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.