Peter Paul: Day Six

DAY SIX

Thursday / March 22, 2012

With only one more day left, I can’t believe that it’s already almost time for us to return to good ol’ Lawrence, Kansas and go back to our normal routines. Richmond really has been a great experience so far and it’s almost unbelievable how fast the time has gone by.

Today, at Glen Lea Elementary, I was partnered with Mrs. Whiting and Mrs. Matthews to help in their preschool classroom. While I usually don’t do well with younger kids, I found that I wasn’t too terribly bad with them as I thought I was! When I first came into the class, the students were separated into two different groups with each one of the two teachers. In one group, the focus was on the different sounds that begin words, while the other group focused on the sizes of different objects. It was interesting to see how the students responded to directions compared to the third graders that I had previously helped. One of the things that I specifically found unique to this level was that both the teachers gave the student time to think through answers for themselves, while the older kids were sometimes just given the answer. The students at this age level were told that they “were not children” anymore and needed to act like a “big kid”, which I believe is an important belief to be instilled in the minds of these kids because it helps them to achieve more in school.

Following the small group activities, they moved onto play time. This was definitely the most hectic part of the day and the kids were all over the place. One minute I was being dragged along to play with building blocks, while in another I was being pulled to play house. While playing house, one of the young girls named Mia performed a behavior that made me particularly curious about what her home life might be like. When she played with the doll, she acted sternly with it and spoke to it in an instructive and bitter tone. I’m not sure if that is what she is told at her home, but it got me thinking of how she could have gotten that idea and why is it that she thinks children should be treated like that. 

Right after play time, it was then time to go to lunch. During the first 15 minutes of lunch, the preschoolers were expected to be perfectly silent until it hit the 10:30 A.M. mark on the clock. After this, they could go as crazy as they wanted. Recess soon followed suit and the children scattered across the playground as quickly as I could blink my eye. I walked over to a couple of girls and helped them set up hopscotch squares for them to play with. After this, I conversed with the other teachers for a little bit as they spoke about how people sometimes sneak onto the playgrounds at night and leave beer bottles and condoms on the ground. With this, the kids sometimes pick them up and play with it without knowing what it is. When hearing this, it got me thinking of how sad it is that an elementary school can be treated so poorly, knowing that the school is supposed to be a safe haven for these kids to go to. It is evident that the environment that these kids come from definitely make an impact on not only their home lives, but it also gets dragged into the classroom, too.

After recess we went back inside and participated in more small group and large group activities, such as playing more games and reading the “Three Little Pigs.” When the reading was done, it was time for the kids to take a nap. Chamari, one of the girls, didn’t have a blanket to sleep with. She was extremely distraught over the situation and bawled throughout the entire nap time. In many ways I just wanted her to be quiet, but in other ways I also saw how many children may not have the same resources that other kids may have. This can  be extremely embarrassing for these kids because it essentially sets them apart from the rest of the group. While inequality often happens between the rich and the poor school systems, it is shown that even in the separated schools there is still a broken down division.

When we left Glen Lea Elementary, we took a mini-break before going to the Peter Paul Development Center. I decided to take my break at a local coffee shop called Globe-Hopper with two of the other girls, just chilling and relaxing before taking on another few hours with the kids.

When going back to the Peter Paul Development Center, I worked once again with Dominic and helped finish his math problems from the previous session. After this, the whole Alternative Breaks crew gave a speech to the kids about the University of Kansas and the importance of a college education. It was a very interactive presentation with the kids asking questions and us asking them questions, in return. One of the things that I really liked was that one of the third grade boys was particularly interested in basketball. He even knew more about the players than I did and I go to the school! It was awesome to see how well he already knew Kansas just because of how well known our basketball team is and in a way, I’m just glad that he knows about it! As long as the kids see how great college can be, I don’t see the downside on how the kid may come to know about it! Overall, it was a fantastic day with a lot more insight and learning that was made. As I go onto my last day tomorrow, I am excited to see what is to come!