1st Day in the Classroom

                  This past week was my team’s first Jumpstart Session and you could feel the excitement and nervousness in the air!  We didn’t know how the kids would react to the Jumpstart curriculum or even how many kids would actually be there; because my team does Jumpstart as an aftercare it is a surprise every time to see how many of our children will be there that day , especially in inclement weather.  But we pushed our nervousness aside and made our way to the school, gathered our supplies and headed to the classroom with a thousand thoughts running through our head.  “Would the children respond to us? Would they enjoy circle and center time? Would we have to break up an altercation in dramatic play today?

However once we hit the classroom all of those thoughts disappeared. The children were genuinely happy that we were there and were so excited to get started and ready to learn with their Jumpstart buddies. The children enjoyed every activity that we did that day from reading to dramatic play.  Everyone was engaged and genuinely enjoying their first day of Jumpstart, including the corps members!  And that’s when I really realized why I chose to work with Jumpstart this year.  Working with Jumpstart, doing sessions, and spending time influencing and being influenced by the children is priceless.  Jumpstart has given me the ability to lose myself, my worries and the stress of college life for a couple hours; giving me something to look forward to all week.   I know that every day in Jumpstart won’t be all sunshine and rainbows but those days where the sun makes it through will make this experience worthwhile in the end.

~Jasmine Hardy
Corps member
Team Learning