Read Across America

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, and Read Across America Day (Click this to learn more), we put on a Dr. Seuss-themed Family Literacy Night last week. Really it was just a gigantic Dr. Seuss carnival with lots of games, crafts, and FREE BOOKS. Looking back on the night, maybe we should have actually done some reading, BUT there really wasn't time or space for that. I will try to make this post brief, and just highlight the different activities we had at the event.

Hop on Pop Hopscotch

This was a giant hopscotch board (made out of tape since the event was in the library) with different "popcorn" words inside each square. All of the words rhymed with hop and pop. Kids had to make a sentence with whichever word was in the square that their tosser landed in. It seemed like a fun activity for younger kids to practice some of these words, and to get them moving, which is always a good thing!

Photo Booth

We made a Thing 1 and Thing 2, and Horton Photo Booth for the literacy night. We made these into cardboard cut-outs so kids could stick their heads through and get their picture taken. Here is me and Amanda (my roommate and fellow AmeriCorps member) in the Thing 1 and Thing 2 cut-out.

The kids seemed to have fun with this, and they got to take their pictures home with them the next day.

Pin the Heart on the Grinch

Pretty self-explanatory. Just like pin the tail on the donkey, but with a twist. Here's our Grinch before he got his heart. Pretty creepy! But he was instantly decreepified once he got his heart. :) Yes, that's a word.

 The Lorax Station

We had a bunch of ideas for Lorax activities so I decided to put them all together at one station. The main one was decorating little flower pots like the Lorax, and then planting a seed in these pots. We'll see if any of them actually survive… Hopefully! The kids could also decorate Lorax mustaches and attach these to a popsicle stick for an instant Lorax costume. We also had a little truffle tree drawing craft, where kids could draw pictures of truffle trees, put it in a frame, and then include a quote from The Lorax book. My favorite is, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." So good. That and the Butter Battle Book are my two favorite Dr. Seuss books, although it's tough to choose.

More Crafts!

I found so many different crafts ideas on Pinterest that it was hard to narrow down, but the other two we had for the kids were a Cat in the Hat pop up craft made from a toilet paper roll, and a One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish cootie catcher that had Dr. Seuss quotes on the inside. 

Here's a link to the awesome cootie catcher

And the Pop-Ups!

Fishing Pond

In the style of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, we had a fishing pond. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because it actually turned out pretty nicely. We were not sure how it would work out until the last minute, but we ended up just setting it up on a circular rug in the library. I made the fish a while ago by cutting out and coloring fish, attaching them to construction paper, and then putting a magnet in each of them. And laminating them. (I have discovered that laminating things just automatically make them better.) Then we made fishing poles by using an hook magnet attached to a clip on the end of a dowel with string. A lot of steps went into this activity so it was nice that it worked out well in the end. It was not that easy either, so kids really had to work to get a fish out of the pond.

Snacks!

Snacks are always a necessity. I found some great ideas for Dr. Seuss kabobs somewhere on the internet, and made Cat in the Hat, and Grinch Kabobs. Here are link to both of those. 

Grinch

Cat in the Hat

I also failed to get a picture of the kabobs, but they look basically like the pictures, but on very long wooden kabob sticks. I was afraid the kids might attack each other with the sticks, but I think they were actually too busy at all of the stations to even think of that idea. Or maybe I was too busy to notice that they were attacking each other? Either way, I did not hear any complaints. In addition to the kabobs, we had lots of Goldfish cracker, and even cotton candy for a little bit.

Prizes

As it was literacy night, we of course had lots of books to give away. We had so many families attend that we almost got rid of all of the old books that our ELL teacher has had around for a while. Now we can get new exciting ones! We did have have some new ones for this literacy night though, including The Cat in the Cat Comes Back and a Horton Hears a Who pop up book. We also got some Dr. Seuss pencils and erasers from Oriental Trading to give away as prizes at the fishing pond. 

