A feel good week

Well, my luck never ceases to continue... Yesterday morning I went to go run errands and my truck no longer would work in reverse. Thankfully though I have good friends here that helped me push it out from the parking spot I was in. Thankfully I can still drive forward. I drove around to several places, only to find that they were either closed or couldn't help me. I found a place to take it in to, however I wont be able to take it in until Tuesday. Monday is Columbus day. Lets hope there is nothing seriously wrong with it.

Other then that I actually had a really good week. I had a great group of kids in my field group. They liked being outside and had a good knowledge about the outdoors. There was one particular kid in my group that made me feel really good. His name was Kyle, and he has an anxiety disorder. He was anxious about everything the whole week. His teacher came with him to every field group and class he went too, and he would only really interact with her. He also went home every night because of his anxiety as well. On the second to least day Kyle took my class Inside Out Kid. he moved much faster than the rest of the group and he kept having to look out the window. I noticed near the end of class that he was just sitting there with his head down. After we cleaned up and the other students left I had a chat with Kyle. He was upset because his teacher couldn't be there, and he did not know where she was. We found her together, and I left them to talk about things. I was, at this point, feeling bummed that Kyle had such a rough time in class. He went home early that day and had said that he wasn't going to come back for our last day. The next day came and after breakfast I saw Kyle standing outside. Turns out he forgot his luggage. He decided to stay for our final field group. His teacher was not going to be able to join us either. At the beginning Kyle just meandered slowly at the back of the group. I stopped at a point on the trail to talk to the kids and hand out IALAC beads. (IALAC beads are shoe ties we give to our field groups at the end of each week. They are individual to each field group. IALAC stands for I am loving and caring or I always love a challenge, or I am like a conductor.) I told the student about a group of kids who helped end segregation in Birmingham,Alabama. In order for the kids to get their IALAC bead they had to tell me one thing they learned about themselves this week. Well, I am not sure when it happened but Kyle got a smile on his face, he was talking with the group members, and finding salamanders to share with the group. At the end of their time right before he got on the bus Kyle came over to me, he gave me a giant hug and said "Thanks for being the best field group leader." I was really glad that Kyle had a good last day here. He may have only opened up for a little bit of his time here, but I think it made a difference in how he viewed his time here at Natures Classroom.

The teacher that came with that group gave me a really nice review at the end of the week as well.

Also, this week I got another chance at hosting TNL with my pal Retha. We had so much fun. We dressed up in crazy costumes and had the kids laughing all night. Just to give you all a chuckle here is a picture of us in our crazy costumes.

In other news, I have an answer for that question you all have been wondering about... When will I be home. Its not a definite date but I'll be home anytime between the last week in October to the second week of November. Were waiting to see what the number our during those times. ( So I'll most likely be there for thanksgiving dinner :D )

This upcoming week is a short week for me. I'll be helping out on Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday through Friday I am working with a small group of kids. They are 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from a Montessori school. Ill be teaching classes about electricity, magnetism, and plants. There will be me, another teacher, and 18 kids. I will also be in charge of quiet song for this group as well. It should be a good week with a lot of stories (apparently the lead teacher from the school is a little crazy).

This is part of the review a student gave me. I just thought it was funny the things they wrote.

The Real Deal

Well, my first week of being on my own has come to an end. It was exciting, stressful, annoying, fun, eventful, and overall a good time. The kids arrived on Tuesday morning, they were 6th graders. After moving them in and having lunch we jumped right into things. I began by meeting the 11 students that I would be spending my mornings with for field group. I was warned that they were all rambunctious, which was true! They told me that during the week they wanted to find frogs and salamanders, hike, and eat stuff. So I fulfilled their wishes. We found numerous frogs and salamanders, and hiked most of the trails on property.

My classes all went pretty well this week, considering they were all new classes for me. My favorite classes were Eat the USA, Feed Your Face, and megastructures. I had great groups of kids for both classes. In megastructures we took newspapers and rolled them tightly to make rods, the rods were used to make tetrahedrons (triangle based pyramid), which we then taped together to make one giant structure. I was originally planning on making a giant pyramid, but the kids went in a different direction. In eat the USA we made a map of the United States out of rice krispie-treats. We used frosting to make state lines and chocolate chips to mark state capitals. In the end I let the kids eat a state of their choice if they could tell me one fact about the USA they learned during the class. In Feed your Face I had all girls that took the class. We had a mini spa day, and all the girls loved it. They were constantly rubbing their faces and saying "It feels so different and soft!"

