Since returning from Camp Mendocino, I have been trained in Shelter Operations, been officially inducted as a corps member, and have begun working with my team at F. C. Joyce Elementary School.
After induction on Thursday morning, 3/4 of the teams headed off in various directions to different locations and different projects. Since we are staying in Sacramento, we could get right to work. We pulled out of the parking lot ahead of many teams and headed just down the street to our first day of school. The first two days (Thursday and Friday) were really orientation days for us at FC Joyce. We will start working in the classroom tomorrow (Monday) but our first two days proved to be very full and exhausting days of work.
First thing we did was meet with the principle of the school, Dr. Tori England. She is wonderful and it is very encouraging to see how engaged she is in the school, how well she knows the student body, and how in control she is. She told us a lot about the school, the students, and the work we would be doing. We had already heard the basic stats and demographics about the students before starting the project, but Tori and the school counselor, Kimmy, further enforced the realities of these kids home lives. I had known that about 93% of the students live at or below the poverty line. What is didn't know is that poverty is considered $9,000 a year for a family of four. I can not even comprehend how a family of four could live off of so little. That number shocked me. Kimmy also explained that there are some children at the school who are homeless. One family, understanding potential dangers of sleeping outdoors in rough areas, sleeps each night in a tree. The parents tie the kids into the tree. This was another shocking story. Dr. England also explained more to us about Serna Village. Serna Village is transitional housing for people recovering from drug addiction. Many kids at the school live here and some have just recently been reunited with their parents who are now trying to get their lives and their families back on track. Serna Village is rent free and families can stay there until their youngest child is 18 years old, so many families that move in, stay for a long time.
After hearing this sobering data, Tori showed us around the school and then we had some free time to eat our lunches. We headed out to the playground and sat together on the blacktop with our matching lunch boxes that Abby had bought as part of our project reveal. Almost immediately when we came out in front of the kids we started hearing "Americorps! Americorps!" They were so excited to see us there. Americorps NCCC teams have been working at FC Joyce for several years, so the kids are very used to our rotation schedule and they know what to expect from corps members. The main thing that want from us is attention. The kids are all so friendly and affectionate. It was incredible. Within seconds of being on the playground, kids were coming up to us and giving us hugs before we had even introduced ourselves.
After lunch, we helped with the school's recent cookie dough sale. The kids had submitted order forms and now we were sorting out all of their sales and labeling the names, then once classes were dismissed we helped distributing the filled orders to the kids and their parents. In between the sorting process and the end of the school day we headed out in pairs to quickly drop in on all the classrooms to get a feel for each of the teachers and grades and figure out where we might want to be placed for the remainder of the project term. We continued this process the next morning and then once everyone had been to every class we met with Dr. England in the teacher's lounge to sort out our positions. I had decided that I wanted to work in 4th or 5th grade. I was leaning towards 4th and ended up with 5th. I will be working in Mrs. Wirz's 5th grade class. I am feeling a little nervous about it, because Mrs. Wirz seems a little intense, but she is clearly a well organized teacher which is a quality I definitely look for. We also selected our specialty class, where we will work 1 hour each day. I will be working in the library!
Standing on our home states on the FC Joyce Yard
After selecting our classes we spent about 2 and a half hours with the kids out on the yard. They rotated through their various lunch periods and we stayed playing with the kids and then heading into lunch whenever our grade level was scheduled to eat. In the cafeteria it was a special lunch day for an achievement program, "Reach for the Stars." The program was created to motivate students and I believe it was started last year. Scores are looked at each month and if a student goes up even just one point from the previous testing, they get a bracelet. It continues throughout the year, so they can end up with quite the bracelet collection.
Here is an article and slideshow that I found about the beginning of this program from last year: http://www.twinriversusd.org/newsroom/spotlight/?q=34
The slideshow also includes a picture of last year's NCCC team. It seems the program started off with quite a bang and excitement. The kids are still very jazzed about it. The scores have risen from the start of the program and the school is aiming to reach the score of 800 goal this academic year. The main challenges facing FC Joyce right now lie in the budget for the district. Schools are closing and Joyce is being forced to expand. The school has grown considerably since last year and will be growing more to include 8th grade next year.
After lunch was over, our team headed back to the cafeteria to prepare the room for an all school assembly. We were to be welcomed to the school. How better to make an entrance then wearing some super cool gold star costumes (see below). Once the whole school was in the cafeteria, Dr. England introduced us, music came on (the cupid shuffle to be exact), and we ran down the center aisle. Then we did the cupid shuffle and Dr. England called us up one at a time to tell the school whose classes we would be placed with. Later in the assembly there were some technical difficulties, and to fill up time the teacher who was running the event called us back up to play a game. "The game" was that we each had to do our best horse impression. This was a surprise and potentially embarrassing, but really nothing is embarrassing in front of elementary school kids. They seemed to get a real kick out of the whole affair.
Green 2 in our star costumes with Principle Dr. England and Kimmy the School Counselor
After the assembly, we cleaned up and then set up for the Boys and Girls Club after school program that we also work at. We spent two more hours playing with the kids until 5pm when we quickly scooted back to campus to change and eat dinner before returning to the school at 6pm for a special event hosted by the 7th grade class and inspired by the Toy Story theme to this year's reach for the stars campaign. It was movie night and we watched Toy Story 3 with students and their parents. I love that movie!
It was a wonderful and exhausting first two days at FC Joyce. The teachers all warned us that we should really try to prepare ourselves for Monday in the classrooms. We thought we were exhausted after the first two days, but I guess we don't really know yet what we are in for. We shall see how this week goes. Oh boy!
If I have the energy, I will update again soon. In the meantime, I hope all is well with everyone. Update me on your lives too!
Also, if you are interested, check out the School's website: http://joyce-trusd-ca.schoolloop.com/
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