volunteer at.

6/9 MX - Chris the general manager of <span style="border-bottom-color: #0066cc; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: none; color: inherit; display: inline; float: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -1px; width: auto;">Western Bulldogs community programs in which was been running since 1986, came to our school to talked to us about how the <span style="border-bottom-color: #0066cc; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: none; color: inherit; display: inline; float: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -1px; width: auto;">Western Bulldogs club associates in helping the western region community. Chris explained why being there for the community is important and how the <span style="border-bottom-color: #0066cc; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: none; color: inherit; display: inline; float: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -1px; width: auto;">Western Bulldogs has made a football team for kids to be able to play and be comfortable, Chris also told us how they help out refugees. The most interesting thing i took out of what he said was when Chris was giving us tips and said ‘you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you can just help one thats already spinning’. I learnt important tips when making a email and how when making a email it is very important that you are not telling your life story, you want to get straight to the point in the most professional way possible. You also need to unsure your email is not to long therefore the person your sending it to will not be that interested in reading it, you need to just get straight to the point. I also learnt how to act in a interview or when making a phone call, you need to ensure you are not nerves, you need to know what your talking about and not mumble or pause or say uhm. I also learnt that i am a person in which is a task orientated person, this means i enjoy leading a group and giving my opinion. As my group is going to be helping the elderly, we have provided with important information in how to respond in certain situation and the best ways when helping the elderly. All the information i have gathered from todays teamwork sessions is a great way of acknowledging what needs to be done in making our task possible and the easiest way to take on this task as a team.

13/9 MX - This morning in deal the teachers presented a video of how people make a difference. This video just showed different people singing the same song from all over the world. I really enjoyed watching this video for the reason that it inspired me and showed me how by doing something that may seem little can affect and make so many people happy, in which you could see from the crowd of people standing around the man that was singing. I have never seen anything like that ever before where someone that is not famous, just a normal person singing on the streets, has such a massive impact on people. It makes me think and want to make a difference, it makes me proud that we are given this opportunity to help and complete this outreach program. I also started writing the proposal in which will be sent at the nursing home my group smile would wish to apply to volunteer at. at the end of the day we watched a movie called pay it forward, there is no way i can explain this movie but amazing ! It was about a 12 year old boy trying to change the world and make a difference. His idea to do so was to help three people but not expect anything back in return for helping them, and then those three people he has helped would help another three people and so forth. this movie was not based on a true story but on a book. Today this idea that the boy had in the movie has been taking place today by a organization called pay if forward foundation.

11/10 MX - Today in deal a majority of our group where away therefore rebecca, adele and myself needed to work harder and more efficient to be able to get more done so that we are able to get out there and help as quick as possible. The girls have informed me on our change of plans in our outreach program, we went from wanting to help the elderly and now to helping animals. We have discussed possible activities and things we could do with the animals but we need to email our possible vet clinic in order to see if we are able to volunteer to help. we have been researching different locations of animal clinics in which we could email but for now but we are hoping on being able to do volunteering work at the caroline springs veterinary hospital clinic. We had a meeting with miss costantino to discuss what we have done and then we found out that the chosen vet clinic in caroline springs was taken by another group. it is very hard to find a way to help animals, we have thought about raising awareness but another group is also doing that therefore we want to do something different. we are researching and trying the figure out everything to complete this out reach task. We also have had a idea of volunteering to help at the rspca, where we are able to entertain the animals by walking them and etc in which is said on the rspca website, through it is located in burwood we need to talk to the rest of our group asap in ensuring we are all able to get there.

25/10 MX - this morning in deal mr gilbert discussed with the year nine students what we have to do before being able to go and complete out outreach tasks, he showed the year nine two forms in which need to be filled out and what information needed to be on the form. After that we all went out in our groups and my group paws is continuing on with out activity submission form and out fundraiser poster in which has been started last week. Last week we also called the vet and they said they where going to give us a call back but have not contacted the school, therefore we have to call again hoping that we will get information and we will be out there in 2 weeks time. we have contacted a few vet and lost dogs home places but we have had no luck yet its out of they want to have only people over 18 to volunteer or some other issue which does not allow us to go out. our best luck for now is calling the vet and caroline spring, we have left another message for them today but they want us to call maxine tomorrow morning and hopefully we get the positive answer we are looking for, at the end of the day we also called another vet hospital organisation in which we have to contact on friday. mrs costintino showed us a check list of what we should be up to and it showed us that we are still behind but we are working hard to complete this task as quick as possible.

1/11 MX - though today we had no school i continued to try and find a animal centre in which we could go to for homework, i tried calling the caroline springs vet inquiring to talk to maxine in which last week we where told to contact in order to get answers if we where able to go to the caroline springs vet, but she was not contactable on this date for the reason that it was her day off and there was no one else able to give us a answer of if we are able go out in order to complete this task. I will continue to try and contact her on another day.

