Two weeks ago, during the school's spring break, we ran a camp at P.S. 112, a school right down the street from mine. The kids came from 8-5 and we played games and made up team chants and all sorts of camp type things. The term "camp" did cause some confusion, though, when one of the students had packed her things the week before, thinking that we were going to be sleeping in tents. We also got the occasional question about roasting marshmellows or campfires. Overall, the camp was a huge success. I led a group of 3rd graders all week and they were amazing. It was one of the best weeks I've had in City Year so far. It was nice to hang out with the kids in a different environment, one where the focus was to play and have fun instead of teaching them things like healthy choices or math or science.
The camp was for students from both P.s. 111 and 112 but they recruited heavily from 112 since that was where the camp was being held. The theme was Lights, Camera, Action and everything was adjusted to have a movie theme behind it. The kids even directed their own mini-movie on Thursday and played for the whole camp on Friday.
Because all the kids had to sign a waiver saying they could be video taped for the movie, I'm allowed to post some pictures. :)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Melissa on Spring Break!
(In the fountain from the tv show Friends)Melissa came for her spring break which was about a month ago. She was here for 10 days so I took some time off work and we ran this city. She came to school with me a couple times, once to see what it was like and a second time to help with a big carnival that we put on for the kids. It was a great week and a half and so nice to have her here for a while.
The highlight was probably Crumbs, the best cupcake store ever. Other than that, we explored Central Park (where I found things I hadn't even seen before), ate at a specialty mac 'n' cheese place, went through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum, a PB&J restaurant, and a lot of other NYC landmarks.
Great trip... Miss her...
(Batman made of legos in FAO Schwartz)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
I Never Thought I Would Get To Take Field Trips Again...
I've been on two field trips with my 4th grade class so far. The first, a total disaster, was when we went to see the movie "Where the Wild Things Are". My teacher was on maternity leave and the sub we had at the time didn't have much control over the class and they went a little berserk on the ride back to school. The sub vowed to never take another field trip with them.
My teacher came back a couple weeks before break and gained some control back. She has a really good handle on their behavior and is a great teacher. I'm really lucky to be in her classroom. I saw first hand some things to do and some things not to do when dealing with children.
Anyway, last week on Thursday we took a trip to the aircraft carrier The Intrepid. It served during WWII and other missions since then. It's been anchored in the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side where it serves as a museum. The ship was huge. I think everyone in Dimondale could comfortably fit on one floor of the ship. We also walked through a submarine and a Concorde jet. The best part was that both buses we had taken to get there broke down when we were getting ready to leave so we spent extra time walking around. That was when we got to walk through the Concorde jet and on the flight deck of the carrier. The control tower and the planes on the top deck were really amazing.
I had to sympathize with the kids. I remember not appreciating history at that age. While we were walking through the submarine all they could talk about was how it smelled. "Ms. Nicole, I have asthma. I have to get out of here!" Unfortunately, the space is so small that you have to walk in single file and there was an older gentle man in front of us that was trying to truly appreciate the unique opportunity.
It was a great chance to hang out with the kids without having to try to get them back on task.
For safety reasons, I can't post pictures of the kids but here are a couple of some of the things we got to see.
the control tower of The Intrepid
the flight deck
a "scorecard" of accomplishments by The Intrepid during WWII
control room in the submarine, The Growler
MLK Day!
Wow. It's hard to believe it was only a week ago. On MLK Day, January 18th, City Year hosted an extravagant volunteer project at MS 424 and 3 other sites in the Bronx. We had over 1,000 volunteers show up to help paint classrooms & murals, build bookcases & benches. Now that it's over, it's amazing. Behind the scenes, the prep work was extensive. Many Corps members, myself included, were asked to come throughout the week and sketch murals, cut wood, tape off areas, and get the various locations ready for transformation. On the Thursday before MLK day I worked at my school from 7:45 until 3 and then traveled out to the Bronx to prep until 9pm. Then, on Friday the entire Corps was prepping
Instead of doing the actual service, City Year offers Corps members the chance to take on a leadership role. There was an application and interview process before Christmas break and they chose people to take on a different type of role for the day. Some people headed up their own group of volunteers and managed their projects. I was in charge of a paint station which entailed passing out paints to volunteers. Because of the high volumes of people and the accidents that have probably taken place in the past, City Year plays it safe and assigns paint captains to be the ONLY person to handle paint.
