The Smile Train Cleft Buddy Project
Short Description
The Smile Train Cleft Buddy Project is a pen-pal program where classes exchange a small stuffed animal symbolically to represent children born with cleft lip. The project hopes to raise awareness and teach tolerance and acceptance of people with differences to others. Several subjects, such as the language arts, health, humanities, and social studies may be studied through the use of the "cleft buddy."
Subject
- Arts and Humanities
- Language Arts
- Health
- Life Sciences Biology
- Ethics
- Regions/Cultures
Technology Needed
No technological hardware is necessary for this project, but E-mail, for example, will allow for more interaction between the two pen-pal classes.
Time Commitment
The time committment really depends on the goals the teachers set.
Registration Information
Register at iearn@us.earn.org
Registration Deadline
no deadline-ongoing project
Full Project Description
Classes are paired with pen pal classes by registering on the I*EARN site. Once registered and matched, classes exchange a small stuffed animal called a "cleft buddy". A "cleft buddy" is a stuffed animal that symbolically represents a child born with a cleft lip and palate. When the "cleft buddy" is exchanged with a pen pal class, students communicate via e-mail and postal mail reporting on the condition of the "cleft buddy". Utilizing information posted on the web, teachers develop activities with their classes encouraging awareness and sensitivity to the plight of children born with cleft lips and palates. Classes problem solve to decide how to help their buddy receive the surgery that will change its life forever.
Possible project/classroom activities
Since the "Smile Train Cleft Buddy Project" is under the guidance of the teacher, the project will develop according to the curriculum goals that the teacher sets. Depending on circumstances, the buddy can make home visits, go on class excursions to a hospital, enjoy social events and become a mascot for the class. It is hoped that students will be stimulated by the "Smile Train Cleft Buddy Project" to learn more about birth defects while developing tolerance and understanding for children afflicted with this condition.
Possible beginning activities
Discuss the project with the class. Have they ever seen anyone who had a birth defect? Would they want to help someone who had a cleft lip if they could?
Decide what kind of stuffed animal the class wants to send to its pen pal class. Bears work well, especially soft and cuddly ones but any new or nearly new stuffed animal makes a perfect "cleft buddy."
Once the buddy is selected, cut a small, repairable opening below the nose and he will officially become a "cleft buddy".
Discuss why the buddy needs to travel to another class for help. Are there better resources or a training facility in the pen pal class? Is the surgery less expensive or even free?
Put a map up in the classroom and draw a line from the buddy's hometown to the pen pal class.
Start a diary for the buddy. Encourage the class to discuss the buddy's fears, hopes and dreams as it leaves home. Students may want to include a family history for the buddy. Was the buddy an orphan, a street child, a member of a poor but loving family? As they create the buddy's history, the class will begin thinking about tolerating individual differences, as well as caring for and helping others.
Pack the buddy's suitcase. Include a thank you note for participating in the project, your postal mail address and your e-mail address, mailing guidelines for sending the buddy home once he receives surgery, a journal, information about your class, and of course, pajamas and a change of clothes.
Have a Bon Voyage party for your buddy.
Allow one or two weeks for the "cleft buddy" to arrive. Begin exchanging information via e-mail or postal mail notifying students that the buddy arrived safely in its new destination.
Exchange postcards, simple research projects, letters and photos. The more the class writes, the more interactive and dynamic the program becomes. Classes may write a diary of events and send it by e-mail. They man also forward images of the "cleft buddy" to the pen pal class by e-mail.
If both classes do have access to the web, sending electronic cards is fun. These cards can be seasonal greetings from you to them, reminders to visit your web site for current events, or just cards that tell them how their "cleft buddy" is doing. Best of all, students can design their own cards to send to the buddy.
Project Objectives
Ideas developed through the "Cleft Buddy Project" will be incorporated into a curriculum guide for classes that adopt the program in the future. Classroom ideas focusing on tolerance and kindness will be developed. Simple fundraisers will also be developed.
Students will learn about birth defects, particularly cleft lips and palates which is a birth defect affecting millions of children worldwide. They will develop an action plans to help children with clefts. They will gather information about children in their area who have untreated clefts and share the information with The Smile Train which is an international foundation whose goal is to provide surgery for poor and orphaned children with clefts. .
Assessment
Teachers can assess student through the projects the teacher incorporates. Also, seeing students interact among people of differences openly shows success.
Sponsored by
Smile Train is sponsoring this project. It is a non-profit organization committed to helping children all over the world who are afflicted with cleft lip and palate.