Based on the reviews I received I think the kids had a good time. Here are pictures of my favorite pictures/letters students left for me:

In the picture you'll notice the random question answers in the top left corner. The questions were:
1. If your field group leader were not a natures classroom teacher what would they be?
2. out of all the Natures Classroom Staff who would you vote as president?
3. What were your favorite classes?
4. What superpower would your field group leader have?

This was a letter that a student wrote to me. If you cannot read it, it says:
" Dear Eskimo, I had a great time here and you the best field group teacher. I had a lot of fun. The pine needles really taste like christmas. Your Eskimo Jr. Josh Foster PS I like the berries"

Here are a few memorable quotes:
(Kid showing me a worm) "What happens if I lick this one?"
"We all have decided that we are the Eskimo Jr.'s"
"Can we just do Feed Your Face everyday?"

In other news:
My ukulele playing is getting better. I am currently working on being able to play B minor, B, and E chords. They are the hardest chords, but are also popular chords to use in songs.

I am teaching again this week. We are getting a group of 7th graders. Heres a sneak peek of the classes I will be teaching:

1. Eat the USA
2. Shark Dissection
3. Jelly-Belly-Ology
4. Megastructures
5. Inside out Kid- We make t-shirts that have the major organs drawn on them.

Also, thanks again for all the wonderful birthday wishes and gifts. Today I took a trip to LL Bean in Connecticut. I bought a 3-in-1 Jacket, gloves, and socks. The ukulele tuner is also working very well and making life easier.

Make Work Week

Well this past week surly has been interesting. This week we had more staff than we needed for the amount of children coming. Sadly, I drew the short straw and had to make work for the week. Make work is when you work for the maintenance staff. Here are a list of the jobs I had this week:

1. Staining picnic tables
2. Clearing Brush
3. Splitting and Stacking wood

It wasn't all that fun, but I did meet people from other sites, which was pretty cool. Here is a picture of the wood pile I stacked for 2 days:

Ukulele update:
My progress on the ukulele has been awesome. I have been practicing a lot. I know many of the basic chords and am getting better at playing faster. I have been playing quiet sing this week. Quiet sing is a program we do with the students at the end of the day. Its a chance for the kids to relax before bed. We sing different songs with them, their options are to sing or be quiet. Just to give you a sneak peek of entertainment to come here is a clip of me and my friend Retha playing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. Hope you like it!

In other news, I had a wonderful birthday weekend. One of the best parts was being serenaded by a men's barbershop chorus from New Hampshire. Their group is staying on site for the weekend, so they put a little concert on for us last night. One of their songs was happy birthday... to me! My friend Retha made me a lovely birthday cake as well. Check it out :D

Finally, here is a preview of  my week to come:

Ill be teaching 5 new classes this week.
1. Eye Dissection
2. Megastructures- a class about shapes. In the end we build a structure using different shapes.
3. Feed Your Face- a class about the skin. Ill be making and testing out different facial mask and scrubs    with the students.
4. That's Astronomical!- a class about the moon. Ill be making play dough and creating our own moon surfaces.
5. Eat the USA- a class where we make the USA out of rice-krispie treats. We will play a trivia game, and for every correct answer the students can eat a piece of the USA

A New Nickname

I should start this entry with the story of the title. I now go by the name Eskimo here at Natures Classroom. This is the name that the kids call me while they are here. I was given the name by a co worker, Retha, who decided that she was going to tell the children I spent time in college living with Eskimos.

The week went really well. We had a wonderful group of 7th graders this week. They were a small group. There were 22 of them (the entirety of their 7th grade class.) We began the day jumping right into program after some lunch. We took the kids on a  hike to check out some of the sites of the woods. We showed them several edible plants and then spit them all out. At the end of field group they said they were never going to eat plants again. After a little break, it was time for classes! I taught my first class and it went very well. the only thing I panicked about for a moment was the fact that the class was finished after an hour, and I had been given an hour and half to teach it. I decided to play some games with them for the rest of the time. The person who observed my lesson said she was impressed and thought it went well.

The next day we took the kids on a hike again in the morning. We took them to a place called Hemlock Point and Hemlock falls. They are two of the prettiest places on site. We found many frogs and many trees to climb. One student found a hollowed out tree and climbed in it. The visiting teacher came with us on our hike that day, and he was a very nice person. Later in that evening we took the students on a night hike. They surprisingly were not very scared. I did a chat with them about eye patches and pirates. (Pirates used to wear eye patches so that they could see better at night when traveling.) The kids enjoyed it and worked really well together trying to find our way back when we couldn't see.

