Organized Chaos

When I walked into the office for my Jumpstart interview I was told that Jumpstart as a whole can be referred to as “organized chaos.” Now, almost 6 months later I’ve found this to be true.

We pour hours and energy into planning and preparing a session that will give the most to our partner children. In the past few months I’ve made two washing machines, prepped numerous books, painted, colored and cut all to prepare the “perfect session.” But then we get there and despite all of our careful planning, everything becomes chaotic.

For example, last week I was art, the instructions on the session plan were to have the children paint with colors from Rabbits and Raindrops, in theory, it is a great way for children to learn and discuss colors and weather. In reality, children would rather find paint and mix colors rather than follow the session plan. This week I am dramatic play, I’ve been doing laundry with my partner children and sorting clothes yet there are always the children who would rather wear the clothes or try to climb into the washing machine no matter how many times you try to direct them to put clothes in the washer instead of themselves.

It is these times where you have to take a step back and adapt. I’ve come to realize that when working with three year olds nothing is going to be perfect. There will be days when you wonder what you’re doing wrong and whether your inability to get them to do what you want them to do will affect their learning. But, it is these times where you have to let the children teach you. And I can honestly say that I’ve learned so much from my partner children, however, I think the most important lesson I’ve learned is that sometimes you can’t fully control a situation, you just have to go along with it.

~Jennie Maibor

Corps member

Team Joy 2

Progress

As the second semester started, I couldn’t help but feel more anxious about my future in Jumpstart. At this point I had already gotten the feel of how things were supposed to go and the whole flow in the classroom but there was a sense of insecurity in my technique. Was I actually living up to what had been expected of me?

Monday and Thursday mornings were a little monotonous. My fellow corps members and I followed the same routine with different sessions every week. The kids were always eager to see us often exclaiming “Jumpstart is here!” with such eagerness in their eyes, well most of them anyways. Some would be occupied in their own world, dragging their feet to the next activity required of them.

I only have two partner children, a fidgety, easily bored little boy and a quiet, polite little girl. They’ve always had an interesting chemistry and do well when presented with their activities. I remember when I would spend a good portion of the reading time trying to get the boy to be square and focused, chasing after him while the girl would sit there quietly just observing what was happening. As the year progressed they both became increasingly attentive and reading regularly became smoother and more natural. Name cards just became part of he routine as both of them were able to identify all of the letters in their name as well as the letters in each others name as they previously had not been able to.

As I noticed that these kids were indeed making progress, I felt reassured of myself and that the kids had been retaining what had been taught. I remember after winter break when I experienced them telling me every letter in the alphabet and I was just in awe; they had been practicing and had a desire to learn. The boy had settled down a bit although he still had his moments. The girl became active in more activities and always had a smile on her face. She was still a little bit hesitant during circle time but with some help and encouragement she would raise her hand or even shout out the answer in excitement. They still have much to learn but it’s always nice to know that I was able to contribute to their progress through jumpstart.


~Vincent Guerrero
Corps Member
Team Determination

Special Guest for a Session

My team has been running session for quite a few months now, and it always seems like once we get comfortable with our situation- be it our children, our Corps Members, or the location of Lets Find Out About It- something gets changed. Needless to say, Jumpstart has definitely taught me to think on my toes and improvise.  My most recent session was one of those toe-thinking sessions. One CM was out sick, so we had a special guest Jumpstart friend come in to help out.  She was a CM from another team, but her team’s partner children are a full year older and radically different from my team’s children. My team has the “itty-bitties” and they are so intelligent that they always seem to amaze me, but they just don’t ever listen to anyone.  My team and I have learned to cope with this lovely little quirk, but our special Jumpstart friend was certainly not prepared for this during Dramatic Play at Center Time.

The theme for Dramatic Play was washing and folding clothes. We had a washing machine, lots and lots of clothes…and an empty bright orange laundry detergent jug. This jug ended up being more of a tug-of-war rope than a prop, and our guest CM was losing hope and beginning to get frustrated.  And who can blame her?  The children are persistent. But Miss Jumpstart ended up solving the problem on her own.  First, she took a deep breath to center herself. And then she took control of the situation by removing the laundry jug from Dramatic Play because “if you can’t all take a turn using it, no one is going to use it.” It was like magic! The children forgot about the jug and began using the “washing machine” and folding the clothes like it was the most fun thing in the world. 

It is extremely difficult to put yourself into a new situation for the first time, especially if you are walking into a classroom filled with loud, jumpy three year olds.  Young children can be frustrating, especially when they don’t listen, and my team’s children are no exception.  I am so eternally grateful for my guest CM’s help during that session, and I can only hope that she won’t protest coming back when we need her again. Because once you know what to expect in a classroom, you can anticipate what you will need to do for classroom management to make Session as successful as it can possibly be. 

