First grade day 3

First graders are very tenacious and need constant supervision and redirecting. Lol, this is the lesson learned last week with my little people. I got to work one-on-one with a girl who needed help with her reading. My focus with her was phonics and to implement the importance of pronunciation and not to guess. These children seem distracted at times and yet they grave so much attention. I am sure that at the end of the day, let alone week, these teachers are drained. This teacher displays such a strong desire to break through to these children, regardless of her tiredness. She told me that when her children have a bad day, it makes her work that much harder to get through to them. This teacher told me she refuses to fail them and she enjoys watching them grow. I was touched by her commitment and I'm sure that if more teachers took this approach to education our children would be in better situations. I had a wonderful time with them as always.

First grade Day 2

I got to see my first grade class March 2nd and they were excited for my presence as was Mrs. Fenelon, lol. I immediately got to work one on one with an amazing little boy. He was able to finish his three page assignment in about 10 minutes and we used the remainder of our time reading books. The one on one time was very good for him, he needs help with phonics and constant reminders to pre-nunciate his words. My time with him was very gratifying and I think it started his day off well. From there I got to help the class with word placement. Each student was giving a sheet with five sentences, each jumbled and they had to arrange the words correctly. I had to give the kids simple tips like the beginning of the sentences starts with a Capital letter and ends with a period or exclamation mark. I was surprised to see which students excelled and which struggled. A very important lesson I learned is not to judge a book by its cover. I'm always so grateful to how much this class appreciates me helping them out. Looking forward to seeing my little cuties pies again. These kids just seem to want a positive person around to be active in their life and wellbeing.

Fifth grade day 1

I have had the opportunity to go to Brown Street academy twice since my last post. I visited with the fifth grade class on Feb 24th and this was a very eye-opening experience for me. So for starters fifth graders are older than the children I took care of originally in the first grade. With this older age comes a lot more verbal opinions, comments and complaining. Upon entering the classroom i introduced myself to the class and the class calls you Mr/Ms followed by your last name. I immediately got to work passing out Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast Earth to the Moon. I have noticed as with my sons class, this classroom is equipped with a Smartchart system. It allows the teachers to use the internet on a projector and a ton of other cool things. Teachers are able to use YouTube to get the kids involved in learning that stimulates them. I can't lie I was bobbing to this hip-hop version of the solar system being taught from YouTube. These teachers have to do a balancing act of engaging the kids and teaching them. Oh My, this is more challenging then it seems. Some children caught on quick, I witnessed two little boys in the front of the room who were self motivated and very smart. I watched a little boy very smart for he had diarrhea of the mouth and constantly talked out of turn. I had three girls in the back of the room who were in their own world of applying lotion and lip glass. It was amazing to see the contrast of the three girls. Girl 1, sassy but smart did all of her work quickly, Girl 2, quiet, also smart and allowed me to share her book, and Girl 3, quiet, did not work and was not interested in it , no shape or form. Girl 3 intrigued me and I made it a personal project to get through to her during my visits. Also intermingled into the room are sleeping, chatting students,two students from other classes and a few with behavior issues. I was amazed at the workload that these two teachers had to bear for a classroom of i believe 24. I also got to journey to the library and Art class with this bunch of children and was amazed to see how some children open up. I was also saddened to see how most of these children have no idea of their potential and the effect they have on making change in the world. I left this class tired and overwhelmed but with the belief that we have to change these kids lives and perceptions early. When I looked around the class and see so many disheveled faces I can't help but wonder what their households are like. Im so grateful for this experience but the situation seems almost dire.

Las week Friday, I got to meet Mrs Fenelon and her class of first graders. What an amazing experience! It also happened to be the day of the Black History program as well. Upon arriving to the class I was immediately greeted with excitement and asked to help those with their hands up. When I am in this class I will be focusing on making sure that the kids are focusing on their phonics, grammar and structure. This bunch of kids are filled with energy and it great that there are two teachers in the room committed to their learning. Around 0930 I got the honor of watching all the grades from K5 to 5th perform in the black history program and what an excellent performance from all. I also had the surprise of meeting the schools principal Mrs. Morris, who also was an English teacher at the high school i attended. She seems so motivated to help this school be successful and prepare he children for middle school. I look forward to going back tomorrow. It is however unfortunate that during my volunteer experience I will not stay in just one classroom. I will be going between Mrs. Fenelon's class and a fifth grade class. It would have been great to get to know the same children throughout the school year.