8/11 MX - in todays lesson my group had a group meeting tp discuss what we were going to do. we organized for adele to go contact the vet clinics, well the rest of the group where researching on continuing to finish and update our blogs. mrs saunders came to talk to our group and had given us good news that she knows a lady in which is her family friend that works at lort smith animal hospital in, mrs saunders has told her about our outreach program and how my group would love to help and volunteer in any way in which to benefit the animals. mrs saunders told us that we where able to go on her skype in order to contact her family friend and a request was sent and we are now waiting for her to accept of Skype request of call mrs saunders phone as mrs saunders has helped us out as a group heaps by calling her family friend and leaving a message. The group paws has also talked about if we are not successful with being able to help out at the lort smith that we will once again change our path way of outreach and focus on kids, our ideas was to be able to go to a local primary school and play with the kids or help the teachers in the younger class or so forth, to help the teachers out. As we are waiting for the call or skype to come through we are continuing to change and update our paws outreach page as we still have our aim and purpose and so on from the nursing home outreach project in which was planned to do when this project first started. we have been waiting a while and we are not able to wait any longer for the reason that we are already behind and we need to get on top of things really quickly therefore by waiting we are getting no where. plus we believe we have already contacted this lort smith animal hospital before and they didn't accept us because we where to long, though we think this mrs saunders thinks that because we know a lady in which works there that it would be easier and they are more likely to accept us. we where told to begin our task sheet for the outreach program to see were we are at and what we have to still do in which will be assessed on. my group needs to have a positive attitude and continue to strive in achieving our best in completing this task even after all the bad luck we have been having. Some member of the paws group have given up on the paws outreach program and have planned to change our outreach looks to children and we are researching to contact schools such as christ the priest, emmaus and other local primary schools and also to inquire what we are able to do in which to help the school or teachers in the best way possible. We have contacted Emmaus and they said they where not able to take us for the reason that they only allow volunteers from Sydenham to come in the school and they would not allow us to do so even though they accepted another group from crccs. We where told by teachers that going to school was not a good idea this is because there where to many group calling school and not being allowed to go to the schools, so we took our next step and tried contacting a kindergarden. we contacted Parkwood Green Preschool in hillside and they accepted us to come next week on the tuesday and the following tuesday after that. They also asked if we could email them sending them our details in which i have already done so, i also sent them a attachment with the email in which they have to fill out and will be given to the teachers in which lets us go out. All we have to focus on completing today is the google docs assessment for outreach program.

10/11 MX - i have completed over half of the google docs assessment for outreach for homework.

15/11 MX - today we where able to take our outreach project into action by being given the opportunity to be able to go and visit the children at Parkwood Green Pre-school. I am very proud of all the hard work my group had did in order to make today possible and for us being able to go out as it was a very enjoyable experience in which i look forward to go back to visit and help out by volunteering at the Parkwood Green Pre-school again. The teachers where very plight in introducing us to the children and the children gave us a very fun and enjoyable day, there where lots of laughs and fun time in which where shared with the children. We helped run activities with the kids such as painting, and we got to play outside with them, read books to them and other activities, we where even asked to stay longer to help out with the other pre-school session time classes. When we returned to school in which was after lunch we where told to complete the outreach reflection questions individually in which i am completing.

15/11-

22/11 NC- Today in DEAL we were out most of the day at ParkWood Green Preschool. We spend the day playing and working with most of the preschoolers. We did activities such as: drawing, painting, reading and playing (inside and outside). We made a lot of younger friends aged around 5-6 years old. We had children wanting to play with us and following us wherever we went. One of the highlights of the whole experience was 3 children making me christmas things to put on the tree and under the tree. It was a great experience and one that i would definitely do again.

30/8 NC- Today in DEAL we brainstormed the possible organisations and idea's we had for our target audience the elderly. Our group wishes to make the elderly smile and make the rest of there life enjoyable and one to remember. Therefore we come up with a list of idea's o make this happen. Our idea is to visit the elderly every Tuesday for 10 weeks and run activities with them. Our possible activities were Bingo, Lawn bowling, movie day, cooking and circle time (stories) just to name a few.

6/9 NC- Today in DEAL the whole of year 9 students were introduced to there own group Wiki Spaces blog. This was presented to us so that teachers as well as other groups can see what we are doing and what were up to. We also did a rotation of activities of skills that we would need in order for our project to be successful. We also had a guest speaker from Western BullDogs to speak to us about his Outreach that he contributes to. He also gave us a few tips and points for our outreaches.

