Winter Wonderland

From January:

This past Saturday, I planned and lead a Saturday "Winter Wonderland" program at Columbia Grove Apartments.

We made paper snowballs, read a book about Jack Frost, created our own rhyming winter poems, made a snowman outside, had hot chocolate with marshmallows, made our own gingerbread (graham cracker) houses and ran for our teams in a snowball relay, and took home our very own RIF books.

We had just had our first big snowfall in Virginia so the ground was covered and the timing of the theme was perfect.

I feel that the most successful activity of the day was creating our rhyming winter poems. Although the topic went over some of the children's heads, a couple of children really excelled, creating 3 and 4-verse long poems about wintertime in rhyme. In addition, we decorated our poems to look like illustrations from the Jack Frost book we had read earlier. If I had to make any changes, I might have thought of a more sustainable way to take home the gingerbread houses, as they were difficult to transport back to the individual apartments (Plastic Wrap?).

All in all, I had a great time serving with my team to put on this program, and look forward to Columbia Grove Saturdays in the future.

J

From February:

Catharsis

In February, a bright 5th grade student left our program. His mom’s unfortunate death in late January caused him to relocate to a different school district.

I was so unnerved by this experience for many weeks following the incident that I decided to write a poem addressing what I might theoretically say to him (the name has been changed).

02.22.2011
Dear Timmy

Dear Timmy
This wasn’t meant to happen.
This letter I’m writing is,
but this life you’re getting isn’t.

Dear Timmy
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that every time you left for the weekend
I had to tell you good luck and stay strong
instead of have fun
I’m sorry that I couldn’t spend the afternoon just with you
because I know you needed it more than anyone
I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you those damn crackers everyday
I’m sorry that life isn’t easy.

Dear Timmy
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that I couldn’t rap as well as you
play Clue everyday with you
read a whole book or two
I’m sorry that I will never know what it is
like to be you
None of us do.

Dear Timmy,
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry I had to cry for you
I’m sorry there’s not the sky for you
I’m sorry she had to die on you
I’m sorry I have nothing to provide you
other than this letter and a shoulder to cry onto
This life didn’t deserve you.

Dear Timmy
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that you see death in trees.
I’ll never forget that day when you
asked me how
how can they cut it down with such ease
and leave me here on my knees.
You said just leave me, please.

But it was you who left us.
And now every time I leave for the weekend
I tell myself
Good luck. Stay strong.
He’s getting everything he needs.

Apology

I apologize for not updating this regularly. When I work intensely with the kids all day, it's a challenge to sit at home and write about it. 

However, once a month i have to write several reports regarding my service, so I thought I would share those with you. Some are from a long time ago. And some are poor writing samples because I was rushing to make the due date. But...enjoy!


Poetry Night: RIF "Shel"ibration I love poetry, especially performance poetry. I knew that our students had the extra flavor it took to shove all insecurity aside and take to the stage. I also knew that if the shyer students put their heart into it, they would gain more confidence participating in the activity. But in the two program days working up to May 25th, our RIF "Poetry Night" celebration, I wasn't sure how we were going to have enough time to prepare the students for their poetry performances. Some students were leaving program early and not getting time to select or practice their poems. However, when one small shy and developmentally behind student got on stage to perform the Shel Silverstein poem "Tree House," I knew an impact had been made. All the students that performed, decorated, or illustrated for the poetry night did an amazing job! Some even got on stage and used improvisation to create poems about staff. One student performed a poem entitled "Erin" that her classmate wrote at school. Poetry Night was a huge success!

"Shy" student

Here is the poem entitled "Erin"

She's warm, she's fun.

She's filled with love.

She's like an angel from above.

She'll dance and sing and play tag with you.

She'll be excited about everything we say and do.

Her curls are black.

Her eyes are brown.

We're always happy when she comes around.

In math she helps us multiply and divide.

She also helps us not to be so shy!

She always pushes us to try and do our best,

So we can be well above the rest.

When she leaves we are always sad,

But knowing she's coming tomorrow makes us really glad.

written by M-F M.