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.

A Typical Day

Hey blog-folks. Emily here. I realized I haven't really written about what my typical day is like at Pateros School so I shall do that in this post. Of course this "typical" day will constantly change. For example, on Wednesday I have somehow been talked into subbing for the high school English teacher in the morning. That will be different and scary, but I'm excited! It can't go that badly right? High schoolers should be easier than small children logically.

Anyway, here we go....

I get to school at 7:30 most days, which sounds early, but I live so close to the school that it isn't too bad.

From 7:30 to 8:00, Tracy and I are in our office and available for homework help for kids that are there early and might have not finished it the night before. We don't get kids everyday, but I think it's a good option for the kids just in case they need to finish something up quickly.

8:00-9:00

Tracy and I are both in our office at this time so we work on anything we have to do for AmeriCorps, plan events, work on lessons for classes we are helping teach, or any other things we find need to be done. Lately, I have been working on planning a Family Literacy Night, which will be next week! We have gotten the word out to the school and are working on informing the community about it as well. Also during this time I have been training my brain with a program I learned about called "Lumosity." Check it out on the interwebs. I figure that's a good use of my time. The children need my brain to be smart so theirs can be too.

From 9-10 I go to the fifth grade classroom and help them with reading. I will either read along with the story they are reading if they are reading as a group, or circulate around the room to help individual students if they are working independently. We have been reading a lot of interesting short stories, and this week they are reading biographies. I learned all about Roberto Clemente today.

From 10-10:15 I usually have a little snack because teachers get hungry too.

Then most days from 10:15 to 11:00 I go help out with the 6th grade band. I try to bring my flute most days and help these beginning students while they try to make some sort of sound come out of their instruments. I focus mostly on the flutes, and will occasionally help the saxophone as well. Past that though, I am pretty useless. It is fun though! And I can really hear some of the students making improvements. Mondays are just woodwinds so it's a great time to work closely with some of the students.

Also during this time, I will occasionally tutor some 1st grade ELL students. I did this one day so far to fill in for Tracy, and loved it so much. I want more. All of the opportunities seem to happen at the same time though. I might be doing more of this as the year goes on since band is just Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

From 11:00 until about 1:00 I don't have anything specific scheduled as of now. Except feeding myself. This might change as the year goes on and teachers find more needs in their classrooms. But for now this is more time to plan events and lessons, eat lunch, and occasionally take a walk to the post office. Tracy and I usually keep pretty busy and there are teachers that will ask us to help out in different ways so we are never very bored. Our office is right next to the library so we also help out in there a lot of time when it is busy. I have mastered the art of checking out a book.

From 1:15 to about 2:10, Tracy and I both help teach an elementary school health class. This is the first year this class had been taught and the teacher gets a new set of students each day of the week, so she can really use our extra help. When we are not needed directly in the classroom, we will help her plan lessons that fit into the curriculum. They are trying to implement the "Why Try?" curriculum (google it if interested) as well as certain health topics, which is a lot to cover with students you only see once a week. Creativity is a must.

At 2:10 I head back to the library to help in there for the rest of the day. A lot of the time, our librarian (Pam) will have a class in there at the end of the day, so I will help other students while she is reading to the class, or help the little ones pick or check out books.

Then from 3:00-4:30 is Afters! I think this is one of my favorite parts of the day. Pam and I work with the 3rd and 4th graders and have a group of about 10 kids, depending on the day. The Afters program is sponsored by a 21st Century grant, and kids come to Afters that need extra help so they do not fall behind in the classroom. The teachers recommended students in their classroom that would benefit from this extra attention. First we have snack at Afters, then homework time, then Imagine Learning (a computer reading program) for twenty minutes, then usually some more homework. Kids that finish their homework early have other options of what they can do until 4:30. And on Fridays it is usually a fun day since kids don't have homework. Last week we took a little nature walk outside, and this week we are making Thursday fun by dissecting Owl Pellets. Sadly, sometimes Tracy and I miss these fun Fridays because of our AmeriCorps meetings, but those are fun too.

And that's really all! I am enjoying it so far, and I think I'm getting into more of a rhythm as time goes on. I am getting better at always having something to do or plan if I am not with a class.

And on a completely different note...

I'll leave you all with this from my crazy hike this weekend. Stay tuned for a youtube video in which I accidentally record a video of mountains on my iPhone... completely upside down. The video wasn't accidental. Just the upside down part. It's really quite the masterpiece. Until then---

The Deathly Hollows, Pitch Perfect, and The Hunger Games. Oh, and Kindergartners.

This is a broken trumpet painted by two fifth grade gals. Now they want to play trumpet, isn't that interesting? Maybe that's a new recruitment technique. Break all your instruments, let kids paint them, then buy all new instruments so they can join band.

