Picture Time!

I finally got some pictures of my students at Red Cloud :)  This one is when they each got stuffed animals.

Here they are doing some thank you notes for other donations for Christmas.

 They also each received a stuffed animal for Christmas.  Let me tell you, they have never slept that soundly during rest time :)  Precious loved her unicorn!

Cory is one of my rowdier kids, but he passed out for a solid 20 minutes that afternoon with help from his new duck.

This one is from Halloween right before we went Trick or Treating on our campus.

Potholder Headbands

One of my kids has been suspended until January.  That sums up last week.

In other news, we have only 1.5 days until we the start of Christmas Break.  I fly out on Thursday at 2.  But, that morning I'm going on the elementary fieldtrip to go ice skating with the kids.  Awesome :)  I can't wait to see my kids skating.  It will be awkward and really funny.  This whole week we're doing Christmas activities with little education value and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Lately I've been missing camp. I think it might be because I've been wearing a lot of potholder headbands.  They are slowly taking over the school.... It's time to get in my references and see what God's plans turn out to be for the summer. 

Tomorrow expect a picture of my kids in their potholder headbands.  Yes, all 20 of them are getting one.

Teachable Moments

It's now December.

Woah.

Last week flew by.  We finally had a normal week with no interruptions besides a Highway Patrol presentation on Friday.  Here is a quote that explains a lot about last week:

--This was after I had to tell the kids that I apparently had apes in my classroom instead of kindergarten students...

Student:  "Miss Abby, I know why those kids are being bad."
Me:  "Why?"
Student:  "Because they are sinners.  We are all sinners."
Apparently that's what I get for being in a Catholic school and for this student's dad being a Baptist pastor :)

My kids are hilarious.  This week I did some really random activities that turned into some awesome learning situations.  It started because I found a big bin of stuffed animals in the back room.  We used them to find lines of symmetry.  We also used these to work on our sight words by doing aerobics with the animals as we spelled out each word.  We used them to talk about finding equal shares today and sort them into matching piles.  I had no idea that you could use stuffed animals for so much. 

I love getting turning certain times into quality one on one time with the kids.  Some days we have a rest time during the afternoon.  During this half an hour span, I like to pull kids to help me do little tasks.  I usually pull out kids that are having a rough day.  Other days I pull out the kids that tend to get lost in the middle.  We stuff folders, put papers in binders, or move desks around the room.  It's fun to learn about each child even if we don't talk.  I pulled out one of my kid's, Emileigh, on Friday during rest time.  I had to put a progress reading check up in binders.  I would write the result on the check in list and then Emileigh would put them in the binder.  It was really funny because we got almost all the way through without talking and then all the sudden she let out a huge sigh.  After she sighed, Emileigh just gave me one of those, "why are you making me do this" kind of looks and finished her job.  We didn't talk at all.  I know it sounds weird but I love those kind of moments with my kids.

Coming Home

This term has several new meanings to me.  I came back to Indiana and got to see many people that have impacted my life.  Seeing my camper Grace was amazing.  We only got to see each other for a couple of hours but it seemed as if we were back at camp all over again.  She has grown into such a beautiful young woman that clearly inspires everyone around her with her faith and passion.  Then, I got to meet up with my youth director Kristin.  I still remember when she came into our Trinity community several years ago.  It was awesome to talk with her about life in Valpo, our church community, and my life out in SD.  I've grown up with her and it makes me smile to see Kristin, prospering at church and with her little family of three :)  After lunch, Kristin dropped me off at the school where I student taught, Baily Elementary.  I managed to get there in time to surprise my cooperating teacher and my now third graders.  I stepped out into the cafeteria and immediately heard shouts of, "Miss Garwood,"!  It was so good to hear that again.  Honestly, it's still odd to hear my kindergarten kids call me Miss Abby after all this time.  I got swarmed and they all wanted to update me on their lives.  Geez, my kids had sprouted!  Maybe I'm just used to kindergarten kids, but boy were my third graders huge :)  I was so happy to be back at Baily and it felt like I never left.  After seeing my kids I went to visit my best friend's mom, Mrs. Callaway, who teaches fourth grade at Baily.  On the way to lunch, she told me to go visit her daughter (my best friend Cassie) since she was at home just across the street.  With my European backpack in tow I quickly ran over to her house, rang the doorbell, and hid behind the side of the house.  Then, I heard Cassie laughing and screaming with excitement.  It was so wonderful to see and surprise her after five long months a part.  I even got to see her dad and toddler Leo too.  I'm so glad that I didn't tell any of my Chesterton friends that I was coming back.  Surprising them was so much better!

