Today was my last day! Though it is sad, I think I had come to the point where I'd gotten everything I needed out of the experience. Maybe it hasn't totally hit me yet that I am done working, because I have gotten into such a routine. Tomorrow will be weird! 
 I wrote letters to all of the teachers with whom I worked plus Adrianna and Traci. The teachers in 101 gave me a really sweet gift:  a plaque that reads, "Where we love is home, though our feet may leave our hearts do not" and a journal. I have been so thankful for their friendship this summer.

I am hopeful about staying involved at MOBC because what goes on in that place really is making a difference. And they need help to do it! These people are dear to me.
At the beginning of my fellowship I felt like I wasn't exactly sure of my purpose because I did not count in the student-teacher ratio. Leaving now, I've come to the conclusion that my purpose in the ELC was to help as much as possible to make everything run smoothly and promote a positive environment, because I know it is so hard for the teachers to do it alone.
I have also realized that no place could have been a better fit than MOB. They gave me the chance to work with a range of age groups, which is exactly what I needed!  I thank the Lord for blessing me with the perfect place for me. I will end my last blog post with an insufficient thank you to the Turners. This opportunity is so rare and I realize that most high schoolers in the world can't find a job where you can earn a scholarship, enjoy the people you're around, and learn a ton. THANK YOU!

My time is running out at the Martha O'Bryan Center! Fortunately, I just talked to Adrianna yesterday about getting involved during the school year and it looks like I will be able to go back once a week to my favorite classroom, 101. I am grateful and delighted to have developed a long term relationship with the teachers and students I love.
This past week at the center has been eventful to say the least. Monday and Tuesday were the last days of my five-year-olds' time at preschool. We had some nervous souls in the room, and Ms. Marvetta and I tried to reassure them that though kindergarten will be hard, they are probably already ready for 1st grade. We celebrated our last days of preschool with backwards day and pajamas day.
Tuesday, my dad had the pleasure of visiting Classroom 105. He came to teach the children about outer space. I had warned him that the concept would probably be very abstract to them and asked that he kept his message really simple. We were both blown away at how much they knew: what a rocket is, what gravity is, what a galaxy is. They had so much fun playing with my dad's model rocket ship--he loved how they would zoom it around and say "whoosh". My favorite part was how Aryanna said that Mars is always very angry and Venus loves to wear lipgloss. I honestly have no idea where she got that. I was so proud of all of them and my dad's teaching skills. After his lesson we painted Styrofoam balls. There were ten of them, so we made nine planets, one moon, and I made the sun.

Starting Wednesday, I have been spending both the mornings and the afternoons with the babies. I miss 105 but still find 101 to be fun no matter how much time I spend in there. Wednesday, about 10 minutes before we left, we had a fire drill. It scared me so much, because we had to throw all of the babies into one crib and carry them out--and the entire time I really did believe there was a fire somewhere! Once we were outside though I realized it was a drill and calmed down. The best thing about the drill, though, was that when we pulled the youngest baby Da'Mya out of the evacuation crib she was just giggling--it was like a ride to her!
Thursday I was finally able to help out with one of the MOBC's fitness classes. Only one person showed up but it was still fun! I am going to help them get more people to come by sending out flyers to parents in the ELC.
At this point in my fellowship, I am just trying to value each day. Three days to go!