The projects turned out great and although I didn't take any pictures, the Director of City Year New York was walking around to all the different sites that day and taking pictures. It's a really cool documentation of the day and shows off some of the City Year culture. Here's the link in case you want to check it out...
Pictures
Instead of doing the actual service, City Year offers Corps members the chance to take on a leadership role. There was an application and interview process before Christmas break and they chose people to take on a different type of role for the day. Some people headed up their own group of volunteers and managed their projects. I was in charge of a paint station which entailed passing out paints to volunteers. Because of the high volumes of people and the accidents that have probably taken place in the past, City Year plays it safe and assigns paint captains to be the ONLY person to handle paint.
The projects turned out great and although I didn't take any pictures, the Director of City Year New York was walking around to all the different sites that day and taking pictures. It's a really cool documentation of the day and shows off some of the City Year culture. Here's the link in case you want to check it out...
Pictures
Monday, January 18, 2010
Christmas in the Mitten
It's been a couple weeks now but my most recent fun adventure was back in Michigan for the holidays! I flew back on Christmas Day and stayed through New Years. My family and Grandma Kubesh were there to greet me at the airport with a big sign. It was a great welcome home. I got to see everyone on my dad's side of the family between Christmas and New Years eve. I went snowboarding with Ben and Melissa. Mostly, I relaxed. It was such a great break and even managed to make me miss Michigan a little bit. But it's great to be back in New York City! It took a little while to get back in the swing of things but it's starting to feel normal again.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wrapping Up Part 1
Well, we're in our last week before Christmas break so I figured I would write an update of what's been going on lately. Since I've been slacking, there's a lot...
In-class support: My teacher came back from maternity leave last week. Things were really crazy with the sub so I'm excited she's back. My role changed drastically when Mrs. Lopez left because of the chaos in the classroom. Technically, I'm only in the class for support in reading and math. It transformed into behavior management. Well, attempted behavior management. I did what I could but the class was out of control. We went on a field trip to see "Where the Wild Things Are" which ended in the bus driver reporting one of the students to the Board of Education. I'm very thankful to have their regular teacher back.
After school: Our starfish programs are going as well as my behavior management techniques in class. Ok... not quite that bad. But it's been rough. I thin I've written this out before but the groups are broken up as follows: 4&5th grade boys (Group 5), 6th graders (Group 6), and 4th&5th grade girls (Group 4). After school for 5th grade and younger is called Starfish and 6th grade and above is Heroes. Generally, teams run either Starfish or Heroes, not both; but because we are in an outside organization, we are running it with the 6th graders upon the requeset of the Riis Staff. We've figured out that splitting the boys into smaller groups during the main activity combined with bribing them with free time is the best way to get them to behave. Unfortunately, we're still looking for material they find interesting enough to really pay attention too. Group 6 is our biggest challenge. After being split up for 4 years, Group 6 is the first year it goes back to co-ed. I know it's a strange age and I don't think being together makes it much easier but it's so interesting how much the girls change from Group 4 to Group 6. Our Group 4 still loves Starfish and gets into everything we do. They even came up with a remix to one of the dance moves we do. Group 6... it's hard to get them to pay attention for more than 30 seconds at a time. Even when we're doing activities they seem to like, there are certain students who refuse to fully participate. It's a struggle, but I've talked to a lot of other City Year people and they came up with some good ideas that we'll be trying in the new year.