It was amazing how many people we got at this event. I think we officially outgrew the library, and will have to expand to to a bigger venue if we do something as exciting as this in the coming months. 

Now to leave you with one last random photo, here is some of the kids that I have been snowboarding/skiing with the past few weekends. February finally brought some snow to the Loup (between Twisp and Okanogan), so I got to help with the ski program for a couple of weekends. Since it started so late, and because other sports are starting and there are basketball tournaments, there has not been the same attendance as other years. But! It still was a lot of fun (Saturday was the last day), and felt like a very productive way to spend a few weekends. 

I feel okay about posting this on the internet because the kids are not really identifiable in all their gear, but you can tell they're having fun! Happy daylight savings everyone! Spring is here! In Pateros at least. :)

Pateros Happenings

Things that have been happening in Pateros since the the New Year:

1. I subbed for the 5th grade teacher for two days. He gave me free reign for one of the days, and I planned some lessons about VERMONT! They read a story about maple sugaring, I showed them a slideshow of Vermont pictures (including pictures of my pets), and then gave them an opportunity to research different topics about Vermont. Some of the things they looked up included Snowflake Bentley, Ben &Jerry's, and Champ. They were the most excited about Champ, and got really into searching the Interwebs for various sea  monsters. This gave me some nervousness because the internet scares me, but they had fun! And one group even started comparing Champ and the Lochness Monster. It was a fun-filled day of Vermont, but made me realize how quickly a day can go by, and how it is hard to finish everything you plan. I guess I knew that already, I just forgot for a minute. ALSO, at the end of the day we played a Vermont trivia/book scavenger hunt game, in which the competition got quite heated.

2. No snow. There is no snow. It has just been cloudy and dreary and sad. I was supposed to be helping with the ski program each Saturday this winter, but the mountain near us (Loup Loup) has not even opened yet. I did take a day trip to snowboard at mission ridge though. It was above the clouds and sunny and beautiful.

3. Tracy and I have been planning "Why Try" lessons for elementary health class based on different social principles and norms. We were both getting pretty frustrated with how the program is set up, and how we seem to be using it in an incorrect setting, BUT we are trying to have a better attitude about it and are working on adapting the lessons to work for each grade level. And coming up with fun games and activities for each lesson. Positive attitude. I think I can, I think I can…

4. We are also working on applying for a grant to help us add onto our school garden in the spring. I am very excited about this, and it should give us more to work on this summer as well once school is out. 

5. I worked at a crab dinner fundraiser for the school, and ate crab for the first time. I like it better than lobster (sorry Maine). I bonded with a few of the high schoolers who were helping at the event. They scare me, but I am trying. I am getting better I think. Baby steps.

6. This is not in Pateros…but on Monday we had a AmeriCorps group service project, and we worked on a Habitat for Humanity house. We mostly moved dirt around in the yard in the cold, but it felt like we had got something done after two hours, so that was good. The project went a lot more quickly than planned though. That afternoon, I went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I would highly recommend it. 5 stars, man. 5 stars… The scruffy look really works for Ben Stiller. 

7. Before school started on January 2nd and 3rd, I did a lot of knitting for the hat project in Wenatchee. Watch this link to find out more about that. Ignore the fact that Katie Couric cannot pronounce Wenatchee. 

Hat Project

I think that's all for now. I am trying to keep this short since I tend to ramble, and my last post was way too long. Kudos to anyone who read that whole thing. Phew.

"Down By the Bayou" (Where the Cypress Knees Grow...)

Oopsa, haven't written in over two months, classic Karlie.

Here's a picture of my classroom's (somewhat) NEW RUG as compensation for my 

lack-of-posts. 

We're going to leave all that has happened in that time up for your imagination and focus on what lies ahead.

