Jumpstart Spring session will restart this week, and our afternoon team is ecstatic to return to the classroom. We will be continuing session 5 with the book “A Letter to Amy” by Ezra Jack Keats. This is the unit on friendship, which is a critical topic during this age, as children learn to communicate and interact with their peers. “A Letter to Amy” addresses issues of effective communication methods and emotional recognition. Much like the majority of Jumpstart core storybooks, “A Letter to Amy” introduces foreign concepts and words to the children. All of the things introduced are pertinent to their future growth in both school and life. This book gives an introduction into the mailing system, which is becoming outdated, but still relevant to connecting grandparents. In the book, Peter also has to take in account the feelings of others. He understands that Amy is most likely feeling anger towards him after he knocked her down. Emotional recognition is an essential skill to develop in order to empathize with others as well as accurately display your own emotions. Through this book and continued active group discussions and play, the classroom serves as an open area for creativity and learning.

My hope for Jumpstart in the upcoming semester is to have even more engaging conversations with the students. While most participate and show enthusiasm, I hope we can extend the same levels of excitement to the few who remain passive. I understand that they are going through a period of extreme changes and developments; as a Corps Member, I plan to encourage them to ask questions, interact with peers, and seek out new information about themselves and the world. I can foresee great excitement when we reenter the classroom and pick up on session implementations. 

-Bridgette Pressley