Events: I don't think I've said anything about this yet. Ana and I were assigned to the events team. There are different roles for teams including: events, outreach, learning coordinator, resource and communication, and service team. Outreach is just like it sounds. Jason and Kate will be visiting schools, making phone calls or doing other events to recruit future City Year members. Learning Coordinators go over our lesson plans, take attendance and complete other tasks to make sure our lessons are following guidelines set by City Year. Resource and communication is left up to Jay who has done an amazing job in-kinding (or getting donations). He makes a newsletter to send to our sponsors as well. The service team will be creating service projects for us in our school. Their first idea was to do something with the playground. As it stands, it is a large fenced in area of blacktop. There is literally nothing else to it. After talking wtih our assistant principal, it looks like we may be able to paint some games or provide something this year. They are planning on redoing the playground sometime in the near future. So... as for events. Ana and I are taking care of that part. So far, we planned a teacher appreciation lunch and a canned food drive. Both events went better than planned. We had almost all of our food donated by local businesses like Costco, Subway and a bakery. The kids brought in over 750 cans of food for the food drive which was GREAT! They were so generous. We recorded the number of cans per class to determine a winner and ended up making gingerbread houses with a 6th grade class. It went so well and the kids loved it. If it wasn't illegal to post pictures of kids, I would... but it's illegal. We're kicking off next year with a penny drive, that they do annually, as well as a huge cultural festival.
Lunch clubs: I don't think I've talked about this either. During lunch a different club meets everyday. Right now, some of us are running clubs like, poetry, step/dance, performance, and board games. It's just a brief period of time since they also have to eat during this period but the kids enjoy it nonetheless. Next year, we're going to start a sports club of some sort. I'm really excited for this because I think some of the students will be really excited. Right now, the clubs are fun but many of the students are dropping out so they can spend more time with their friends. The limited amount of time and proper planning (there's no time!) means that the clubs are dwindling a bit. But sports, especially basketball, are easy to improvise and I know the kids will really want to join this club.
That's it for now. We have two days of work this week and then Christmas break begins! I'll be back in Michigan from Christmas Day until January 2nd so hopefully I'll see everyone! If not, Happy Holidays!
In-class support: My teacher came back from maternity leave last week. Things were really crazy with the sub so I'm excited she's back. My role changed drastically when Mrs. Lopez left because of the chaos in the classroom. Technically, I'm only in the class for support in reading and math. It transformed into behavior management. Well, attempted behavior management. I did what I could but the class was out of control. We went on a field trip to see "Where the Wild Things Are" which ended in the bus driver reporting one of the students to the Board of Education. I'm very thankful to have their regular teacher back.
After school: Our starfish programs are going as well as my behavior management techniques in class. Ok... not quite that bad. But it's been rough. I thin I've written this out before but the groups are broken up as follows: 4&5th grade boys (Group 5), 6th graders (Group 6), and 4th&5th grade girls (Group 4). After school for 5th grade and younger is called Starfish and 6th grade and above is Heroes. Generally, teams run either Starfish or Heroes, not both; but because we are in an outside organization, we are running it with the 6th graders upon the requeset of the Riis Staff. We've figured out that splitting the boys into smaller groups during the main activity combined with bribing them with free time is the best way to get them to behave. Unfortunately, we're still looking for material they find interesting enough to really pay attention too. Group 6 is our biggest challenge. After being split up for 4 years, Group 6 is the first year it goes back to co-ed. I know it's a strange age and I don't think being together makes it much easier but it's so interesting how much the girls change from Group 4 to Group 6. Our Group 4 still loves Starfish and gets into everything we do. They even came up with a remix to one of the dance moves we do. Group 6... it's hard to get them to pay attention for more than 30 seconds at a time. Even when we're doing activities they seem to like, there are certain students who refuse to fully participate. It's a struggle, but I've talked to a lot of other City Year people and they came up with some good ideas that we'll be trying in the new year.
