More evidence of our awesome organizational skills!
This project was right up my alley, because I love cleaning and organizing!
We found this whiteboard, and I wrote this note to the staff at the office. This was right after we received "surprises" from Fay, our sponsor. Fay gave us each a bag with a B&GC t-shirt, an electric toothbrush, candy, gum, and other snacks as a welcome to Freeport! It was so nice of her -- everyone at the Club is really taking care of us well!
Thursday night we did PT, ate dinner, and then went to sleep! Nothing too exciting!
Friday, November 20th
Friday we followed the same schedule as Thursday (half at Griffith, half at the office). My group finished the projects that we started the previous day, and then we participated in "Fat Friday" with the office staff. It was a potluck lunch as a "pre-Thanksgiving" feast. I had some awesome homemade banana pudding -- something we don't really make in Michigan.
In the evening, a group of us tried to go see the new Twilight movie, "New Moon," but it was, of course, sold out -- so we ended up getting ice cream and then stopping at BUC-EE'S instead!
Yes, I had my first Buc-ee's experience, and let me tell you, it is pretty cool! They have a coffee shop inside called Buc-ee Beans, and they sell lots of random gift items, wine, cheese, etc. It's just like a gas station, but it's huge and really nicely decorated and very clean. I guess there's a chain similar further south in Texas called "Stripes." We might have to try and check this out too!
Saturday, November 21st
This morning we woke up and went to help the B&GC Keystone members (a group of high school students who serve on a leadership board in the community) build their float for the Parade of Lights that evening. It was fun working with the kids, even though they didn't really need our help.
In the evening, almost our entire group went into Lake Jackson (which is a neighboring town) to watch the parade! It was really well done and there were tons of floats! Below is a picture of our group sitting on the curb at the parade!
One of the floats that I thought was really cute! The Grinch!
I didn't manage to get a picture of the B&GC float because I couldn't get my camera out quick enough, but we yelled and waved to all the kids riding on it when they passed.
Today my group finally got to go to our elementary school in the morning. We are working in the fourth grade classrooms at Jane Long Elementary. I am working in the Language Arts classroom with Ms. Charles. It's fun because some of the students in my classroom come to the B&GC after school, so they were really excited to see that we are working in their classrooms too.
I am really happy that I have an opportunity to be working in a classroom right now. I makes me anxious and excited to have my own classroom in the future. Ms. Charles plans on utilizing me to the fullest, and I hope I can help her by leading small groups or working one-on-one with students who need extra help. Whatever I can do to help, I'm sure it will be great!
In the afternoon, we continue our routine at the B&GC. Meg and I take a group of four students to the building next door where we have a mini-classroom set up for reading help. We are working with them on sound-letter pairing, blends, sight words, and just general reading. We found some fun/educational reading games that they really enjoy on http://www.starfall.com/, so we rotated one-on-one reading with them and playing computer games this afternoon.
Both Meg and I have experience teaching/tutoring kids in reading, so it's nice that we get to work together in this environment. The kids we work with are in 1st and 2nd grade, and their names are: Veda, Aaliyah, Chloe, and Frank. They are very sweet kids, and they really enjoy coming to our "special class" after school each day! Hopefully I can take a picture with them sometime soon to post so that you can see how adorable they are!
In the evening on Monday we did PT where we practiced various basketball drills. This is important because we were asked to play a game against the B&GC Keystone group (high school kids) on December 3rd. This is not just an informal scrimmage -- Ms. Becky (director of the club) is going to have all of the kids assemble in the gym, and she is even going to use the electronic scoreboard! All of the kids are really excited to watch (as are we to play in it!) The only problem is that no one on our team is really skilled at basketball...haha...I'm sure that we will have fun regardless!
Tuesday, November 24th
Today was very similar to Monday in that I worked in my classroom at Jane Long Elementary in the morning and at the B&GC in the afternoon. Here's me outside of Jane Long.