~Maia Plesent

Team Leader

Team Joy 1

For the Kids

Mornings are hard. I feel that way every single day when I wake up, and as you must be able to see, I am not a morning person. I dread every day when I wake up to make the long journey to campus and then to our partner preschool, I'm just too tired! But then session starts and I see my partner children run up to me, grab my hand, and then lead me to my designated reading area for reading time. This makes me feel appreciated and loved, and as much chaos as my kids might give me, the fact that they remember the cycle of session and where they need to be during reading, circle, center, sharing and goodbye time lets me know that they do pay attention and they do care what Jumpstart is doing.
I've been involved with Jumpstart for about 5-6 months now, and I can say that there have been many rewarding events.

One that I'd like to talk about happened a couple weeks ago with one of my partner children. I was in charge of Dramatic Play for center time that week and had been working on playing with the children and incorporating stray pets and taking care of them from our core storybook “One Dark Night”. While feeding our stray cats, my partner child wanted to write about what we were doing on some paper he found in the center. I coaxed him into visiting Writing to tell his story there. He came back with his new book he had written in Writing center and dedicated it to me about our time feeding stray cats. He told me his book was about the storm and the stray cats and how we were taking care of them just like Jonathon did with the three kittens in his book. Little moments like these are the ones I cherish because it shows me that although the kids may be rolling around, screaming, and ripping up paper, the kids do retain what I am telling them and take lessons away from our stories. That's all that matters at the end of the day.

-Jessica Wu
Corps Member
Team Kindness

Why We Do This

At the end of last semester, Team Kindness had the chance to represent AU at the All-Corps event. We had a ton of fun doing our Jumpstart-friendly pop/rap medley. While we were mainly just trying to be funny with our performance, I think one of the lyrics in our song has really typified my personal motto for this semester. In our rap, we talk about how the different aspects of our session are for the “kids at Sunshine” and for me I know that this has definitely been the key motivator for me this semester.

While I have enjoyed my experience as a corps member overall, to be honest, this semester has required a lot more effort this semester. As the newness of the corps member experience has worn off, a lot of the aspects of Jumpstart that came with a lot of ease have become difficult. Session plans become more complex, materials need to be improved, transportation issues compound and in all of it the purpose of what I’m doing gets lost… and then my partner child recognizes a word I taught her. And another recognizes that the upside down “W” is actually an “M”. And things begin to get clear again.

I have woken up many mornings of session, with no desire to make the trek to campus or even to do the “Eentsy Weensty Spider”. But upon entering the classroom and see the looks upon the students faces, when their teacher says “Look guys, your Jumpstart friends are here!” my outlook changes completely. While I still wouldn’t have minded that extra hour of sleep I could have gotten, I realize that I needed to be here more than I needed those extra 40 winks.

The larger picture of what we are trying to do as a part of Jumpstart can easily get lost in the minutiae of session plans and team meetings and materials creation, but they can easily be found in the words of a four year old learning the concept of absorption and the wind. Taking in these small victories and realizing the larger story we are helping to write in the lives of these kids learning experience has helped me to remain grounded (and sane) in the midst of a hectic semester.

~Paul Barrett
Corps member
Team Kindness

Why training is important

Back in early October as I was walking to another Saturday training with Stacia, my site manager, I lamented over the loss of my weekend and severely questioned the purpose of these long trainings. I thought, “It’s all so obvious. Why do I need sit here for eight hours and listen about how to properly let kids color?” Four months later, however, it has become incredibly obvious why this training was important. We grow up with certain structures that we then in turn apply to our partner children. For example, when I was their age I was never allowed to pour my own paint when painting, and when I would be in charge of the art center during Center time, I initially did not allow the partner children to pour their own paint as well, at least, until my site manager came along. She reminded me of all the reasons that Jumpstart lets the children play with paint, and the reasons it was beneficial for their development. This concept had been laid out in training, and, when reflecting on it, so had many other things that did not necessarily coincide with my initial view on how to deal with children, but I now find myself implementing strategies from my trainings that I thought at the time were pointless. Except those strategies are not pointless, they actually work. Instead of just yelling at my children to sit and be quiet I give them the option of where to sit, which seemed to quench their thirst for independence while still accomplishing my goal. All in all, while the Jumpstart strategies may seem…unnecessarily specific at times, they do, in fact, work and help the children to reach their development goals.

~Kellen White
Corps member

Team Joy 1