Tuesday, November 17th
This morning began with an awesome training by Laurie, one of the staff members at the B&GCBC (Boys and Girls Club of Brazoria County.) She did different ice breaker activities with us and talked to us about different strategies that we could use when working with and mentoring students. Obviously I knew a lot of what she was talking about, but it's always a nice refresher, and I love talking about anything related to kids and teaching!
In the afternoon, we helped out at the Club like we will be each day after school from 2-6pm. I have volunteered to be one of the AmeriCorps members in the "homework room," which is where kids who are failing or behind grade-level in reading are going to be sent for extra help. I am really excited about this. There is already a particular boy who I have my heart set on helping. He has already been held back twice and is in the second grade currently and he CANNOT READ. It is awful. In just a few short minutes of reading/talking with him, I discovered that he needs a great deal of help. He seems to be naturally happy and fun-loving, so it doesn't appear that he has completely internalized "failure" yet. But the more kids struggle at an early age, especially with reading, the more likely they are to give up, and I do not want to see this happen to any of the kids here that I can help.
I met with the director of the club, Rebecca, for about a half hour in her office following my observations of this particular boy, and she began discussing with me several students who are failing or below grade-level in reading. I really want to develop some sort of pull-out groups for these students to try to get them some extra help. My plan thus far is to continue to assess their needs this week, and then over the weekend develop some various games and activities to do with them. I am hoping to pull them out in small groups at least 3 days a week. I need to run all of this by Rebecca again tomorrow or Friday.
I am so thankful that I taught summer literacy school this past summer and have some experience dealing with literacy issues. My added challenge here in Freeport will be that many of the students are Hispanic and come from Spanish-speaking families at home. This means they may not get a lot of extra reading support at home.
I am excited that I have some ideas, and I will definitely keep you updated on how these plans continue to grow.
After the kids and staff left at 6pm, we had our first night of group PT. We ran laps around the gym, ran stairs, did sit-ups, push ups, wall sits, and lunges. It was nice to sweat and run around after a lot of sitting in the van recently.
Then, according to our cooking schedule, it was my night (along with my cooking-partner Joel) to cook dinner. We planned out all of our meals for the week on Sunday and bought all of the groceries that we needed. Joel and I made chicken stir-fry with rice. It was really yummy, although cooking for 12 people with one small skillet, one small sauce pan, and one boiling pot can be pretty tricky, but we made it work.
I spent the rest of the night updating my blog, downloading pictures to my computer, and writing Eric his first night of letters. I found out today from his mom that he is actually in Oklahoma now at Ft. Sill (not Missouri like we originally thought.)
Wednesday, November 18th
Today was one of the best days I've had since joining AmeriCorps. We started out our day by meeting Fay, our B&GCBC sponsor, and she took us for a tour of the area. We visited Valasco Beach (on the Gulf) and spent a little while there taking pictures and beach combing for shells. Below are some pictures!
This morning began with an awesome training by Laurie, one of the staff members at the B&GCBC (Boys and Girls Club of Brazoria County.) She did different ice breaker activities with us and talked to us about different strategies that we could use when working with and mentoring students. Obviously I knew a lot of what she was talking about, but it's always a nice refresher, and I love talking about anything related to kids and teaching!
In the afternoon, we helped out at the Club like we will be each day after school from 2-6pm. I have volunteered to be one of the AmeriCorps members in the "homework room," which is where kids who are failing or behind grade-level in reading are going to be sent for extra help. I am really excited about this. There is already a particular boy who I have my heart set on helping. He has already been held back twice and is in the second grade currently and he CANNOT READ. It is awful. In just a few short minutes of reading/talking with him, I discovered that he needs a great deal of help. He seems to be naturally happy and fun-loving, so it doesn't appear that he has completely internalized "failure" yet. But the more kids struggle at an early age, especially with reading, the more likely they are to give up, and I do not want to see this happen to any of the kids here that I can help.
I met with the director of the club, Rebecca, for about a half hour in her office following my observations of this particular boy, and she began discussing with me several students who are failing or below grade-level in reading. I really want to develop some sort of pull-out groups for these students to try to get them some extra help. My plan thus far is to continue to assess their needs this week, and then over the weekend develop some various games and activities to do with them. I am hoping to pull them out in small groups at least 3 days a week. I need to run all of this by Rebecca again tomorrow or Friday.
