Friday, January 23, 2009
WELCOME!
AmeriCorps Member: Jenny Brown
Hello! My name is Jenny and I am currently serving with the LEAP Initiative AmeriCorps program through the Southern MN Initiative Foundation. My site is at United South Central, located in Wells, MN. Our current town population is around 3,500 people: very inclusive!
Right now I work in Mr. Wangen's Kindergarten class and Kids Korner (pre-K) with Luann Baumann. I have the best kids to work with! My focus right now is integrating a tolerance program into the preschool class in which I work. We are learning about the fundamentals of kindness, compassion, caring, sharing, respect, and diversity through books and various activities.
My favorite activity thus far has to be 'Words Hurt, Be Kind.' Through this activity we had a "new kid" in our class (a paper cut-out, if you will) and his name was Mr. Green. Through prompting, the children called out negative things to Mr. Green, which in turn caused a piece of him to be ripped off. After each child had a "piece" of Mr. Green, we then turned to positive words by complimenting or welcoming him. After each compliment, we tried to put Mr. Green back together, but it was nearly impossible to do so since words can never be erased. The kids in my class really enjoyed this activity and were saddened that Mr. Green had band-aids all over due to their mean words. He now hangs in our classroom, reminding us that Word's Hurt, Be kind.
I hope to take this concept further by implementing it into a service project with the 5-8th grade classes at USC. I have observed a great deal of name-calling, bullying, and inequality, and unfair play before and after school hours. However, I am unsure as to how to remedy this situation. Any ideas? Are there any anti-bully programs that work at your sites or that you have seen in the past? Right now, USC has an anonymous bully reporting system, but I still feel it is ineffective or not used enough due to overwhelming fear that students may have.
My last thought is a reminder to all AmeriCorps members that Random Acts of Kindness week is February 8-14 which is a perfect time to work with your sites on Kindness!
-Jenny Brown
AmeriCorps LEAP 08-09
United South Central-Wells, MN
Hello! My name is Jenny and I am currently serving with the LEAP Initiative AmeriCorps program through the Southern MN Initiative Foundation. My site is at United South Central, located in Wells, MN. Our current town population is around 3,500 people: very inclusive!
Right now I work in Mr. Wangen's Kindergarten class and Kids Korner (pre-K) with Luann Baumann. I have the best kids to work with! My focus right now is integrating a tolerance program into the preschool class in which I work. We are learning about the fundamentals of kindness, compassion, caring, sharing, respect, and diversity through books and various activities.
My favorite activity thus far has to be 'Words Hurt, Be Kind.' Through this activity we had a "new kid" in our class (a paper cut-out, if you will) and his name was Mr. Green. Through prompting, the children called out negative things to Mr. Green, which in turn caused a piece of him to be ripped off. After each child had a "piece" of Mr. Green, we then turned to positive words by complimenting or welcoming him. After each compliment, we tried to put Mr. Green back together, but it was nearly impossible to do so since words can never be erased. The kids in my class really enjoyed this activity and were saddened that Mr. Green had band-aids all over due to their mean words. He now hangs in our classroom, reminding us that Word's Hurt, Be kind.
I hope to take this concept further by implementing it into a service project with the 5-8th grade classes at USC. I have observed a great deal of name-calling, bullying, and inequality, and unfair play before and after school hours. However, I am unsure as to how to remedy this situation. Any ideas? Are there any anti-bully programs that work at your sites or that you have seen in the past? Right now, USC has an anonymous bully reporting system, but I still feel it is ineffective or not used enough due to overwhelming fear that students may have.
My last thought is a reminder to all AmeriCorps members that Random Acts of Kindness week is February 8-14 which is a perfect time to work with your sites on Kindness!
-Jenny Brown
AmeriCorps LEAP 08-09
United South Central-Wells, MN
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