Moving Along

Canned Food Drive

That's me. School is rolling along and the kids are getting loads of homework. We allot an hour but it often times takes much more than that- it's challenging to be able to juggle all the kids at once.

I finally got a rack on my bike, so I don't have to wear a backpack anymore. I've also been riding the bus a lot- which is so easy and convenient in the area.

I also spent a decent amount of money on Indian Food recently...and it's delicious!

Snack Room

One of our first projects: Personal Profiles

Art Folders!

Hallway of our area

Learning ROCKS!

Top 10 things about work so far:

1. Some of the boys are going to grow up to be major heartbreakers

2. I feel loved by my students : )

3. Things are still pretty disorganized.

4. I bike up this huge hill everyday. It takes about 5 minutes but it's an intense 5 minute work out for sure. The way home at 6:30 is all downhill.

5. I still hate mass amounts of food (and serving it).

6. I LOVE ICEBREAKERS! and positive reinforcement

7. I love behavior management...on the small scale.

8. We did nature photography last week : )

9. I pick up six girls from the elementary school, and we sing camp songs the entire way to GLC.

10. I'm starting to experience office politics...

<3!

Erin

New Bike & Photos

I recently was given a new (free!) bike from Brett, who lives in Maitri House in Takoma Park, MD. I guess I have good karma, because freeganism has been easier than I could have imagined around here (bike, new futon mattress, tons of food). Anyway, the only catch was that it had a bad brake cable and busted brake pads. So my supervisor told me about Pheonix Bikes which is luckily just a 10 minute bike ride away! Here is a video about the bike shop:



It was great! Not only did several adolescents fix my bike right in front of my eyes, they didn't charge for anything but parts and were incredibly entertaining. One of them had gone to Greenbrier Learning Center when he was younger and had several great things to say about it: it improved his grades, and was tons of fun. (By the way, that's our new website, it still has some kinks to work out though.)

NEW BIKE

Old sticker on the L, My = sticker on the R

Indiaaaa

GIGANTIC U Lock! Cost more than all my bike parts put together. 

Now I need to get a rack and strap on a milk crate. One of the brakes is really hard to squeeze, and the bike is a little large for me, but other than that I couldn't be happier with it. BRIGHT TURQUOISE!

My co-corpsers on the bridge to Georgetown in DC

My Apt Entrance

How the residents keep the door open so they don't have to get their keys out.

boletin

Hey! We plan that!

Exciting apt life

Nights around here have been pretty fun and social. Carolyn, Steve and I all live in the same stairwell so we cook together (mostly them) and eat together several times a week in ADDITION to our weekly AmeriCorps potlucks. It's really nice. We're also all big red wine fans : ) Here's a shrimp veggie pizza Steve & I cooked up last night.

THE MOST EPIC SHRIMP VEGGIE PIZZA

y ensalada : )

MMMMM: whole wheat crust, tomatoes, green peppers, broccoli, mozzarella, garlic, mushrooms,  pine nuts!

Followed by karaoke..

So I've been doing really well not driving lately. With my new bike, and the great weather, I've hardly had to use my car. I do drive to poetry readings, and also anytime I go to DC (to the metro stop), so those days are less eco-friendly. But here's another way I've been green and saving money:

Eco-friendly, saving 1.75 for the dryer!

Plus, it's a good way to use the corner of my room that has been bare and empty. My room makes me happy, but with my new futon mattress, it takes two people to lift it into futon position... so I don't have a reading couch anymore.

Safe Haven : )

My work week last week was quite anxiety-producing, but our beginning of the year to-do list has been steadily decreasing and thus, so has my anxiety.

Hope all is well elsewhere! We're planning an AmeriCorps camping trip...

E

Week 1

Wow! Week 1 with the kids is done...and I feel GREAT!

It's a good fit for me.

Why?
1. It's a fun age to hang out with: 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I dig it.
2. I love my coworkers: they're fun and open minded and talented and awesome. We hang. A LOT.
3. It's multifaceted. We do a variety of activities in a small 3-hour window.

My schedule looks something like this:

10:00-2:30 Planning time (meetings, snack prep, logisticals...it goes faster than it looks)
2:30-2:45 Walk to Campbell Elementary to pick up group of students
2:45-3:00 All Students Arrive
3:00-3:30 Team Meetings: Icebreakers! Kudos cards! 
3:30-3:50 Free Choice 
3:50-4:10 Snack
4:15-5:15 20 minutes reading, 40 minutes homework help
5:15-6:00 Lesson
6:00-6:20 Kids leave, We write reports/clean


The kids are honeymooning, I know. But I have to say it feels pretty refreshing to work with this population compared to my work with the kids this summer.  It's pretty interesting, though. Surprisingly, for the most part, these kids really enjoy the homework help section of the day- most are eager to start, eager to finish, eager for help. They seem to truly know how important it is for their future. Today I had a young 3rd grader really struggle when I told her program time was over and that she had to finish her HW this weekend. It was heartbreaking because she knew and I knew that it was going to be a real challenge for her to complete it for Monday without the help of our center. The issue is that the parents often don't have the language ability to assist, and sometimes neither do the students.

This low-income/immigrant population can also be tricky because they form pretty strong cliques that can be disgustingly exclusive. Fifth grade can be hard for anyone, but some of the children have distinguishing personalities that come off really strong. I had one student tell me that even though her "best friend" told her she couldn't play her game and was being mean to her all day, she didn't want me to talk to her about it because she was afraid she would lose that "best friend" being a tattle tale. Remember those days? I spent a lot of time talking to her about what friendship actually means.

Today was the best, though. We did a GREAT community project where kids made "Personal Profiles" (cough Facebook anyone? cough) illustrating their likes and dislikes. Then, they all went around with post it notes and stuck onto people's profiles "I like Math too! -Erin" or "I don't like Vegetables either. -Erin". At the end they got to see their profiles and how many people had something in common with them. It was really cool. Except for maybe the popular group in the corner counting all their post-it notes and discussing their popularity.

More later. I'm going to try to get pictures of the place, my coworkers, projects, etc.

Keep on the look out!
Bye for now!

Erin

P.S. A post about my new bike is on the way!

potluck!

First Amer!Corps potluck of the year. MANY MORE to come : )

Ileana can't scare me

Kyle is a creeper

Dishes included: Mango Dal (!), Roasted Potatoes, Portabello Mushrooms with pinenuts and grapes, clementine platters, red wine. Yum!

Erin

Car Free Diet

So, at the Farmer's Market on Sunday, I made a pledge to these guys that I would not drive a car at least one day a week. It sounds easy- but actually, since Sunday I have not been successful- until today! SUCCESS... in small steps. I've been documenting this on my calendar. Today I walked to work, walked home, and then walked to a local bike shop (which was closed today unfortunately) with Steve. Good news! Brett's co-op has an extra women's bike that I can use. I just have to get a brake cable fixed and also drive up to Takoma Park, MD to pick it up.

I love living in the same apartment complex as two of my team members. LOVE it. We have been having dinner together, and playing some games as well. Tonight:

Me, Carolyn, Steve

I just already feel so comfortable and supportive by the "team". We are having our first (which I hope will be MANY) potluck(s) of the year tomorrow night! Followed by a game night and perhaps a little dancing.

We've been lesson planning recently, and it looks like we all have a lot of great skills to bring to the table. Im nervous, but excited. 

AmeriCorps. Getting things done. ; )

E