On Monday morning I was greeted by 13 tiny little 5-year-old hugs as I returned to Classroom 105 after a week of being away. It was delightful to know they had missed me as much as I had missed them! On Monday morning everyone in 105 wanted to tell me over and over again about the fireworks they saw on the Fourth of July and ask about what happened to my nose (sunburn).
This week I easily fell back into a routine. Ms. Marvetta was absent from 105 all week and so I got to know her substitute Ms. Katrina, whom I liked a lot. Like I said earlier, these teachers mean just as much to me as the kiddos!
My favorite quote of the week was from Jameson in 105, as I was pushing him on the swing: "Miss Sarah, I can push myself now. Because I'm a grown up. Did you know that? I'm almost a grown up now!" Jameson's adorable conclusion is a great picture of how proud I am of how far 105 has come this summer. I've been here a month and I definitely feel confident in their transition to kindergarten, which is now just a few weeks away! They have mastered their letters and are actually starting to ready pretty well. I am so proud!
Classroom 101 was very different on Monday from the day I left. Very unfortunately, Kennedi and Harmoni both lost their certificates that allowed them to attend the MOB ELC. It makes me very sad to know that they are not leaving for better things, as Adrianna explains it. I miss them a lot and am praying that they can get their certificates back. It makes me realize that even when there are places like the Martha O'Bryan Center and all of the other places where my piers are working this summer, there is still only so much we can do to help.
On the bright side, 101 did welcome the first boy baby they have had in a while this week- Karlos. It was so fun to see him make friends with Me'Yanna. Before Karlos came along, she was the only baby that was crawling but not walking. And as soon as they got together they have been best friends--so fun to watch!
My favorite part of this whole week has been getting to know very well my two favorite babies, Sahriya and Thniyah. Thniyah is still warming up to her new classroom and is still very clingy but I have been working with her on learning to play independently. We have also been working a lot on walking. My favorite thing Thniyah does is when I put her at the top of their 2-foot slide to go down, she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and then goes. I know a lot of what she is experiencing scares her but I am loving seeing her be so brave!
I think Sahriya is always going to have a special place in my heart. I really can't describe how close I feel to her-- and she is only 18 months old. To sum up the great week I had getting to know her, we unintentionally wore matching outfits on Friday. I really hope I will be able to visit her throughout this school year!

I really don't know where to begin talking about this wonderful week! I have so much respect and love for the place where I work, and especially for all of the people with whom I work. Each of the teachers in my two classrooms are so sweet, hard working, hilarious, and caring! Sadly Ms. Debbie is on a mission trip right now in Uganda so we missed her this week, but it gave me the chance to get to know her substitute Ms. Jessica who is just as fun. I love how all of the teachers always make a point to thank me for helping, even when they really don't need to. I consider all of these women to be my friends.

And then there are my kids! I can't get enough of any of them, even our three new friends that joined this week. Two new little girls joined 105 and we also got a new baby, Thniyah. Thniyah and I became quick friends on Tuesday. When I came into 101 all of the babies were still napping (and so was everyone over in 105) so I just sat there waiting for someone to wake up. Thniyah started fussing so I went over to pat her back but she was really upset so I picked her up to rock her. She stopped crying and clung to me like a little monkey. I kept trying to put her back down on her mat but she squeezed me tight...so she laid on me and finished her nap for the next two hours-- it was the sweetest thing! So now were pretty tight :)

In 105 this week we've been working on colors, shapes, sizes, and rhyming. We made a bar graph of our favorite colors and the kids all got really into making masks. I am in charge of the art table during "centers", which is pretty much just freeplay. I am far from artistic so I usually suggest play-do and let them make a craft if they want. Jameson found a mask stencil one day and asked me to help him make it. It took us a while to do that first one but after it I had developed a science for helping five year olds make masks. I probably ended up making 15 throughout the whole week! This is Mykayla with the one she made today:

We have been working on rhyming a lot because that is one of the things they need to know before going to kindergarten in August, and they sort of struggle. One of my favorite quotes of the week was "Can you tell me a word that rhymes with black?" "Uhh...cookies?" I kind of had a hard time not laughing at that one but we are trying very hard to get them on track with rhyming.

When I first started at MOB it sort of scared me how hard the teachers in 105 are on the kids. But this week  Ms. Marvetta has taught me that while being sweet and loving on them is important, their time at school is usually the only structured part of the day because when they're at home they are largely left unattended. So we really are loving them in the best possible way by being tough about the rules and really pushing them.

101 this week has been a circus with Ms. Debbie out and a new baby in. We had all 7 babies four out of the five days this week. Each of them is so full of life and loving. What I loved about this week was that all of them now recognize me and are actually excited to see me, whereas at the beginning they were very cautious. In fact I quite a few of them have started calling me mama. This week we got really into peek-a-boo and singing row row row the boat. Even little Kennedy, who is almost always grumpy, loved peek-a-boo. I could probably say that any of the seven are my favorite, but I really really do love Sahriya. Her facial expressions are the best part of my day, although she does have a biting problem and can be quite mischievous (at times escaping from the classroom and constantly trying to go down the slide head first). Harmonii is very smart and she's starting to talk a lot, which is really exciting to see from day to day. Although she can be a little too smart...whenever I tell her "no"  she looks right at me and shakes her finger saying "no, no, no!" and thinks it's hilarious so I think the word has lost all meaning for her. Za'Kiyahh can never be unhappy. Gosh I just adore each of them!