Most excitingly, and most time consuming currently, is the Kindergarten through Fourth Grade play!
I wrote the script based off of the song "Alfred Alligator," whose lyrics I listed in my previous post. The play is called "Down By the Bayou," and is filled with Dixieland music, alligators, frogs, frog hunters, and a Voodoo Troupe. The third and fourth graders have filled the speaking parts, our first and second graders have been hard at work developing their frog characters (creating their "walk," what they do during the day, designing their costumes,) and the Kindergarteners have begun working out what it would be like to be an alligator down in the Bayou.

It will feature borrowed songs such as "When the Saints Go Marching In," "Down by the Riverside," "Gonna Take You There," (from "Princess and the Frog,") "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," and a Karlie original... (fingers crossed on that one.) If you're interested in being a part of the Dixieland Pit Band, (for no compensation other than maybe some snacks and hugs forever,) Lemme knowww!

Here is a link to the quick video I made highlighting the audition process the 3/4 students went through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1y_JIzZwf8

(I can't embed the video because Blogger is awful.)

Now accepting ideas for costuming 24 Frogs, 19 Alligators, and a whole bunch of other random animals. Post ideas in the comments section! (Look I'm tricking you into commenting.)

Thank you,

Karlie

PS: Here's a link to my music program's blog! As you can see, I pay it little more attention than this blog, but I'm trying!

folsommusicians.wordpress.com

Poverty Simulation

Note: This was written a few weeks ago, and I just haven't gotten around to editing/posting it. So if you're confused about the timeline, that is why.


Now that we are well into our AmeriCorps service term, which started in September and ends in July, we have only been having monthly meetings. In the beginning, we had them most weeks, but starting in November, we have just had them once a month. In the spring we start doing group service projects in the afternoon, and just meeting in the morning these times. Monday was our December meeting, and the afternoon was the annual Poverty Simulation. "What is a Poverty Simulation?" you may ask. Well, obviously it is where you simulate poverty. Yes, I'm sure you are still very unclear, so I will explain in further detail and tell you about my experience yesterday.

First everyone signs in, and gets their new identity for the afternoon. All of the IMAC (Intermountain AmeriCorps) members participated in the simulation, along with many people from the community including the Pateros Superintendent, teachers from the area, nearby high school students, social workers, and other community members that heard about the event. Some people participated in the simulation, and then people that had participated before, were set up as different agencies around the room. There was a banker, a store, an employer, a school, department of social and health services, doctors, realtors, utility companies, community action council, a pawn shop, and even a police station. We were then placed in family groups, and given information on our families. There were a wide variety of families represented in the simulation, and some people were even working alone for the activity. Also in the packets for each family, there were all of our supplies including any money and belongings we might have. The simulation took place in four 15 minute increments, and each increment represented a week. Altogether, we simulated one month in poverty in a variety of situations. At the end of the simulation, we talked about all of the different situations we were put in, since most of us were focused on our own families during the simulation, and did not have time to think about what other families were going through.

My identity in the simulation was Emily Eppelman (I think they chose the Emily part on purpose...It made things less confusing for me at least). I was 34 years old, and a single mother. My husband had just left our family mysteriously, and I had been left with a 14 year old daughter and a 17 year old son. I did not have a job, and hadn't since I was 17, and my husband left us with only $10, and no information about bank accounts or anything. The only belongings we had were some furniture, stereo, television, refrigerator, and oven, and two transportation passes, which we had to use to go from place to place around the room.  During the first 15 minute week, I quickly went to the social services station to apply for benefits including food and cash assistance. Since I have food benefits in real life since AmeriCorps only provides a living stipend, I at least knew a little bit about this process. I was still a little unclear about all of the benefits that were available to me. I told my case worker about my situation, and that I would need as much assistance as possible. I was able to receive both cash and food assistance for my family in this way. Each week went by very quickly, and we would never quite have enough time to get everything done.

