"E"

Recreation was the first ingredient in R.E.A.L. Hope Youth Center.  Education is the next component of our enrichment program here at the Center.  Dictionary.com defines education as

"the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life." Wow!  That is not only a mouthful but a brainful.  It is our goal to achieve each part of that definition especially the part of  "preparing for mature life."

This blog could go on and on for me, because, basically, everything in life is about education in one form or another.  With that said, I will just highlight some of the educational aspects of our program.  The first is our homework time.  Personal attention is so important for our students.  This is especially true at homework time.  Many would-be volunteers are nervous about being able to help with homework, but most homework is just listening to reading, quizzing on spelling words and going over math facts. 

We have found that many children do not solidify their math facts, because there is not sufficient time to practice them.  Math is about repetition to mastery.  I strongly disagree with some of my professors who feel if a child can do five problems they can do thirty. Once a child has mastered a concept, practice is tantamount  to moving the process from short term to long term memory.  This is the problem with such a little amount of homework for children.  This is why, in our program, even if the child does not have homework or finishes early we have many activities to enrich what they have studied in school and to refresh  past ideas.

Part of the homework time is devoted to their journal entries.  Each child has a journal that they must write in every day.  They have their choice of topics.  We also provide writing prompts if they hit a creative block.  Ms. Rotterman and I then check each of their work to help them with grammatical changes, ideas and sentence structure.  The children know that these works are not graded, and they are an opportunity to learn and be creative.  On their own, the children have taken the creativity to another level and have begun writing elaborate tongue twisters and poems.  As a high school teacher, I was appalled at how many students could not write a paragraph let alone an essay.  I explain to the children that writing is like music and sports and many other activities; one only gets better with practice. 

Journal entries are also a unique time for me to learn more about each of our members.  Being of a special education background I use this opportunity to look for deficits in writing and cognitive processes.  It also often gives me insight into a child's background and emotional state.  I have discovered on several occasions, life events that directly affect a child's behavior and academic performance.

Differentiating instruction for the students is also a priority for me especially with my educational background.  We provide activities that reach all of the types of learners: oral, auditory and kinesthetic.  For spelling, we have magnetic boards with raised letters, and felt letters with hook and loop fasteners to spell their spelling words.  A homework-time favorite is our rice boxes.  The children use the depth of rice to spell their words as they verbalize the words and letters with their fingers.  This gives them an oral and tactile sensation to help solidify their words to long term memory. 

We also offer several different math practices.  The children love using the abacus for both addition and multiplication.  They use raised multiplication boards, flash cards and counting cubes.  As our program grows, I am hoping to obtain and use more math manipulatives especially for geometric shapes and fractions.

We also have many board games that address science, social studies and grammar.  The children love any form of bingo.  Many times in the classroom, the government forces the children to learn information that is just that:  information that is crammed into their heads for test taking purposes.  We hope that we can spend the extra time in developing critical thinkers, in helping them apply the knowledge they learn the classroom and teaching the "whole" child. 

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, we can not separate the head from the body and the heart.  I feel like every activity and experience we provide and share is a contribution to our goal of preparing these children for a mature life.  There are so many wonderful and amazing things in the world around us, I want to give the members a tast of as much as possible.  I have learned through my education that a well-informed mind is the best conscience. We continue to education through all the support of the community and our volunteer staff and continue to look for volunteers to share a short afternoon with our youth. 

Until next week...Keep it R.E.A.L.!

"R"

The next four weeks will be devoted to explaining what our program emphasizes. This includes much of the everyday workings of the program but also the philosophy of the program that was started by the grassroots group several years ago.  R.E.A.L. is an acronym created to include the four aspects of our program and was created much before I came on board but states exactly what I feel should be included in an educational program.
 
The "R" in R.E.A.L. stands for recreation.  To tell you the truth, I often want to say it stands for "respect" or "responsibility."  In reality those concepts can come under  "leadership" or even "education."  Recreation is extremely important on many levels of  education especially in an after-school program.  We want the children to enjoy coming, because when they come then they can learn.  They can learn life skills, manners, behavior, and traditional educational subjects.  Recreation is also part of instruction for the physical body.  If the body is relaxed and focused much more learning can take place.  This can be demonstrated in the concept of the wiggle room that we are in the process of creating and that I wrote about last week.

Recreation starts from the moment the children sign in at the Center.  They get about twenty minutes of free play in the gymnasium before snack.  This affords them time to unwind from school and the bus trip.  It also gets them ready to shift to Center mode and away from school mode.  At the Center they interact with children from all grades, so they get to reconnect with the Center "family."  Currently in the gym they may play with hula hoops, jump ropes, moon shoes, footballs, basketballs, Frisbees, soccer balls and cones and several other types of equipment.

