Back in the classroom - Monday, Nov. 8, 2010

I woke up thinking about FRESH clothes!! After my "military shower" (wet, turn off water to soap, rinse), I got to change out of the clothes that I had been wearing for over 48 hours. As a side note, the City doesn't have a regular water system as we are accustomed to.  They have a collection system which is dependent upon rainfall. Because there is a need to bathe over 60 kids a day and launder clothes and bedding for all of them, we have to be extremely frugal with the water.

The cottage where we slept

I spent most of the day working in the kindergarten classroom. The teacher, Ms. Pinnock, has just been teaching at the school since September. Her class is comprised of students aged 5 - 8 yrs old. In America, the older students would be in a special education program, but they don't have one here. So, the teacher is essentially teaching a general education kinder class & a special needs class at the same time. There are two other classrooms on site. A 1st - 3rd grade class and a 4th - 6h grade class. The older students (7th - 12th) attend school down in Kingston.  Because of my background in special education, I worked with the small group of students in Ms. Pinnock's class who were academically delayed. The class was especially challenging, not just because of the wide array of needs, but also because there were a lot of behaviors. The children are from environments where they have experienced severe neglect and abuse. The teachers here are amazing! They not only have to try and provide an appropriate educational environment, but they also have to try and work with all the emotional issues that the children bring with them.

The kinder classroom

School was out for the kindergarten students at 1 pm, so I went down to the green house to see my little Kemar again! There is something about this little guy that just pulls on me. Maybe it's his little hands wrapped around my neck the entire time that I'm holding him. :0)

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the other ladies on the team separating all the school supplies that we brought. We also organized the director's office for her so that we could get all the supplies labeled and put away. Earlier in the day, when I was in the classroom, Matthew walked over to me and asked me if I had a rubber! I about fell out of my chair until I realized he was referring to an eraser. I made a point to get a few out of the supplies we brought to take to the teacher the next day.

The "women" of the Harvest mission team!

The men had spent the day working at the construction site. By the time dinner was over, everyone was exhausted. I had hoped to Skype my family, but the internet is still down from the Storm last week. So I guess I'll head to bed, too