During the 15 minute weeks, my daughter would go to school, so I wouldn't really see her. This represented well, how children living in poverty can often be neglected at home. For one week of the simulation, school was closed, so my daughter Ellen just had to stay at home for this time. I found out later that she had tried to get jobs at various places, but was not able to because of her age. I was so busy with other things, that I didn't even realize she was doing this during the simulation. My 17 year old son is a whole other story. He had already dropped out of school, and had started to deal drugs. He ended up working alongside the "robber" who was part of the simulation, and got himself in jail. I was able to bail him out, but he continued to get himself into trouble. Unfortunately, I had to encourage him in a way because it was one of the only ways for our family to get money quickly. My son Ed had also gotten a teenage girl pregnant in one of the other families in the simulation. This was made a little comical because this teenage girl was played by one of the guys in our AmeriCorps group. The way that I would encourage Ed during the simulation, was one of the parts that I did not feel was realistic. If this had actually been my son, I would not have been encouraging him to deal drugs or steal from other family's homes. But it is hard to know. If things are desperate, it is difficult to know what some parents might do. After my son had been put in jail the second time, I finally encouraged him to get his act together by getting a job so he could help support our family, and his new baby (Oh yeah, the baby was delivered at the end of the simulation). That made things exciting.

When I started to realize how immoral all of the stealing and drug-dealing was for my son, I thought a better way to get some quick cash would be to go to the pawn shop. During the second or third week, my son took some of our possessions that we did not think were essential to the pawn shop, while I got us our food for the week. Meanwhile at the pawn shop, my son was being accused of stealing some of these items. While it wasn't a crazy accusation, given his reputation, he had not stolen the items. The police officer was trying to take these things away from us! Although we had no receipts or anything for the items, since my husband had just taken off on us, the officer finally believed that we actually owned the items. She did say that my 17 year old son was too young to be selling things to the pawn shop, so I went with him back to the shop. But! by the time we got back to the pawn shop, the worker had already bought too many of those items. This was quite frustrating because earlier the pawn broker was ready to give my son the money for the items. So we were back at phase one, trying to find a way to pay our rent and utilities so they would not be shut off. Around the 4th week, I was finally able to sell some furniture to the pawn shop so I could at least pay part of our utility bill. During the simulation, if we were ever in danger of losing our house, electricity, or of not feeding our family adequately, we would get a notice from the designated service. I was never able to pay back a loan I had throughout the simulation, but this was way down on my list of priorities.

Food was one thing during the simulation that I did not have to worry about, since we were provided with food benefits each month. There was one week though, that I did not have time to get the groceries. I was in line for the store, when the bell rang to signify the end of that week. If this was real life though, the amount of food that i was would getting with the food stamps, would probably not be adequate for my family. I was just barely able to pay rent for the month. Although the cash assistance only gave our family $292 dollars for the month and rent was $300, another family donated $8 to us, which was very nice. I'll also mention the fact that this was after the robber had tried to steal this woman's paycheck for our family. Somehow we became the poor people that Robin Hood was giving to. Except...the robber was stealing from the poor AND giving to the poor, rather than stealing from the RICH and giving to the poor. Oh well...It somehow got us that extra $8. Then we were able to just scrape by for our utilities for the month with our extra money from the pawn shop, and then probably some money my son had stolen from somewhere. Oh dear. We also had to buy additional transportation passes through the simulation. Although they were only a dollar each, each service in the town needed them, and it would quickly waste time to stand in line to buy additional passes. There were just so many things working against us.

By the end of the simulation, the family with the daughter who got impregnated by my son, had been evicted from their home. After talking to the father of this family (who was actually a woman...so that was confusing) we decided that a good solution would be for them to move in with us and help pay our utilities and rent. This would also help us become one big happy family, since we would share a grandchild anyway. Things got pretty dramatic right at the end of the simulation, since my son got arrested for the umpteenth time, and Barbara (the pregnant one) was also in jail. Somehow they were both out of jail at the end. Not sure how that happened. Barbara also somehow had her baby. While in jail? Maybe? We did get a certificate that represented the grandchild though, so that was nice.