Today I got to see my other best friend, April.  We've been best friends since our freshman year of college and don't plan on that stopping anytime soon.  We met up at our favorite diner and swapped stories of being in a kindergarten classroom.  I love being around April because I can really be me.  She makes me laugh and inspires me to be the best person I can be.  I'm so grateful that even though we're done with college that our friendship hasn't stopped.

On another note though this trip home has been a lot more challenging than I ever dreamed.  My parents told me that they thought teaching on the Rez wasn't a permanent idea for me.  They thought I would come back after two or three years and work in a public Indiana school.  It's hard to stomach.  I love teaching on the Rez and even though it is difficult at times I wouldn't change it for the world.  They also said that I've changed into a different person.  Yes, maybe I have.  It's like my mom said, she's not used to a young person having this perspective of the world.  Being on the Rez has taught me about what really matters in life.  It makes  me frustrated when people out here spend so much money on things that don't really matter-how expensive their TV is, getting a newer car, or buying tickets on luxurious events that my kids could only dream of.  Many of the people in Valpo don't know how lucky they are.  Many of them have worked hard to get where they are at, it's true.  Living out at Red Cloud has made me more aware of what it means to live simply and intentionally.  I don't want to be back in Indiana for an extended period of time besides the summer.  It is hard to say this, but my home isn't Valpo anymore.  Pine Ridge is now my home.  I'm glad I got a chance to come back, but I'm excited to get back to Red Cloud.  Time for progress reports, practicing Christmas songs, the Christmas party, crafts, and playing with my kids in the snow...

God I Love This Place

That's exactly how I feel about Pine Ridge and the school I work at.  I absolutely love this place.  Sometimes teachers get bogged down in the messiness of teaching itself-the curriculum, constant assessments, and the discipline.  This school has such a sense of community.  There are numerous cousins in each grade.  All of the kids run around during school sports games.  It's great.  I can see several of my bus kids all at one event and their parents. 

Today was one of the best days in a long time.  I honestly just goofed off with my kids.  For once I just let my teaching go for a bit and had fun with them.  We sang camp songs on the way to morning mass.  Yes, camp songs.  We experimented with our geometric shapes and traced the flat surfaces.  While it may have been chaotic they loved every minute of it.  It was such a hands on activity that they almost didn't know what to do with it.  We made a prewrite, first draft, final draft, and a title page for a book about leaves.  They turned out awesome!  The kids were exhausted after their day of writing so we had two half an hour recesses.  That never happens.  We played "around the world" with our sight words.  We practiced our Christmas songs and watched a movie about Thanksgiving.  I stopped worrying about what it meant to be a "good" teacher for a bit and let it all just flow.  I let my creative camp counselor persona come back.  It was glorious.  We sang more songs on the way to the buses.  The kids were giggling up a storm so we had to stop the line for a bit because they couldn't walk.  They were busting their seams with laughter. God I love this place, my job, and my amazing kids.

I love teaching and seeing the kids grow up.  Thinking back three months ago, I wouldn't believe that I could be at this place in my job right now.  Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving on a Greyhound bus for Chicago to go back home for Thanksgiving.  Truthfully I didn't expect to feel this way about leaving Red Cloud for a bit.  At the end of the day I dropped my kids off on their buses.  When I got to the end of the bus line, I had a moment of panic.  I wouldn't see my little ones for six whole days.  I immediately got back on each bus and asked for hugs from them.  On one bus we have seven kindergarten kids.  I got on and said, "I won't see you for a whole week."  They swarmed me with hugs and a bunch of "We already miss you"'s. This is it.  I'm turning into a real teacher.  I don't know if I could ever work at a school anywhere else.

 Red Cloud has become my home.  These kids have become my own kids, all 20 of them.  Amidst their laughter, tears, and questions these wonderful little ones have taught me what it means to truly care about a community and its' future.  I want to see these kids graduate and go onto college.    They deserve the best.  So many of them come from unstable homes.  But, my students are applying what they are learning in school.  You can see their will to make the best of a situation.  They will become amazing leaders of this community. 

