I met my class today!

      I met my class today! It was so exciting walking into the classroom and getting to see all of my new Jumpstart friends. The class was a little rowdy, but I was expecting it. I did Jumpstart last year and loved the experience, so when I realized that I got to work with a brand new class this year I was so excited.

     When I went for my meet and greet the students were in centers, and they were practicing problem solving strategies and sorting. The teacher mentioned to me that they were trying something new today, they were lining up by color and moving in a line to the next center. This is great because it is teaching them self control and manners.

            As I rotated around the centers I started to learn my students names and personalities. Although they are 4 they are each a little person with an intricate personality.

            One of the children introduced himself to me and gave me his full first middle and last names. He then proceeded to ask me many questions such as “Are you a mom?” or “Where are you from?” Then a few other kids around me that have had jumpstart before shouted, “Where are your friends?”

            Each of the centers had a different activity for the kids to do. One centers was puzzles and I had a lot of fun working with them on how to figure out what pieces go where. Then we moved on to sorting small plastic animals, and we asked the questions how can we sort these? Some kids responded with “By color!” and others responded “By animal!” Next we moved to color sorting where the kids had different colored rings that they sorted into different bins by color.

            At the end the teacher asked me if I wanted to read a story to the class. As all of the children sat in a circle on the rug I read them a story about a lazy farmer that makes a duck do everything on the farm and wait on him hand and foot. The kids were very engaged and making animal sounds with me.

            Overall, meet and greets are such a rewarding experience because I get to interact with the kids and get to know them outside of session. I have already created a bond with some children and got to begin to experience how they work individually and collaboratively.

Loren Grier 

Team Leader

Team Imagine