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.
Now that I have seen you at the center I can picture the people and places you are writing about! What a rich experience it sounds like you are having. I did plenty of compliance and policy work for the academy's accreditation so I can appreciate all the work that goes in to the standards reviews and visits that you were a small part of. I can understand why you are much more excited about the people than the paperwork even though it does have it importance. I am going to look at a of copy Pete the Cat's Red Shoes for sure. Sounds like a fun addition to your summer reading list! We are proud of your hard work and great attitude.
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