I am so thankful that I taught summer literacy school this past summer and have some experience dealing with literacy issues. My added challenge here in Freeport will be that many of the students are Hispanic and come from Spanish-speaking families at home. This means they may not get a lot of extra reading support at home.
I am excited that I have some ideas, and I will definitely keep you updated on how these plans continue to grow.
After the kids and staff left at 6pm, we had our first night of group PT. We ran laps around the gym, ran stairs, did sit-ups, push ups, wall sits, and lunges. It was nice to sweat and run around after a lot of sitting in the van recently.
Then, according to our cooking schedule, it was my night (along with my cooking-partner Joel) to cook dinner. We planned out all of our meals for the week on Sunday and bought all of the groceries that we needed. Joel and I made chicken stir-fry with rice. It was really yummy, although cooking for 12 people with one small skillet, one small sauce pan, and one boiling pot can be pretty tricky, but we made it work.
I spent the rest of the night updating my blog, downloading pictures to my computer, and writing Eric his first night of letters. I found out today from his mom that he is actually in Oklahoma now at Ft. Sill (not Missouri like we originally thought.)
Wednesday, November 18th
Today was one of the best days I've had since joining AmeriCorps. We started out our day by meeting Fay, our B&GCBC sponsor, and she took us for a tour of the area. We visited Valasco Beach (on the Gulf) and spent a little while there taking pictures and beach combing for shells. Below are some pictures!
I really like this picture of me -- I think it's cool that you can see the "A" on my shirt and the water behind me. 
It was VERY sunny, so many of the pictures make us look like shadows.
Me, Jamie, and Amanda.
After the beach, we headed to Texas's "Sea Center," which is a red-fish hatchery and small aquarium. We were given a tour of the hatchery and got to learn about a lot of the aquatic life in the Gulf and Freeport area.
Afterwards, Fay treated us to an AMAZING BBQ lunch at Brian's BBQ. I had a BBQ chopped brisket sandwich, which is one of the best meals I've ate since leaving Michigan. The owner Brian and his wife are the two that run the place. It was decorated with tons of funny quotes and signs on the inside -- definitely one of the those hometown restaurants that have homemade tasting food. It was great of Fay to take us there and buy us all lunch!
When we returned to the Club, the fun began. The kids had a half-day of school today, so they were at the club from 12:30-6pm. This meant that we had to really help the staff entertain the kids. Below is a picture of Mary and I with two of the 3rd grade girls who were playing "beauty parlor" with our hair. More pictures below reveal the awesome pigtails that one of the girls gave me -- which I wore around and got laughed at for during much of the afternoon!
Here's me with a group of 1st grade girls in the homework room. Since today was a half-day, they didn't have to stick to just doing homework, we were allowed to play games and do activities too. I instantly won them over when I made a "fortune-teller" (also known as a "cootie-catcher"). If you're unfamiliar with these, they're made sort of like origami from paper and have colors, then numbers, and finally fortunes on the inside. I made one for the girls that had silly fortunes like, "You will perform on stage with Miley Cirus" and "You will go to dinner with the Jonas Brothers." I didn't realize how much they would like this until I spent the next HOUR folding fortune-tellers for about 8 girls. It was a lot of fun and it kept them occupied and laughing!
After the kids left, we made dinner (tonight was taco night) and then have been mostly relaxing. I was surprised that Eric was able to call me quickly from a bunk-mate's cellphone, so that made my evening even better.
But now here I am, and it's 10:30pm, and I told myself I was going to get to sleep early tonight. So I should probably get moving -- I was just really excited to post more pictures. More to come, as always! Goodnight!
It seems like you have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Count those blessings, girl. Sometimes they come few and far between but your optimism and good heart tells me you will be blessed many times over.
ReplyDeleteI can feel your passion for what you are doing and your love for the children in your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Ash! I've been following along with your adventures..it sounds like you're having an amazing time and learning a lot from the people you're with and what you're doing. I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and are able to see everyone when you come back in a little less than a month! Take care!
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