6/9 RR - Last week in our deal lesson we planned out what we were going to do for our Outreach program, and we decided on helping out with the elderly people and having fun with them and making them smile :) Today in deal we had a guest speaker come in and speak to us, he was the general manager of <span style="border-bottom-color: #0066cc; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: none; color: inherit; display: inline; float: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -1px; width: auto;">Western Bulldogs community programs, which had been running since 1986. He told us about what kinda stuff the <span style="border-bottom-color: #0066cc; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: none; color: inherit; display: inline; float: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -1px; width: auto;">Western Bulldogs were doing and what they were involved in to help out the community. We also got introduced to our wikispaces page, we were are able to blog about what we are achieving and what i going on in our outreach groups.

20/9 RR - In todays lesson we decided that we didnt want to work with the elderly people any more because most of us didnt want to and we werent passionate to do it. So we searched up different organisations and charites that worked with either children or animals we thought about volunteer work at the zoo, but it was too hard tog et it, and we always thought about the <span style="border-bottom-color: #0066cc; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px 2px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: none; color: inherit; display: inline; float: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -1px; width: auto;">Ronald McDonald house and Shine for Kids, which we all decided that we should follow throguth. SHine for kids helps out with children whose parents are in prison but in the end decided not too, as they only worked on saturdays and we were not to keen on giving up our saturdays. When we had our meeting with our mentor, Mrs Saunders told us about the vet that is in Caroline Springs and we all decided that it was a good idea, and that it was close to the school so there would be no transport issues, as all we'd have to do is walk down. We are we still just researching about the program and we need to contact them to see if they need any helpers and do these kind of programs. Today we also had students from the Sydenham Justly group come and tell us about what community service they were doing to help out the community. They told as about what they were doing, and stories about their community service and how it felt good to give back to those who needed it, and they also gave us some advice and tips.

25/10 RR - In todays lesson, all we pretty much did was call up different companies and charities that help out with animals. But we had no luck with all them as we either had to be 16 and over or 18 or had to at least be volunteering for the next six months. So we really had no luck at all and still nothing to do. But we did have luck with one company but we had to call them back up on friday, and we are going on excursion so we wouldn't be home until about 8 and that would have been to late to call.

8/11 RR - In todays lesson we still had nothing that we were going to do. So we had a group meeting talking about what we were going to do, so Adele went and called up the Caroline Springs while the rest of us blogged. Mrs Saunders came along and told us that she had a friend that worked at the Lord Smith vet, and we had to get in contact with her via Skype. Adele had no luck and couldn't get to them. Adele then cam up with a good idea that we go to Christ the Priest or any other primary school and play with the prepies and that because me me and Adele went their for primary school that we might have a pretty good chance of being able to. So all we have to do is ring them up and ask.

15/11 RR - In todays lesson me and my group left at 9am and travelled there with natashas mum who drove us to the Park wood Green Kindergarten. Were we were going to volunteer and play and help out with the kids. It was lots of fun playing with them outside, and painting with them inside. All the kids were very cute and i hope they had as much fun as i did. I had a great time and i felt satisfied seeing that all the kids were smiling and that they were having a good a time, i just hope that we would've had more time to go out, so we wouldve had days to come in and play with them.

22/11 RR - In todays lesson Natasha, and Jarrod and Michaela left to go to the kindergarden and me and Adele stayed at school, working on our blogs and presentation. We had our discussion with both of our mentors, Mrs Saunders and Ms Costantino.

6/9 KC - Today we got introduced to our wikispaces groups and we have come up with our name which is "Smile" and today we had a guest speaker today. His name was Chris and he is the general manager of communities western bulldogs football club are involved in

6/9 AC- Last week we basically got our brainstorm completed. We decided to settle for the elderly even though some people didn't want to endure this as something to complete for the rest of the semester. Information that was included on this brainstorm was who we wanted to help, the elderly. How? by setting different programs each week for 'ten' weeks'. These programs will include fitness, health and simply something fun for the elderly to do. I think this is going to be a hard task... Today. we got introduced to these blogs on wikispaces. These blogs have been made for us students to blog about each tuesday. We also had a guest speaker that came out to speak to us about his part in the community as the general manager of the western bulldogs educated speaker. He was talking about how the western bulldogs isn't just a football club it also reaches out to children and adults.

AC: We got into four groups and we learnt about how to address ourselves when meeting someone, How to speak to people with respect and the right language to use formally in letters and emails and how to approach people over the phone. First impression is everything. In Mr Jilberts group we read about the elderly and how to deal with them. How to approach them. It really helped me get an insight. It's really not going to be easy and It gave me a negative attitude towards the task. I really want to work with children along with other members in my group. What I read about the elderly what put me off was that with old people you have to stick to a routine, That's hard for me to do I get bored and tend to change things and I believe It's better to change things.I like to change things for peoples entertainment and to make it fun. I think that relates more to children. It also says to form relationships with the elderly people and to also take it as a fun task not a "job". To me this is a job I don't find I'll relate to the elderly as much as i would relate to children. Although I am all for helping someone with in my community. And will hopefully continue to enjoy approaching the elderly with a positive attitude

13/9 NC- Today in DEAL we did some more work on values. We watched Youtube video's related to values which was people singing or playing instruments to a song that was meaningful to them and there values.