This post is going to be a smathering of topics, I've lost the ability to organize in my head.

DISCOVERIES

#1 If I hold these cards up to Kindergarten, First, and Second Graders they will immediately learn to audiate (hear music in their head) better than if I tried to use words to explain it. Monster #1 Means: SING INSIDE YOUR HEAD. Monster #2 Means: SING OUT LOUD. 

So we sang a song we all knew, "Boom De Adda" You know, 

I love the flowers, I love the daffodils

I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills

I love the fireside, when the lights are low,

boom de adda, boom de adda, boom de ah...

BUT! It became a game. I'd start holding Monster-Mouth-Open and we'd sing the song, and then I'd switch quickly to Monster-Mouth-Closed. When I stressed that the song had to keep going inside your head my students learned to audiate. And what a fabulous job they did. Discovery #1.

#2 A variety of things have been going on in my choirs, (1st/2nd grade, 3rd/4th grade, 5th-8th optional.) Firstly I've had a lot of fun changing the orientation and configuration of the chairs. Sometimes students will come in and the chairs will be facing a wall they've never faced before. Or they'll be in a circle. Or they'll be in rows. Or they'll be in a few rows, and a semi-circle, or columns. I don't know, I just like to freak them out a little bit. They talk less that way. And let's be honest, I'm not using the piano so why orient them towards it?

     Secondly after that amazing first day of middle school chorus when 25 kids showed up my numbers have been fluctuating, sometimes I'll have 14, sometimes I'll have 20. Last Thursday I had 25 again. I decided it all depends on how funny I am in their general music classes that are all scheduled before chorus on the same day. Interesting. 

     And lastly I have introduced the... JIBBERISH BALL. A squishy pool ball that fills up with water and splats against someone's face. Except in music class its function is to steal away the holder's ability to speak in real words. So I will be speaking to my class and telling them how wonderful they are when suddenly I pick up the ball and dwee ap ta te beedo beedo beedo wop wop wop etc. At first, each group was shocked. Ms. Kauffeld has actually gone insane. And then they realized that they were going to get to have a turn and we had a collective-near-meltdown from excitement.

     It goes like this, when you have the ball, you speak at your neighbor, pass it to them, they respond to you, then turn to the next person. And, very importantly, ONLY the person with the ball may be making noise. (Some classes struggled with this. Once you've crossed into the world of Jibberish it's nearly impossible to sit quietly.) What I found most exciting about this activity is that some of my students who had said only four words total since I've met them would suddenly have A LOT to say in jibberish. This will move us towards talking about Improvising and Music as a way to Communicate. 

Sometimes I scare myself.

#3 I've started thinking about the play that I need to create for/with the Kindergarten-4th graders at Folsom and the pre-K-6th graders at Isle LaMotte. At Folsom there is a paper hanging in my room with a pencil on a string that's labeled, "IDEAS FOR OUR PLAY." This idea backfired. "The Hunger Games" is written 5 times, each one if followed by about 34 check marks as if to say, "I agree." Other suggestions were, "Pitch Perfect," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (as the audience would clearly just fill in the rest of the story,) "Minecraft," ("It's a game. And it's violent, but there's like, no blood," the student justified to me after writing it.) That being said... I think I'm going to have to act as Teacher-As-Authoritarian and choose the story that we'll adapt without giving much consideration to their suggestions. But, 5 year olds just shouldn't be retelling the story of college a capella groups or cubes that attack each other. (My understanding of Minecraft is flawed, I know this.)

I've started to spend a little time here and there introducing some acting exercises in various classes, because they do help students to become more Artful, one of my three main goals.

     In one particular game I begin with a magic blob of goop that I sculpt into an object, use the object, and pass it to my neighbor who smooshes it up and re-sculpts it. The activity went swimmingly in the middle school. And then I played it with the first and second graders and we couldn't guess a single one of the objects made within the class. My favorite object sculpted by them? "It's a little skeleton hanging from a string!" Well, sure it is.  Second favorite? "It's my name! I can't believe you didn't get that!" 

#4 Here's some other stuff:

     -I went to a farm on an all-school field trip. My most productive endeavor was chasing an 

      escaping-preschooler through a pumpkin patch.

     -I'm bad at yoga.

     -I attended my first inservice that's during the school year which I deem makes it more real. 

      I probably shouldn't write about how it went in a public space.

     -We listened to The Token's version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and then a South African version in 3rd and 4th grade. They extracted evidence and made an argument about which one they believed to be from South Africa. (This was all to satisfy the requirements of my assignment for Inservice for our Common Core work.) It ended up being quite successful and fun. Methinks. 

That's all I can muster...

Now the students are taking the NECAPs. And that's the worst, no denying it.

So, cheers to all of us NOT taking the NECAPs!

-Karlie