Events: I don't think I've said anything about this yet. Ana and I were assigned to the events team. There are different roles for teams including: events, outreach, learning coordinator, resource and communication, and service team. Outreach is just like it sounds. Jason and Kate will be visiting schools, making phone calls or doing other events to recruit future City Year members. Learning Coordinators go over our lesson plans, take attendance and complete other tasks to make sure our lessons are following guidelines set by City Year. Resource and communication is left up to Jay who has done an amazing job in-kinding (or getting donations). He makes a newsletter to send to our sponsors as well. The service team will be creating service projects for us in our school. Their first idea was to do something with the playground. As it stands, it is a large fenced in area of blacktop. There is literally nothing else to it. After talking wtih our assistant principal, it looks like we may be able to paint some games or provide something this year. They are planning on redoing the playground sometime in the near future. So... as for events. Ana and I are taking care of that part. So far, we planned a teacher appreciation lunch and a canned food drive. Both events went better than planned. We had almost all of our food donated by local businesses like Costco, Subway and a bakery. The kids brought in over 750 cans of food for the food drive which was GREAT! They were so generous. We recorded the number of cans per class to determine a winner and ended up making gingerbread houses with a 6th grade class. It went so well and the kids loved it. If it wasn't illegal to post pictures of kids, I would... but it's illegal. We're kicking off next year with a penny drive, that they do annually, as well as a huge cultural festival.
Lunch clubs: I don't think I've talked about this either. During lunch a different club meets everyday. Right now, some of us are running clubs like, poetry, step/dance, performance, and board games. It's just a brief period of time since they also have to eat during this period but the kids enjoy it nonetheless. Next year, we're going to start a sports club of some sort. I'm really excited for this because I think some of the students will be really excited. Right now, the clubs are fun but many of the students are dropping out so they can spend more time with their friends. The limited amount of time and proper planning (there's no time!) means that the clubs are dwindling a bit. But sports, especially basketball, are easy to improvise and I know the kids will really want to join this club.
That's it for now. We have two days of work this week and then Christmas break begins! I'll be back in Michigan from Christmas Day until January 2nd so hopefully I'll see everyone! If not, Happy Holidays!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
New York CARES!
So a while ago I was walking and saw a poster for an organization called New York Cares. It's a volunteer organization that links events or other organizations with people who want to volunteer. Overall, there are over 48,000 people who volunteer through this program. It's such an easy concept but so ingenious at the same time. I've volunteered for a couple of events through them. The first was with a group that played with developmentally delayed children for 2 hours so their parents could take a break or get other errands done. I played with an 8 year-old boy who ran around the gym for the last hour. We would run a lap around, weaving in and out of other kids playing basketball or bowling. We would rest against the wall and he would say, "Only 62 more."
"Oh man, I don't know if I can do it." "You can do it, Nicole. I believe in you." He was great.
A couple weeks ago, my roommate Ami and I did a larger event where kids from a homeless shelter made t-shirts for kids in the Congo. Besides the t-shirts, there were general arts and crafts, a writing station, a necklace/bracelet station and a photo booth. They had a dj and pizza and drinks and we took random dance breaks in which everyone was supposed to get up and dance. It was a really cool event that took place right in Manhattan in this beautiful ballroom. A few celebrities came, including Tate Donovan (who was on the O.C. and now on Damages on Abc(?)), Kyle Massey and his brother (they are on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon) and Corbin Bleu (the curly headed kid from High School Musical). The kids went crazy for the Disney Channel stars and it was really cool to see them enjoy the event.
I'm sure I'll do other projects in the future because it's such an awesome way to get involved.
"Oh man, I don't know if I can do it." "You can do it, Nicole. I believe in you." He was great.
A couple weeks ago, my roommate Ami and I did a larger event where kids from a homeless shelter made t-shirts for kids in the Congo. Besides the t-shirts, there were general arts and crafts, a writing station, a necklace/bracelet station and a photo booth. They had a dj and pizza and drinks and we took random dance breaks in which everyone was supposed to get up and dance. It was a really cool event that took place right in Manhattan in this beautiful ballroom. A few celebrities came, including Tate Donovan (who was on the O.C. and now on Damages on Abc(?)), Kyle Massey and his brother (they are on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon) and Corbin Bleu (the curly headed kid from High School Musical). The kids went crazy for the Disney Channel stars and it was really cool to see them enjoy the event.
I'm sure I'll do other projects in the future because it's such an awesome way to get involved.
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