Things were starting to look up at the end of the simulation (other than the fact that my son had just escaped from jail somehow). He had actually applied for a job, and was going to start the next week. I finally found time at the end of the simulation to get a job application as well, but they weren't accepting it until the next week. I was also doubtful that I would be able to get a job, since I hadn't had one since I got pregnant at 17. I worked as a salesclerk, so maybe I would have been able to get something with that little experience. I was able to pay all of the necessary bills so we could stay in our house without the electricity and gas turned off. Our phone was turned off, but I felt okay about that. Without a job though, the next month would have been just as bad. The family that moved in with us did offer to pay for some of the utilities though, so there's one upside. Throughout the game, families were also given cards that were a "luck of the draw." These things could be good or bad, and were just everyday things that could happen to any family. Luckily, we were not given any bad cards. We got one that gave us some free food, and one that helped us with part of our utilities, I think. I'm not sure about the utility one since I was already pretty stressed out at that point. I may have even forgotten about it when I went to pay my bill.

Overall, the experience was very stressful, which I am sure is what a lot of people in poverty feel on a daily basis. I also felt like there was never enough time to accomplish everything I wanted to in a day or week or month. By the end of the month, it felt like I was just back where I was when I started. It seems like most people in poverty would need some sort of extra boost to get them out of that hole. If they just keep living on the bare minimum month after month, nothing will ever change for them. Although there are a lot of resources for them in the community, there is just not enough. People that are well off need to realize that these people in their communities are struggling. There are many different ways to contribute including donation of time and money. When people are able, they should try to give back as much as possible. This is something that I have realized through AmeriCorps, as well as through this poverty simulation.

Exhaustion.

The title of this blog post is both an excuse for my lack-of-posts, and also a warning to my friends who will soon be leaving the music ed nest at UVM and flying into jobs in the public-school world.

I haven't made it past 8:45pm for the past few nights. And the only reason I do occasionally make it until 10 or 10:30 is because late night rehearsals in Burlington don't allow me to tuck in before then. Because trust me, I don't want to be awake at 10. Or 9:30. Or 9.
I want to be asleep at 2:40pm when I have waved goodbye to my little chickens, stacked the plastic chairs around the room, and nudged the xylophones around in the cabinet until they sort of fit without cracking every wooden bar.

I am tired.
All the time.
Ask Alex, he'll agree.

But, Emily Fuller, the co-author of this blog is making me look terrible with her continuous and timely posts about how amazing she is at what she's doing. (She doesn't write that, it is information that I ascertain from reading. Though I will say that she's been obsessed with the contents of her food now for a while, don't let her fool you into thinking it's because of her nutrition classes.)

So here are a collection of things from the many weeks in which that I haven't posted.
I'll make a list! That will be new and different! Oh. No, it won't.

Karlie Hasn't Posted in Many Weeks. Here Are Some Items For You to Eat.

1. I've become close with our custodian because she and I seem to be at the school late at night and on the weekends. Because of this, I walked into my room after a meeting went late one afternoon, (and, thank you Daylight Savings, it was already pitch black,) and found that she'd turned on a string of white lights that I had hung. It brought me all the happiness I needed for the rest of the night. Here's a picture of what a little slice of the room looked like:

    

  

      2. There's a group of third grade gals who come to play guitar with me on Friday mornings. (Here is the part where many of you darling readers will say, "But, Karlie doesn't play guitar." And here is the part where I introduce you to the line that is keeping me afloat this year, "Just stay one step ahead of your students.") Here is a drawing I put on the board to teach them about tabs. Art Skillz. No. But, they seemed to get it because they told me how to fill in the chart for a C chord. We're well on our way to playing any pop song every written. 

I should also add that one of these gals gave me her school picture. I nearly cried.

3. Here's a song that I remember from 3rd grade, (disclaimer: I remember it from 3rd grade, it's entirely possible that I'm making up the words.)

Have you ever been down the water spout,

to the very bottom of the water system?