20/9 JB - Today in DEAL we looked at our values and changed our plans, we all agreed that instead of helping the elderly people we are looking at helping animals. We had an interview with Ms. Saunders and she gave us the idea of volunteering at the VET across the street, it will be more convenient for us and it's what we all agree on. Today if we have the opportunity we will go down their and ask if we can offer our services like donating old towels and caring for some of the animals there like the kittens.

2 0/9 AC Also today three students form the CRC Sydenham well being team came to visit out school and talk about their experiences working with the community. They had a lot of advice to give us and one of their main points was to never give up. They spoke about what they had achieved, like going to help out with the Melbourne floods earlier on and donating blood, Which was only last week. They spoke about how it gave them great satisfaction in helping people and want to pursue it has a career. We also looked at our assessment sheet.

25/10 JB - Today in DEAL we researched facilities/ organisations in the area that promote and care for animals/ pets. We found quite a few places that had open positions for volunteers, so we looked into that and we contacted them. After a long process most of the organisations didn't accept us because you had to be either 16 or you had to volunteer over 6 months, we didn't fit either of the criteria so we had to scrap most of our ideas and goals. Although most of the organisations pushed us away there were 2 places that were somewhat interested and wanting us to call back next week. There were a lot of organisations that were confused with the term volunteering and they kind of thought we were applying for a job, although it is still volunteering because we aren't getting payed I would still consider it a job because it is a big responsibility. We also got a talk from Ms. Costantino about our progress and she believes that the idea of doing pets should be tweaked because we are running out of time and we keep getting sent back. We also have to do our Google docs assessment which we should start ticking off and updating.

25/10 NC- Today in DEAL we continued working on our Outreach programs. We called different organisations and companies that work with pets, and asked if there were any possibility if we could come to there organisation to help, promote and even do some hands on things with the pets they have. Most of the places we had rang said we either had to be 16 or over or they only offer work experience. After having no luck of finding an organisation or company to work with, we finally found two places that were interested, they ask us to call them back the following week so they can take it to the manager.

8/11 AC- Today we are still looking for somewhere to do our program. We are waiting for a vet to contact us and then we will see what happens from there. Over the past few weeks all we have been doing is call places. We have been asking to volunteer and donate our time but no one has accepted. This is really frustrating and annoying. We came up with another idea which was to go to a school and play with the kids in outdoor activities, I think this is a better option for our group, considering we have done nothing.

8/11 JB - Today we contacted the other 2 companies and we weren't able to get through to them, Ms. Saunders came back and was able to get in contact with a veterinarian and we have set up another option if all goes wrong. We haven't had the best of luck when it comes to talking to companies and this time was no different, we weren't able to get through to any other companies so we are just going to leave the phone alone for a bit. Ms Saunders knew someone who could help us and she sent a Skype request as well as a voice message so that she can hopefully get back to us soon. We have also tweaked our ideas in case if everything goes downhill, we have looked in volunteering our time in primary schools. We would like to work with the younger people and right now we are constructing a plan so we know what we want to do with them then we are going to look at what is available. After quite a long day we have finally got in touch with a ore school which will be willing to take us in next Tuesday and the following Tuesday after that, it is the Parkwood Green Pre school Community Hub in Hillside. We are really excited and we are going to be there from 9:30 to about 1. We have had so much set backs and bad luck, we are really happy that we are able to get this opportunity to go out and help the community. This is a real boost because this is another step towards our end goals.

22/11 Adele - A lot has happened in our group in only a week! Two weeks ago after I wrote my blog luck came our way. We started calling some pre schools to go out and help play and educate the kids. We got cut off, no one accepted us. But then my group came up with the idea of helping little kinder garden children. We thought they would appreciate our help more and would have a lot for enthusiasm to our appearance. We got accepted at Parkwood Green school Community Hub in Hillside. The next week we went to the kindergarden. Natasha's mum drove us to our destination around 9 o'clock. We stayed and played with the kids till 12:30. The kids and there teachers were so nice! Our group separated into two different groups because their were two different classes. My group was with Kyle and Rebecca. First we went outside and introduced ourselves to the children and then went inside to do some painting. The paintings were so cute some were really talented. We ate lunch and then headed off back to school. Today Kyle is away. Nathash, Jarrod, Michaela are off to the kindergarden. I was suppose to go on a excursion but we were un aware of receiving a second note. There was a lack of logic and organization on my behalf. Although it benefited for my group. Rebecca and I get to stay back and complete the evidence and presentation while Natasha, Jarrod and Michaela are at the kinder garden reaching out.