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Three weeks down...

Wow, I can't believe it's already been three weeks here, but it also feels like I've been at this school forever. I know all my kids names now, finally, and I know some other kids' names too. So much has happened since I last wrote, I don't even know where to start.

I now tutor every day with the Boys and Girls club during power hour with the second graders. I started out with the 4th and 5th, but realized that I like 2nd best. There I met Javon, whose brother, Jamarion, was in my third grade class. Javon was kind of in love with me. It started the first Friday after school when we were inside because it got too dark outside. He was playing with a guitar and decided to write a song. It started out as "I wish I could be in AmeriCorps," then changed to "I wish I could marry Monica." He asked me if we could get married and I told him yes, but only when he's 18. Which would make me 33. The next week he would come up to me and hug me and tell me he loved me, he even gave me jewelery from the Pretty Pretty Princesses game. But as soon as it started, it ended. Not because he stopped liking me, he still loved me, but his family moved. And I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. And that's pretty common around here - people moving suddenly- there are a lot of families in transitional housing. The next day we had a new student in my third grade class to replace Jamarion. Crazy. The new girl, Elexus, does not know multiplication or division, and my class is pretty far into those subjects. So the first two days she just sat around during math class getting everything wrong, then on Thursday Vicki had me teach her multiplication. I used blocks and the multiplication chart, and it actually went pretty well. I was surprised. The next day I sort of taught her division, and she was so excited that she could do it. I had such a good day because of her. I don't know what Vicki would have done without me there, she can't really stop the class and teach one student, so that really made me feel like this is where I am supposed to be.

In my fifth grade class I've been reading the Hatchet to them, which is a ridiculously dramatic book -I don't remember it being this crazy. And I read it super super dramatically, so hopefully the kids enjoy that. They don't seem to completely hate it, but the last time I did it (when I had a terrible cold), I had to keep stopping because they were so distracted and not paying any attention to me. They have good days and bad days, mostly pretty bad days, but they are starting to get better, little by little.

Last Wednesday I went on a field trip to San Francisco with the fifth graders. I was in charge of watching five kids. Boy was that a challenge. We went to the exploratoreum (similar to Liberty Science Center, but they dissect a cow's eye) and the SF Zoo. We didn't have too much time at either place, because it was a 2+ hour drive each way. But the kids had a good time. For some reason the five kids that I had decided to go to the kiddie zoo instead of the real one, so instead of seeing lions and tigers and bears.. we saw meerkats and goats. It was an exhausting day running after kids who barely listened to me, but it was a great chance for me to remember everyone's names.

This past Wednesday a bunch of kids from a rich high school around here came and gave each kid presents. Each kid writes a letter to their Oakmont buddy, who then buys them a Christmas present. Then on Wednesday, the Oakmont people came and put on a little show -including break dancers, ballet dancers, and hula dancers. Then the elementary kids went back to their classrooms to find their buddy and their gifts. they've been doing this for years, and it's really awesome for these kids, they really are awesome presents too. The sad part of my day was when Jay, one of the problem fifth graders, got some markers and coloring things and just clammed up. She hated the gifts and would not even thank her buddy for them. I practically begged her to thank the buddy, but she wouldn't. I was really disappointed in her, especially since she had been doing so well before then. I felt so bad for the buddy too, for not seeing any joy on Jay's face.

The FC Joyce Elementary playground is kind of lacking, so we decided it needed to be spruced up a little. We are in the process of painting a state map. They had one before, but it was just outlined in white, we are painting each state using green, red, peach, and yellow. Plus we're painting the Great Lakes blue and possibly the Mississippi River too. We are going to write the state initials on each state, so that they can learn a little. And while we were painting (we had some kids helping out), two kids were talking about how whether or not Washington DC was in Washington State or not. Then one girl said that Washington DC is in New York. I had to intervene and tell them that Washington DC is not in any state, it is its own entity, and it's located between MD and VA.  So we are also going to put a big star there. We might also put stars in each state for the capitals, but I don't think there will be enough room to write out the capitals. We also want to put an "A" everywhere that we are from. On Friday, Mr. Allen, the Vice Principal, told us that he found a stencil for a world map... We might be taking on that challenge next.

On Thursday night we went to a meeting of the "Youth and Gang Violence Task Force." It was super interesting. They talked about how much Sacramento ACT (Area Congregations Together) has improved South Sac, and hopefully they'll start doing more in North Sac (where we are). They also had a really neat workshop where we got to meet a lot of important people when it comes to stopping youth violence in Sac. It was our service learning, and I'm so glad we did it.

Overall, I am definately loving this project. My kids are amazing, and I love seeing how excited they are when they see grey and khaki. Every morning I get so many hugs when I walk in, that I can't imagine being anywhere else. I can't believe I ever doubted that this project would be amazing. It will be so weird to go home in less than a week, but I can't wait to see everyone again.

I have been pretty sick for the past week, it was worst Sunday through Thursday, and now finally, I have started to feel so much better. I just hope that I don't go home to freezing cold weather and get sick again. I'll be home December 23rd to January 2nd, hopefully I'll see you all then.

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