There you'll find a little alligator

who goes by the name of Alfred Alligator-

he's mine...

I lost him.

I threw him down the water spout,

and now I feel so lonely

 'cause he's gone...

I miss him.

(To be sung at top speed and with a lot of sad face-emotions.)

I taught this to K-8 this week. Every single class loved it. Here I say a thank you to Kate Ullman, my elementary school teacher, for managing to engrave it in my brain to be passed on.

The best moment was after an 10 year-old student heard me sing the whole thing once, she raised her hand and said, "That was lack of foresight." It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. And then I burst out laughing, because yeah, you threw the alligator down there, what did you expect?

4. I wrote a play for the small school I teach at. I'll keep ya posted. I've got no budget, no costumes, no set, and 4 school days to rehearse. : ) (Channeling all my SPAE vibes...)

5.  

From Wibbleton to Wobbleton is fifteen miles.

     From Wobbleton to Wibbleton is fifteen miles.

     From Wibbleton to Wobbleton, and Wobbleton to Wibbleton,

     From Wibbleton to Wobbleton is fifteen miles.

Your Directions:

1. Lean to the right every time you say, "Wibbleton."

2. Lean to the left every time you say, "Wobbleton."

3. Pat your knees three times on fif-teen-miles.

4. Don't mess up.

This is hysterical to watch, and to listen to. Especially when you ask students to speak in an "Opera Voice," a "Mouse Voice," a "Cowboy Voice," a British Accent etc. (They give LOTS of ideas for this part.) 

6. Still not sure what I'm doing in Middle School General Music... but I do know that giving directions through signs, and always keeping them guessing has been successful. And... when in doubt I've had great success with breaking them up into teams and playing, "Name that Song." Also known has, "How to Win Over Students That Only Want to Listen to Country Music."

This job is hard, and amazing, and scary, and fantastic, and so many other adjectives.

It energizes me, and it exhausts me. 

Unrelatedly:

Break a Leg to my Leland and Gray Players, wish I could be there to laugh too loudly and cheer during every set change. I'm sending ALL my love!!

Good night,

Karlie

Teaching, Learning: It's all the same, really.

I have realized with this job more than with other teaching jobs that I have had, whether it was student teaching last fall, another one of my teaching practicums during college, or the paraeducator job I had last spring, that I have been teaching my students and learning from my students, which both seem obvious, but also learning WITH my students. I have noticed this in the 5th grade class that I help with reading everyday, the elementary school health classes I help teach, and in 6th grade beginning band. I have also been learning a lot from the different teachers that I have the opportunity to work alongside this year.

Health:

For November and December in health class, our topic is nutrition. While I have been working on finding lessons that are appropriate for the different age groups (since we teach kindergarten through sixth grade), I have found that my mind is consumed by nutrition. Every time I eat, I start thinking about the different nutrients in my food. I don't know if this is me going crazy, or me trying to be more healthy. Or maybe a little bit of both. Yes, that's probably right. I have been learning and thinking more about the nutrients that my food contains, rather than if my food is organic or all natural. I think a combination of both of these thought processes though, is the key to a good diet. I spent a while on Friday looking through a nutrition book, both for my benefit and for my students. I have been thinking more about becoming a vegetarian since I don't eat much meat anyway. All this talk of nutrition has made me realize that if I do make this decision, I need to pay a lot of attention to the vitamins and minerals I am getting. It's less about protein, because there are many ways to get protein that are not meat, but more about those little vitamins and minerals that are more difficult to obtain in a vegetarian diet. But if I just pay more attention, especially to B-12, it is definitely doable. Making this topic appropriate for K-2 is more difficult. And I am learning right along with them.