After snack and homework time, the children return to the gym.  This time is usually used for  more structured activities.  They may play kickball or octopus tag or red light-green light.  It is important for this more structured play as they learn rules and regulations and how to get along with others and problem solve.  We, as facilitators, can also learn more about the students and see better what some of their socializing needs may be.  We learned with kickball that not all children understand the concept of running bases and being called "out."  This lead to a short tutorial.

Another phase of recreation is the cafeteria time.  The children call this "stage" time.  This is only because the pool table, ping pong table and foosball is on the stage.  This free play is also important as they are quite creative here as well. I have witnessed them coming up with all kinds of variations on traditional pool.  Occasionally, they get a bit wild with balls flying, and we have to reel them back in.  They are also able to play board games at this time, and, usually, this time affords more time to play than after homework.

We also have a recreation component when we travel to the "ocean" room or our main classroom.  Here they can play with play dough and moon sand.  They are also able to roll on the exercise balls and work out on the exercise equipment.  It is a room for relaxation, recreation, creativity and learning.

As one can see, it is very important for recreation to be an integral part of our program.  We want to offer as many avenues of expression and creativity as possible and we can only reach that if many are offered.  We would like the children to use the opportunity to find what they are truly good at and build on those strengths.  We are so blessed that we are able to offer as much as we do and that we continue to grow.  We will see this concept in our exploration of the other components of our program.

Until next week:  Keep it R.E.A.L.!

Wiggle, Jiggle...Calm

With all the snow and being stuck indoors so much,  I would like to explain a program that I would like to expand upon for our children.  As a special education teacher and the mother of five, I know how very important movement and exercise can be to the brain function and behavior and concentration. When my children were young, we lived in a small apartment in Los Angeles with no backyard to play in.  We would take them to the local parks almost every day and enroll them in Toddlergym and Kindergym programs.  I think the fact that we lived in a confined area which forced us out to the playgrounds was one of the best things for my children.  They are all athletic now and do well in school.  Even my son who has some learning differences has excelled in several areas.  I think a portion of this is due to the movement and exercise they received growing up.

When my son was having difficulties in first grade, we took him to a tutor who was a teacher on sabbatical, raising her children.  She was amazing and had him crawl and spin.  As a special education teacher I have learned about and used some of the same techniques that she used.  As one professional explained it, "The head is not separate from the body."  They are made to work together.  The process of crawling properly connects certain pathways in the brain that helps with reading.  Spinning is also important in much the same way.  Certain physical things must happen in order for intellectual progress to occur.

In many of our homes and school systems we have done away with much of the physical play.  My child was told in fifth grade that they were too old for recess.  This is the most absurd thing to me.  Children solidify what they have learned intellectually often with physical movement.  When my children were in parochial school the children in K-8 all had a recess in the morning and time after lunch to play.  I truly feel that the reason there was little behavior problems was that all ages got this physical activity every day.  This was in addition to their scheduled P.E. class.  There are many studies and theories to support this thought, and I encourage all who interact with children to  research this concept.

An idea that is often used in very effective special education programs is the "Wiggle Room."  This is a room with very constructed, structured physical movement with various equipment.  There may be swings, trampolines, mats, spinners, wedges and exercise balls.  Activities can be constructed and led that encourage calm, focus and attentiveness.  If one has been in a classroom in the afternoon, he/she knows how chaotic it can get.  A wiggle room can help gain control and increase classroom productivity.

Even certain components of a wiggle room can be used in the regular classroom.    I introduced yoga to some of my tenth and eleventh grade classes as a way to break up the one and a half hour block class and give them a physical break and help with focus.  Yoga uses many of the same principles of a "wiggle room."  I learned that after a week of getting the students on board and taking it seriously, they hated to have a day without the relaxation techniques and physical re-connection.

At the Center we learned through chance how important movement can be to our program.  We used to start the program with the children signing in and then going to the cafeteria to begin their snack time.  One day there was a terrible smell in the cafeteria from a chemical used to clear a drain.  We were forced to stay in the gym to play for an extra 30 minutes.  When we returned to the cafeteria, snack and homework time was so much more peaceful and constructive.  I had been feeling bad that the children had to stay seated right after the stationary day at school and on the bus.  I realized there was no reason they could not have a play and wind down period in the gym every day after they exited the bus.  We have been doing this every day since with much success.

Now I would like to work on a more structured gym time to have activities that would specifically help with reading, math concepts and focus.  I am currently working with an occupational therapist to come up with a plan to acquire equipment that would work with our space and with the confines of the program.  I am excited about adding a jumping apparatus, scooter boards, climbing equipment, spinners and hopefully other movable equipment.   This is a project that can start small for any home or program and can start with a simple swing or exercise trampoline. 

Until next week:  Keep it R.E.A.L.!