In less than 36 hours I'll be in Indiana.  I'll be visiting with my favorite camper, Grace, and catching up on life.  It's hard to believe that she's already 16.  I still remember the days of sitting by the lake with her, eating pudding without utensils, sharing our hearts, pranking Wea, and knowing that we were put in each other's life for a reason.  She makes me feel at home no matter where we are.  Camp Tecumseh friendships are unique.  They never seem to fade.  It's hard to believe that we started our friendship journey when she was 12 and I was 19.  Boy does time fly.......

PE teacher versus Kindergarten Students

At 12:30 pm I walked into the concession area of the gym and stopped to tie my shoe.  All the sudden I heard a loud, "Kindergarten!" accompanied by a bunch of screaming children.  My aide Mando and I turned to each other.  We both had the same feeling-something bad was going on in the gym.  We slowly entered the room and saw a bunch of our kindergarten students running around with foam balls and something that looked like giant Q-tips.  It was as if we entered a war zone.  The kids were running around not listening to anything that the PE teacher said to them.  Mando and I quickly called out certain kids' names in our sternest voices.  Our class was going crazy!  It really reminded me of that scene in Mean Girls where all the sudden the girls broke out into a fight as if they were jungle animals.  My mouth fell open.  I was amazed at how our class acted.  I've seen them have rough days, but boy did this top everything from before.  We quickly had the kids in a line and took them back to the classroom.

When we got back, I explained to the whole class that their behavior wouldn't be tolerated.  For our discipline system I have a giant cardboard stoplight that we use.  Each child has a clothespin with their name on it.  When the child gets a warning, they move their pin to the yellow and when they get a second warning it goes in the red.  Red means that they miss recess for the day (which in kindergarten is a HUGE deal).  Anyways, I had to tell five kids to move their pins up one color because of their behavior in PE.  This meant that they landed smack dab in the red.  We talked about how the kids should treat adults and modeled how that should happen.  When I told them that I was disappointed in them that sure did the trick.  Their faces fell.  Hopefully they learned a big lesson today.  We'll see if they actually take it in.

BONUS STORY:

Admist all the chaos today we practiced our songs for the Christmas program.  It's only 12 school days away....God help us.  We're singing Jingle Bell Rock and All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.  The three of us (Mikey, Mando, and myself) made up hand motions as we went along.  Best part of my day by far.  I love teaching kindergarten because we teach so much of our material "repeat after me" style.  The kids loved Mikey's hand motions/dance moves so much that one of them could not even do the motions.  She was laughing way too hard :)

No matter how awful part of the day might be, you can't help but love kindergartens when they sing Christmas songs.  Gosh darn those kids for being so cute!

Sweat Lodge

Tonight I participated in what people of the Lakota tribe call a "sweat".  Someone usually "calls" a sweat and it could be for various reasons.  The last one was for a volunteer's birthday.  This one tonight was called by a woman whose nickname is Worm.  She had a dream about something and wanted the medicine man ( heyoka) to explain it.  In the sweat there are four rounds.  The heyoka pours water onto the fire in the middle of the lodge.  Each round consists of something different, but some consist of praying and singing in Lakota.

All the sweats that I have been to so far this year were packed, so it was nice to actually have some breathing room in this one.  Our sweat lodge at the school can fit about 30 people in there.  Being in a sweat is difficult to explain.  When the heyoka pours the water onto the hot rocks a bunch of steam comes off of them. The steam hits you like a down of bricks.  You start to sweat in places that you didn't know you could.

Here's the best thing about sweats--the constant prayer and feeling of restlessness put at ease by the time it's over.  I'm still attempting to understand certain friendships in my life/lack there off.  I prayed a lot about it during sweat and about finding peace here in SoDak.   Bottom line I know that I'm here in Pine Ridge for a reason- it's about the kids.  While forming friendships is good, it's more so about making a difference in these kids' lives.   It's not about me figuring out my life.  My life is peachy keen compared to what some of my students are going through right now.  That's what keeps me in check.  It's that knowledge that this place has turned into a camplike state for me.  It's all about LOVIN' THOSE KIDS.  See, this is why I'm grateful for sweats.  They make everything so simple.