Day 2: Meet the children and take off running!

Tying shoes: a group effort!

Running and rarely stopping, that was the theme of the day. Our 12 soon-to-be first graders all arrived early this morning starting off as a shy crowd, but the curiosity we could all see in their eyes from the very first moment turned to solid friendships by the end of the day with their teen mentors and the other children.

John helps Aidan stitch his pencil case.

We began the day working on one of our handwork projects, the cloth pencil cases, while we waited for all of the children to arrive. These pencil cases are hand stitched by the children and later decorated with glitter glue to help keep track of whose is whose. 

Once all of the children had arrived and we had a good start on the pencil cases, we gathered everyone into a circle at the front of the room for some rhymes and circle games. Starting off shy, the children marched as instructed around the circle, but by the end if Mrs. Birdsall caught one of them moving after she called out "freeze" a huge bout of giggling arose from the entire group.

Then it was snack time. We brought out crackers and the watermelon that not a single child who passed by it that morning failed to notice. Following the snack break it was time to go outside for recess where all of the children and teens climbed the playground equipment or played ball until it was time to return to the classroom.

Greg collects Jonathan from the monkey bar

Riley grinds cornmeal for bread.

As the group gathered at the front of the room again, Mrs. Birdsall brought out her story-telling shell and shared with the group the story of The Little Red Hen. The children learned how the little red hen planted, watered, harvested and ground the corn without any help from her lazy friends. And only those who had helped got to eat the cornbread she made. We brought out corn and a grinder and the children ground the corn into flour and then in groups baked some of the little red hen's cornbread for themselves.

Once all of the bread was in the oven we took a break for lunch and some more outdoor play and when we returned to the classroom, each of the children sat with his or her mentor to draw some scenes from the story. These pictures became part of a book with the story of the little red hen that each child took home.

Chaitanya draws the Little Red Hen with Will.

As soon as we returned from recess we could smell the cornbread cooking and finally it was time to taste it. It was delicious! And each child also got to take a small loaf home.

Everyone left with smiles on their faces but from both the children and the teens, it sounded like a naps were in order.


To see more photos from today please click here.