On Wednesday we had an "all day". An all day is a field group that starts at 9:30 and ends at 2:00. We pack lunches and eat outside somewhere. We took the kids to an area called the "blow downs". the blow downs is the area that was damaged by a tornado two years ago. We hiked through and had the kids explore all the uprooted trees. Afterwards we found a spot to stop and have lunch. From there we found a fire pit and taught the kids how to build a fire. Later on that evening we had our Underground Railroad simulation with the children. I helped play that part of the pass giver, secret abolitionist, and sheriff.  The pass giver is the person who gives that students a fake pass in case they get caught by anyone while escaping slavery. The secret abolitionist pretends to be friends with the bounty hunter and
helps protects the slaves from being captured. The sheriff attempts to catch the safe house owner harboring slaves. The kids got a lot out of the activity. They said that even though it was scary they learned a lot.

On Thursday morning I ran my first meal. When you run a meal you are in charge of keeping the kids entertained during the meal. Meals are an hour long, but the kids only eat for the first half hour. After the eat I taught them a song, and talk to them about ort. Ort is food that the kids take to eat and don't. I told them about the largest landfill on Staten island. We also weigh how much ort the kids had at each meal. (Hoping they will waste less food when they return home.)

Friday was a short day, the kids left after lunch. In the morning we took the kids to the low ropes course. They loved it! Overall the week was awesome. I had a group of girls give me a giant group hug before they left. They each also insisted they get a picture with me before I left. They all told me that I should be either a teacher or a singer. One even said I should come be there music teacher.

Finally, this weekend I decided to take up a new skill. I purchased a ukulele and am in the process of learning how to play. My first goal is learning how to tune it. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the progress.

First Week

Well our first week of training has come to an end. It was a very eventful week, full of information. I have acquired many new skills this week.

The first one being my ability to identify certain trees and animals in the forest. The trees and plants are much different here in Massachusetts. I can identify: white pine, eastern hemlock, white birch, grey birch, yellow birch, american beach tree, wintergreen, sassafras, and partridge berry.

I have also learned how to play addle-addle. Which is spear throwing. Its very fun and challenging. Here is a picture to give you a better idea:

You use a wooden bow to throw the spear/arrow.

I can now say that I  have used a fire extinguisher. Part of our training was meeting with our maintenence staff to go over toilet plunging, back injuries, and fire extinguisher use. As completion of the training I had to put out a gasoline fire with an extinguisher.

Finally, I attempted to carve wood this week. We were making bow-drill sets to use with campers. So I was attempting to make the spindle part. (Bow-Drills are to make friction that creates fire.) I was not so successful... Carving things with knives is just not for me. 

This week I also made some awesome new friends. I live in a house with 8 other people. We are all different but get along very well. I do have a roommate, who I get along with fairly well. She is a few years younger than me, but is nice. I think the roommate curse is over. 

There is a man on our staff thats been here for a long time. His name is Ranger, and he is a little bit crazy. He likes to make animal calls. Apparently the staff play a game when kids are here called "Id that ranger or a real animal?"

Another one of my housemates is a summer camp director. She works at a camp called Wind in the Pines. her and I have become good friends, and theres a chance she could get me a job in the summer. I might be helping her out at one of her camp events in October. 

We have a group of 22 kids coming on Monday. They are 7th graders from a Catholic School nearby. I have heard they are very well behaved. i am going to shadow a few of the returners next week to get a better feel of the schedule. I will be teaching my first class on Monday. It's called "Jelly Bellyology". It's about classification and Carl Linnaeus. It should be a lot of fun! 

Finally, here are a few pictures for you viewing pleasure: 

 

Fun Facts

List of interesting things from today:

1. They have a very awesome low ropes course here

2. Slugs are very interesting. They secret a Nero-toxin that causes you to feel numbness on your tongue... yes I did try it!

3. I found out the multitude of dissections that you can teach here. They included: rat, snake, pig, heart, eye, lung, pigeon, AND SHARK!!!

4. I dissected a rat today, it was fun.

5. I learned that Fig Newtons originated right here in Massachusetts.

The Beginning

Our training begin by all of the teachers and staff from every site gathering together to learn about the basics of Natures Classroom. My first observation when I began to talk to people was how different my life is from theres. There is a total of 5 people from Michigan, out of 160. I am the only one at my site. The rest of the group is mostly from the New England area (Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, etc.) I am feeling a little bit of culture shock because of lifestyle differences. It's crazy to me, however, how many different kinds of people that work here. There are elementary education majors, math majors, science majors, theatre majors, performing arts majors, and even some random ones such as management and business majors. I feel like I am going to learn a lot form them all.

Not a lot to report after being here only 2 days. Were heading into our week long training that will only be for our site. So far the teachers that I work with seem very nice. Most of us our new, so at least were all confused together. 

Here are some pictures I have taken thus far... I am considering investing in a good camera just because how beautiful it is out here. 

* This lasts one for you Grandma (Smith) :D