I had an interesting experience while working at the school today, and it consumed most of my thoughts for the rest of the day. When I first arrived, I attended the 3rd grade Thanksgiving performance with my class. I was in a somewhat bitter mood about spending Thanksgiving away from my family, and watching the play just made me more upset. When we returned to the classroom, I sat down at a table with three students to color this turkey coloring page that Ms. Charles had given the students for fun.
I was sort of having a "pity-party" inside myself while coloring, and it an effort to change my mood, I asked the group I was sitting with if they were excited for the holiday break this week and if they had any special plans.
The first little boy began by telling me that he wasn't excited for Thanksgiving because his parents were "fighting" (which he actually did the little quotation gesture while saying the word fighting--this was interesting to me). He said something about how his mom probably won't come to dinner and his dad's brother always come with his "ugly girlfriend and ugly baby." His eyes welled up with tears as he talked about his parents fighting.
He was quickly interrupted, however, by another girl who said she also wasn't looking forward to Thanksgiving because she had to spend it with her dad, and she really just wanted to be with her mom and brother. She said that last year she also had to spend Thanksgiving with her dad, and she thought this year she would be able to see her mom, but she wasn't allowed.
The last girl at the table interrupted her by saying she didn't even get to see her parents on Thanksgiving because they had to work, so she was disappointed and was going to spend the day with her grandparents instead.
This conversation made me feel instantly guilty, selfish, and incredibly sad. Here I was, three minutes beforehand, saying "Woe-is-me, I have to spend Thanksgiving away from my parents," and here are these children who are ten years old, and they are going to have a far more difficult holiday than I have ever experienced. I wish that I could change it for them -- let them have a Thanksgiving like I am used to where they spend a day enjoying family time, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, baking pies, drinking coffee, playing cards...
It hurts me so badly to think about children in situations of pain or misfortune. From that conversation forward, I shifted my thoughts about Thanksgiving from feeling sorry to feeling extremely grateful. I thought long and hard about how lucky I am to have the opportunity to do a program like NCCC, and how I should most definitely not be angry about spending the upcoming holiday here in Texas with my team. Regardless, it was an emotional day for me.
We also had PT again in the evening and we played kickball. Kelly and I made lasagna for dinner.
Eric was able to call me quickly tonight, which made me really excited, because it's the last time I am able to talk to him until I see him at Christmas. He finished processing and officially began "basic training" on Wednesday, so he called quick to say hello before he left. I miss him so much. I can't wait to see him over break. I am thankful that we both have the same break so that we get an opportunity to see each other.
Wednesday, November 25th
Today we worked at the B&GC office for the day. We were given copies of previous Texas TAX exams (similar to Michigan's MEAP), and Laurie asked us to come up with education games for the after school programs to use to help students prepare for the TAX test.
I was given 5th grade reading, so I tried to create a type of "Candy Land" board game with cards that pertained to a story excerpt. It was fun to be creative and artsy while working on something that hopefully the kids will enjoy. Other members of my team worked on "Cranium" type games, Jeopardy, and other creative means of reviewing for the test.
I was very excited to receive a package in the afternoon while we were working at the office. My parents sent me pumpkin bread and cranberries for Thanksgiving. I was feeling very homesick and sad about being away for the holiday -- it definitely helped to have some of Dad's cranberries.
After dinner, some members of my team and I went out into Lake Jackson for the evening. We started at a local Mexican restaurant so that people both under and over 21 could participate. We ordered chips and salsa (and those of us that were over 21 ordered a couple beers) -- it was nice to just relax as a team, especially because many of us were feeling homesick with Thanksgiving being tomorrow.
Around 11:30pm, the under-21-ers dropped the rest of us off at Kicks, which is a country dance and karaoke bar. We stayed there for a while and then took a cab back home. It was fun to go out, since I traditionally go out the night before Thanksgiving with my high school friends from home. I really missed being with my girlfriends in Eaton Rapids -- I hope they had a great night!
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