5th Grade:

I think I finally understand the basis for that show, "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" It kind of makes me want to be a 5th grade teacher because they must be smarter than 5th graders? Right? 5th graders learn so many interesting things, and they retain the information so much better than most adults, it seems. One boy in my 5th grade class could probably recite at least 10 facts about each of the planets after learning about the solar system last week. It is amazing. And most of the kids are able to write about what they have read without referencing back to their reading. Last week the kids were learning all about the solar system, and a few weeks ago they were reading about the American Revolution. Since I will usually read with an individual student or a pair reading together, I have also been learning a lot about these topics. It seems like the 5th graders remember the information much better than I do. But! if I become a 5th grade teacher, I would be teaching the same or similar information each year, so I would in turn become smarter than a 5th grader. Good logic? I think so. I have been continuing to train my brain with Lumosity so hopefully that will help me retain some of this information too.

Some interesting facts I learned about the solar system last week:

1. Although Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, it is not the hottest because it has no atmosphere to trap the heat. Venus is actually the hottest planet.

2. Jupiter is the planet with the most moons because it has the strongest gravitational pull.

3. It would be very difficult to get to Jupiter and all of the other gas planets (all the ones past Mars I believe) because of the asteroid belt.

4. There are probably aliens somewhere in space.

Okay, I am probably stretching it on the last one, but it is pretty amazing to learn and remember how big and expansive space really is. Our solar system with our one amazing star (the sun) is just a tiny tiny tiny part of the universe. Doesn't that make you think that there are other stars out there with other planets orbiting them, that happen to have the same characteristics as Earth that make living things possible. I'm sure there are some more intelligent people out there that will disagree with this, or tell me something that proves this wrong. But it's cool to think about. And makes me feel pretty small. But we live with what we've got I guess.


Band:

Disclaimer: I don't understand this picture, nor do I know what kind of flute that is. But it is what I got when I googled "Saxophone vs. Flute.

For the first month or two with the 6th grade band, I played the flute along with them since that was the instrument that made the trek to Washington, and what I am most comfortable with. I was able to help the flutes, and also learned a lot about how to teach an instrument. But now for the past couple of weeks, I have been playing the saxophone. I started playing the bari sax in high school, and then played the alto sax in pep band at UVM for a while, until I realized the saxophone I had been using had some mold issues and other issues, so I got a little scared. I have been using one of the Pateros School saxophones, and I have been having a lot of fun playing along with the kids. I have also been learning a lot myself about the proper ways to play the saxophone since I only had a few lessons on the instrument in high school. And I think it requires less skill and an easier embouchure to play the bari sax than the alto. So when I switched over to alto, it was difficult at first. I still have some difficulties, but hopefully I am helping these 6th graders along, while also learning a lot myself. It is exciting to play the saxophone since I am learning and mentoring simultaneously.

So yeah, learning, teaching, mentoring, tutoring…It's all been going great, and I am continuing to enjoy my time in Pateros and in Washington State. Since it was Veteran's Day today, we had a three day weekend so I did some exploring on Saturday. I went to George (Because it is George, Washington!), Vantage (to see Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park), Ellensburg (to drive through), and then drove back towards Wenatchee via Blewett Pass. It started to snow on the top, so that was exciting. Then yesterday I went ice skating. I only fell when I was trying to perfect my backwards skating. So that seems like an accomplishment. Next time I will wear full hockey player padding so I can really practice skating backwards. I'll be so good.

And to once again leave you with a random picture…here's a photo of the snow sneaking its way towards Pateros. Slowly, but surely...

Literacy Night!

One of the traditions of Reading Corps, which is the AmeriCorps Program that I was originally going to be a part of but then got cut because of funding, are Literacy Nights! A Literacy Night is a night (surprising, right?) after school when students and parents can come to get free books, and teachers can help promote literacy at home! Tracy and I decided to plan a Literacy Night, and we just had our first one on Thursday night. Our supervisor, who is the ELL teacher at Pateros, has a lot of brand new books that she has gotten over the years through a program called First Book. If you want to check it out, here is the link: http://www.firstbook.org (Karlie said our readers are lazy and don't want to google things themselves. Speak for yourself, am I right?) Anyway, we had A LOT of awesome free books to give away. We may have been more excited than the kids when we saw them. There were tons of disney books that we knew the kids would go crazy over. And many more!