For the first couple of weeks at MOB it was easy for me to feel unneeded because I do not count in the teacher:child ratio, but I have discovered how to serve in nonobvious ways. I like to do the difficult jobs because these teachers really do work so, so hard and I want to help in any way I can- cleaning, sweeping, changing diapers, and doing the laundry. I also worked in the development office a couple of times this week during nap time doing odd jobs like transferring clothing donations, wrapping thank you gifts, sealing envelopes, and filing. I feel the best about serving when I am doing the jobs that aren't really that fun. That is definitely one thing this experience has taught me so far- serving is not about doing what I do/know/like best, it's about doing what is most needed.

Unfortunatley with this new found sense of purpose I am about to go to the beach! I am so sad to be leaving for a week right as I am really building relationships but I can come back refreshed and grateful to be back. 

I love working at Martha O'Bryan because every day is so different from the one before. Every day this week was unique.
Monday only about 8 of the kindergartners came to school, while on the other hand we had all of the babies. I liked getting to know the 5 year olds a little better with a smaller group. It was the last day before the State Assessment of the Early Learning Center, so during nap time I helped the teachers make stencil letters for all sorts of assessment requirements. The state only chooses either 101 or 102 and 103, 104, or 105.
Having all of the babies in 101 was very different. It was my first day with Me' Yanna, the second to youngest baby at 11 months. She is so, so sweet. It was also my first day to change a diaper by myself (woot!) and have a baby fall asleep in my arms.
Volunteers are not allowed in the Early Learning Center during State Assessment, which was on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I was actually very relieved because I was scared of messing up! Adrianna gave me the day off on Tuesday and Wednesday I helped her in development and did some work in Adult Education. The most intense part of that day was scrubbing a cooler from the ice cream fundraiser that we needed to clean and return to Purity. I think I spent an hour outside scrubbing that cooler with all my heart. Go big or go home...
Getting involved with Adult Education was great, because all of the workers are really sweet ladies. They were really glad to have some assistance. Sadly I was not interacting with any of the students, but where they really needed help was filing. My job was to separate blue folders out of the cabinets, remove papers with social security numbers on them to be shredded, recycle other papers, and then sort the folders based on whether they were reusable. I learned that not all service makes you feel like you're helping in the moment (because let's be honest that job was fairly boring), but I was really helping the MOBC out a lot because they needed to reuse the old folders to save money. Wednesday was an exhausting day but it was great to do something different.
Thursday and Friday I was finally back in the ELC.  When I walked through the playground on Wednesday morning on my way to development, 105 was outside and the kids wanted to play with me, which was very tempting but I wasn't allowed. So it was great to be back! Oddly enough, both of my classrooms were chosen for assessment, and I am very confident in their success! On the playground on Thursday I did some ballet with the little girls and they loved it. During centers this week, the kids have become very very attached to playing with my hair. It can get messy but they love it so I don't mind. Just about every day the kids want to read this story called "Pete the Cat's White Shoes" which has an audio CD. The story features a cat who loves his white shoes and even has a song about it ("I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes..."). He keeps stepping in different things that change the colors of his shoes but every time he keeps singing his song about how he loves his white shoes. I love the story because it's about keeping your head up no matter what which is a great message for my kiddos! Plus the song is terribly catchy...
Friday we had water play again- my favorite part of the week! In 105 we stand outside and Ms. Shandareen sprays us with a hose. The kids like to race into the water and have Ms. Shandareen circle the stream like a jump rope.

 

Water play in 101 is a bit different. We go outside with a tiny little spray bottle. The oldest baby, Harmonee, got a hold of it at the end of the day when we were outside in our little fenced off baby yard while all the other older kids are on the playground. She walked the perimeter of our yard spraying all the other kids like a pro. It was adorable! My favorite baby Sahriya has developed quite the habit of biting, so that is definitely something we are working on, in addition to Za'Kiyah's hitting problem.

Friday we also made jello in 105, with Swedish fish. What I love about Martha O'Bryan's Early Learning Center is that they can take something like making jello and teach 4 and 5 year olds about science. The kids learned what dissolve means how keeping something in cold conditions makes it thicker or harder. In the afternoon I was in the art center. While most kids did Play-Do, Ryan, an extremely bright little girl cut out pictures form a magazine about a baby dolphin. She came over and told me all about dolphins and what had happened in the article. I could not believe how smart she is!

