Day Nine - Wednesday: Greenie's Post

Every Wednesday is worship service. For approximately one hour, 1-8^th graders sit together, sing songs, pray, collect offering and hear a message from the local pastor (Pastor William). Students are free to dance to the hymns and be actively involved in all aspects of the service.

The Nursery has grown since last school year. They now have 31 children from ages 1 ½ to 3. The room, one of the last that will be remodeled also holds 42 JK children and since tile work is being done on two rooms, 27 SK children join to make 100 children in the room. 3 teachers run this and are very organized. They keep 3 different lessons going at once and command the attention of the children with minimal distractions.

The children eat lunch in the Nursery/KG room washing their hands both before and after their meals which consists mainly of rice.

It was not the Nursery /KG’s turn to get their bags that were sewn by Lisa Nielsen’s SK class. Each bag contained pesewas (coins) for each child. The children were happy that their Parker sister school students made these bags for them.

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Kate continued her masterful work as a teacher of all types of math. She used the compound again to teach the concept of bearings and this time, the students enthusiasm about the concept was clearly obvious as they moved NE and SW on the compound grounds. With string in hand, students found ways to mark points that made their learning easier.

Kate doesn’t miss a trick and keeping pencils close at hand is most important as she laced them into her hair to have them ready for immediate use. Some things don’t change and checking classwork is one of them. Kate’s handmade books that she used to teach time with 1^st graders were checked before she went home. Kate’s dedication and devotion to her teaching is so apparent and it is wonderful to watch.

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Joey continues to help his “team” learn about the tools he brought, one of which was a bit and brace which is used to put screws into the wood. Joey also had several smaller projects that he worked on with students, one of which making wooden boxes with a hinge top.

The blackboard was stained by Gideon and is now ready for a board to be painted and attached. It was fun taking a photo of Joey and his team that included Gideon, David, Joey, Gabriel, and Kotey. The final bookcase was assembled. This is the one that will go into the office where Charles is anxious to organize his books of information and necessary materials for Tuskegee. Joey’s team of students are really learning a lot about working as a productive team – and carpentry and woodworking.
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Keeping the compound clean to show pride for your school is expected by students from grades 1-8. When school is over, students empty the trash, and sweep the compound before leaving.

This was another fulfilling and productive day. Everyone is getting a good rhythm and a lot of great learning is going on. Tomorrow is Republic Day and there is no school for the children but there will still be a lot of things going on at Tuskegee.

Hugs, Greenie.