Singing our own praises….
“After watching the B HealthE! and Rainbow Chew videos by the DreamDog kids, the snappy tunes stuck with me all day. I even found myself singing the lyrics later on! It is Global Youth Service Day projects like B Health E and Rainbow Chew that makes Youth Service America so proud of what we do . YSA helps children make a difference and change their communities, even the world by allowing them the opportunity to be leaders. This specific project gave the children confidence to create a video as well as sing and dance in front of their peers while also promoting a key message – staying active and healthy.”
Jen Voss
(YSA) Youth Service America
Director of Communications
Check out the videos again for yourself here!
Press Release
DREAMDOG FOUNDATION RECEIVES YOUTH SERVICE AMERICA,
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP ‘HEALTH HERO’ DESIGNATION
Alexandria Students, Mayor William D. Euille and
Superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools, Dr. Mort Sherman
Participate in a “Kids Empowering Kids” Program
Focused on Supporting Children to Live Healthy Lives
Through Music, Dance and a Celebration of the Arts
as Part of Global Youth Service Day
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Monday, April 25, 2011 – DreamDog Foundation, a local 501(c)(3) brings interactive, cutting-edge experiential learning to local Title 1 students. The Foundation was awarded a UnitedHealth HEALTH HEROES Grant from Youth Service America (YSA) and UnitedHealth Group, which supports youth-led service-learning initiatives addressing childhood obesity and healthy lifestyles.
The DreamDog Foundation was one of only six Virginia grantees to receive this high honor and is bringing their “Kids Empowering Kids” program to Mt. Vernon Community School, a Title 1 elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia. The DreamDog Foundation ‘Kids Empowering Kids” project is a celebration of the arts including music and movement, visual arts, dance, and written and spoken language.
Students are involved in every aspect of producing their music video from writing the lyrics for the song, to staging the dance moves and creating the art used in the video to EMPOWER other children to make healthy choices in their lives.
Singing and dancing on the video with the kids were Alexandria City Mayor, William D. Euille and Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Mort Sherman.
The DreamDog Foundation “Kids Empowering Kids” program creates videos that send positive messages made BY KIDS FOR KIDS! The program, which works on literacy skills while building self-esteem, enables the children to help make a difference – all through a hands-on, multi-media experiential learning program.
The two week-long initiative was a part of Global Youth Service Day, the world’s largest and longest-running youth-led service campaign. To see award-winning singer, songwriter Rainey, Jazz the DreamDog and the DreamDog Kids perform their songs – “Rainbow Chew” and “B HealthE!” – please click here:
This is the video by the little ones (students in grades 1-2):
“Rainbow Chew“ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_RQzBAEhug
This is the video by the older kids (students in grades 3-5):
“B HealthE!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zigheLqtaOc
Or you can go to their website www.DreamDog.org to view the music videos and see daily video and photo updates of their adventure in health and learning.
Lorraine Friedman, Executive Director for the DreamDog Foundation said that the program provides a much-needed dose of experiential learning. “You can listen to a million lectures about health and nutrition, but if you are having to write a poem or a song to try to change someone else’s behavior, it really makes you stop and think – what would work for me? What message would I need to hear to make a change?” Then she says, “with that empowered thinking, knowing that they have the ability to change another kids’ life, they really create fabulous work, going beyond worksheets or writing assignment.” She says that two of the older girls added a line in their poem warning kids not to smoke, sharing their experience of losing a family member to lung cancer: “And, never smoke. It’s not a joke and it could even make you choke.” Friedman said, “making connections to their real life experiences and then sharing those with others – when the students become the teachers – is a very powerful learning tool.”
“These grants were extremely competitive, but the DreamDog Foundation exemplified service-learning and the UnitedHealth HEROES program,” said Steve Culbertson, President and CEO of Youth Service America. “Young people in Alexandria want to make a difference, and UnitedHealth Group, in conjunction with Youth Service America and programs like ‘Kids Empowering Kids’ offers them resources to make a positive, measurable impact on their community.”
“With UnitedHealth HEROES, we are helping young people take action to improve their overall health and quality of life in a way that’s not only educational, but beneficial for their communities. As people become more aware of health issues through health literacy and advocacy initiatives they will make positive changes to live better lives,” said Kate Rubin, UnitedHealth Group vice president of Social Responsibility.
At the DreamDog website and on their Facebook page, you can follow the daily progress of the “Kids Empowering Kids” program. “Rainbow Chew” a song created by the students and Rainey features 1st and 2nd graders teaching their friends and community the importance of eating a variety of fruits and vegetables everyday. “B HealthE!” was written and performed by 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students to empower and inspire others with the lessons they learned about making healthy choices, for food and exercise. The students’ favorite part of the program was having the Mayor and Superintendent sing parts they had written for their community leaders. The project provided the opportunity for the students to become the teachers sharing all their lessons learned about health and nutrition. That’s the power of “Kids Empowering Kids!”
For more information about the DreamDog Foundation’s “Kids Empowering Kids” project, visit http://www.DreamDog.org. For more information about Youth Service America and Global Youth Service Day, visit www.YSA.org.
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Day 10
We can’t believe how quickly these two weeks went! The kids had so much fun and learned so much along the way. The greatest part was watching the students become the teachers at their assembly, up in front of the whole school singing about all they had learned. Please click on this link to see their music videos:
This is the video by the little ones (students in grades 1-2):
“Rainbow Chew“ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_RQzBAEhug
This is the video by the older kids (students in grades 3-5):
“B HealthE!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zigheLqtaOc
Thank you to everyone who helped make this “Kids Empowering Kids” program possible!
RAINBOW CHEW
Thank you everyone who made this video possible! The 1st and 2nd grade kids at Mount Vernon Community School worked very hard to make this possible, please enjoy!
Day 9
Day 9– Today, on our morning speed walk around school, we made a new friend. JJ has been beautifying our school for nearly 30 years. We all thanked him and he talked to us about how a lawnmower’s blades work. Since Earth Day is only a few days away, we decided to take in all the blooming flowers and appreciate nature and the fact that our strong bodies were allowing us to run and play. (It was also an appreciation day because we done filming for our video.)
During art we used Mod Podge to finish up our healthy art. Can’t wait to put those up all around the school for our friends to see.
Lastly, we spent time practicing in the auditorium getting ready for our performance tomorrow. We decided to show our friends our morning warm-ups to get them all moving. We are going to have such fun tomorrow!