I am very excited to return to work tomorrow because we are getting a new child in both of my classrooms! It is going to be another great week.

 



Hello! I apologize for being a little behind in my first blog post but I am excited to be getting started. Today was my ninth day at the Martha O'Bryan Center. June 29th-30th, I worked in the development office to help the center get ready for their big annual fundraiser, Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin', which was on Sunday June 9th. I called sponsors, sorted tickets, and licked lots of envelopes. I learned basic office skills such as how to use a copier and a stamp tax machine.
On my second day my parents came in with me for a tour of the entire center. My boss, Adrianna, took us through all the levels of the "Highway of Hope", which is MOC's design for breaking the line between poverty and potential. They have programs for people at every age in every walk of life. I am working at an incredible place! The next day I got the chance to go to MOC's elementary charter school's kindergarten graduation ceremony. The school, East End Prep, is a college prep school starting in kindergarten. The students sang the fight songs of their teachers' alma maters, with the added chant of "I'm college bound!" MOC starts preparing their kids for college in the early learning center.
After my first few days I headed off to summer camp for the next week...but the first thing I did upon return to Nashville was go to the crankin'! It was a huge success.
Last week was my first week in the early learning center. The early learning center has 5 classrooms: 101, 102, etc. Each is for children of its corresponding age group (102 is for 2-year-olds). Miss Traci, the director of the early learning center, wanted me to test out each classroom and then decide which one I wanted to stay in for the summer. After trying 101 and 105, I already knew that I would not be able to say no to a classroom that I tested out, so I stopped "testing" and chose to do 105 in the mornings and 101 in the afternoons.
Last week was exhausting, but very much fun. The kids in 105 are going to kindergarten on August 1st, so they are learning a lot even though it is summer break. Our theme last week was "things that grow." We studied how humans, flowers, and fruits grow. They can be difficult to teach but I love how excited they are to learn. There are 12 kids, including 2 sets of twins! Luckily both sets are fraternal, although one set is named Makeigh and Makeigha. I arrive each morning just in time for "outside learning". The kids always love for me to be the "giant" or the "witch", which basically means I chase them but no matter who I catch I am still it-- again exhausting but very fun! All of them are very sweet and welcoming. One of the most difficult parts of my morning is trying to appease each little kid, because they all want to play something with their "new friend". As 5 year olds they are still learning how to share and it seems like someone is always unhappy. Teaching them how to be good friends will definitely be a challenge throughout the summer. They love to sit on my lap on the way down the slide and play with my hair, which can get a little messy. I was surprised at how quickly the teachers let me help them with things, like reading stories and art. When the kids have nap time, I help the teachers with whatever they need to get ready for the State Assessment of the early learning center, which is this week. It is a really big deal and so they need help with all of the preparation.
Thursday was my birthday, and I was so pleasantly surprised that 105 sang to me and one little boy gave me a flower! Adrianna surprised me by taking me out to lunch. At first I was a little sad that I had to work on my birthday, but it ended up being great.
One of my favorite memories from last week was on Friday, when we had "water play" because the whole preschool received a big donation of new swimsuits. All week everyone was talking about water play and I wasn't exactly sure what to expect so I wore my own swimsuit just in case. Turns out water play is Ms. Shandareen standing on the pavement next to the playground spraying a hose. But it also turns out that it is really fun! At first I was not planning on getting wet, but one little girl, Naomi (who always wants me to hold her), was a little scared so I just ran into the water holding her so she would face her fears. Fortunately she loved it, but of course now each kid wanted me to hold them and run them in. I tried my best to keep that going as long as possible but eventually had to just hold everyone's hands and run in together.
101 is a lot more laid back, as there are only 6 babies right now. I come to their classroom in the afternoon just in time for them to wake up. The youngest baby is 4 months old, but most are 12-18 months. I learned how to change a diaper on Friday. My favorite part of the day with them is the last hour, because we usually go on a buggy ride around the school. Most of the toddlers are very happy and laugh at everything. They love when we play with a puppet of a big fish...they think it's really hilarious, I love it. I am loving MOC!
I will post this weekend about today and the coming days.