Our theme was "Fall for Books." Every great Literacy Night needs a theme. I read that somewhere once. Here is a bulletin board I made for the event, and for the library in general:

The event took a lot of planning, and in the days leading up to the event, I was terrified that no one would show up. We had worked hard to get volunteers for the event and set up different stations and I was scared all this hard work would be for nothing, and we would just have an empty library. Luckily, we also put effort into advertising the event, so attendance was not a problem.

When I got back to the school a little after 5 to finish setting up for the event, there was already a family there. They thought it had started at 5pm instead of 6pm. Although this was stressful at the time, it turned out to be a good sign for the rest of the evening. More families started arriving at about quarter to 6, and from then until shortly after 6, people kept arriving quite steadily! And then they kept arriving... until the last family showed up after 7, when the event was supposed to be over. Although most people were trickling out by then, we let the boy choose some books to take home, and told him we would be having another event in the spring. Altogether, we had about 27 students at the event, and then their families. Most of the kids brought parents, although some that live in town showed up on their own, which was fine. It was great to see many siblings coming together as well. I learned about a few different siblings that I didn't know were related until that night. 

We had many different stations at the event, and about 10 different volunteers to be at each of the stations. We had two other AmeriCorps members come to help out, several teachers who are involved in the Afters program with Tracy and me, and even a couple of high school students. We really needed each of these volunteers so I was grateful for them. As the families walked in, I greeted them and had them sign in. Then each child got a leaf with a number on it for prizes later. Each adult also got a ticket for a door prize. Each student also got a bag that they put their name on to put their free books in! I also had the snacks at my table to make it a little more exciting. The next table was where parents could get more information about reading with their kids at home, and there were bookmarks for them to take home with tips, both in Spanish and English. I am not sure of the statistic exactly, but there are many families in Pateros that speak Spanish at home. So many of my students can speak both Spanish and English, and I am impressed by that every day. 

There were a couple different arts and crafts tables set up. One had many different foam board activities that we found from years past. Another station was set up where kids could make their own placemats. The next table had a fall-themed word search that the kids could complete, as well as a fall activity book that the kids could decorate with a leaf print on the front. Two teachers were running a stations on spiders where students could learn about spiders and then make their own spider out of pipe cleaners and a mini pompom. When students completed one of these activities they could then go to the free book's tables to pick out a book! We had three tables filled with new books, and then another table filled up with used books that were also available to the kids. The most popular activity was the book walk, which was a game where kids could win even more books! They walk around in a circle with numbers labeled on the floor while music was playing. When the music stopped, the kids would freeze, and then a number was called. Whoever was standing on that number would go pick out a book.

Throughout the night, I called out numbers for kids to win different prizes. Luckily we had enough small prizes that by the end of the night, every child had something to bring home in addition to all their  new books. And then two parents won door prizes that we had specifically for them. I made sure every student got a leaf as they walked in, but somehow I missed a few parents for the door prize. One parent asked about it after I had done the drawing, but luckily they did not seem too angry. Something to think about for next time though. It is really all about the kids though, so as long as they went home with books, I was happy. 

It was so great to see so many kids I know come to event. And they all seemed to have a great time with their friends, parents, teachers, brothers, and sisters. This kind of event is a wonderful way to bring together a school community, and I hope even more students (and teachers too) come next time. Tracy and I are already thinking about ways we can improve the next Literacy Night, and brainstorming many different possible themes. (maybe a jungle theme!! Wild About Books?? Give me some ideas in the comments section below)

Oh, and to keep with the tradition of leaving something unrelated at the end of my posts, here is the YouTube video that I promised from last time. Enjoy! P.S. You should click on the link and actually go to YouTube for this one, so you can see the full description. And understand fully.