Today in the bountiful town of Bluff, Utah we awoke in the early morning and ventured to the Bluff Elementary School once again. Lyndsey and I worked with the 1st grade class, as we have been doing all week. First we made copies for the teacher, which helps her out a lot because then she can focus on the children and their lessons. Next we proctored a pre-test, this test was focused on testing them over things that they have possibly not learned yet. It was difficult for some the kids, but it was just used for the teacher so that she could plan her future lessons and honed in on what needs to be taught. Next we did a math lesson, we learned about adding and subtracting the tens. After that we had center, in this time we take a group of kids and read with them or help them on worksheets. They had a spelling test the next day so they did some worksheets having to do with that. Lunch and recess are a fun time because we really get to chat with the kids and they all want to talk to you at once. Then we went to the computer room and they did iReady, math, and reading activities. I helped some of the kids with their math and I felt that they really benefited from this because they got some one on one time that they otherwise would have not gotten. I saw them improve and learn new concepts, which was very rewarding. Another highlight of the day was playing dodge ball with the 4th graders. They were really excited to have us playing with them, and it was a lot of fun playing with them.
Also, other things that were today were making a bulletin board about going to college to encourage the kids. It fits well with the school because their motto is 'we can do hard things'. I think this is a really awesome motto for the school because the school is very small and in the grand scheme of things it can seem insignificant. But after working with the kids it is obvious that they are very intelligent, sweet, and caring. They are very significant and it makes me sad that the school does not get the attention that it deserves. The school is a wonderful close-knit group of students and teachers. Coming to their school you can see that they care about each other deeply, you can see that because they all know each other by name. This was one of the first things that really struck me. So making that bulletin board will be a reminder that people do believe in them and they can reach for their dreams and achieve them. Being at Bluff Elementary reminds me that the small things do matter, these kids matter, and having successful schools matters.
In having gotten close to a few of the students in the 1st grade class I have come to realize a few things. First, all these children crave is attention. They always want to hold my hand, hug me, sit by me at lunch, and tell me about themselves. You could say that this is any kid under that age of 8, but I think the main difference is that most of these children live in low income or in poverty. You can see this by the way they dress, their lack of hygiene, and cavities. Also, knowing a little about the Native American Reservation, and knowing that some of the students live there, you can infer that they are in the lower income class. I can really tell that they want attention, which means they might not get this at home, so I am glad that they can get some of this attention at school. Another thing I have realized is they all want me to read with them when we have reading time. Personally my parents read to me every night since I was little, and I really thing that helped me in school and also just growing in my love for reading which is something I think everyone should experience. Seeing these kids hang on to my every word while reading them a story made we wonder if their parent/guardian read to them at night. It made me really appreciate that my parents did that for me and I personally think that a child should be read to daily. Another thing that is noticeable is that the students, at least the younger ones, blurt out very serious things such as a family member dying or being left by a parent. I really think that these issues should be acknowledged at school. And maybe they are being acknowledged and we just do not know about it. Although I think it should be a bigger part of that school, for example they could bring in a counselor, which I know would be a high cost for the school, but I think the students would really benefit from it.
In the afternoon we were invited to the Navajo teacher's house on the Reservation. We were all really excited about going because we have heard about the Reservation from the students and teachers all week, so we were excited to see the conditions first hand. The Navajo teacher's house was out in the middle of nowhere. Her closest neighbors were her own family members. Their living conditions were very different from what we are use to. They did not have electricity or plumbing. So the bathroom was like an outhouse. They had a lot of animals, such as horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats, and chickens. The majority of our trip really enjoyed the goats; they had baby goats, which were very cute. Also, her sister made us dinner; she made fried bread and beans. They were delicious. All of her family was very welcoming, so much so that they invited us to a Native American ceremony. The ceremony was so interesting because we got to see something that most people do not get to see and it is the core of their culture. I really enjoyed going to the Reservation because we got to see how they lived and saw the core of their culture.
Calli Luna/MAB Bluff, Utah
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