Monday, April 4th, 2016

           Today was very busy. I woke up at 7:30 AM and arrived at Sheltering Arms around 8:30 AM. We met with the director of volunteers and she told us the rules, some background information, and assigned us to a room. I was assigned to the one and two year olds, which I was very excited about! However, once I was in the room, I felt super uncomfortable because I had no idea how to interact with these children... can they speak? Will they understand me? I introduced myself to the teacher and asked if I could take pictures for my project, but she quickly shut that down. She then asked me to help feed Logan breakfast and this is when I started to figure out what they could understand. He first pointed to his glass of milk and said "milk!"He then proceeded to turn towards me in excitement and spill his milk all over the table. Before I could even react, all nine kids in the room ran over to the table and started putting their hands in the milk splattering it everywhere. I then thought to myself, "this is going to be a long day." Once everyone was cleaned up, I helped the teachers with their daily morning routine. We sat on the carpet reviewing their ABC's, colors, names, animals, etc. We played music and simon says so they could dance and learn to follow instructions. As Devyn walked by my room to go to the bathroom, she saw me hopping around the room with a bunch of kids and began to laugh. At this point, I knew her morning experience was not quite like mine.

           After lunch, we returned to Sheltering Arms and switched classrooms. I met Mrs. Rawls, the new teacher I was helping, and the Pre-K kids, who had just woken up from their naps. This time I was allowed to take pictures. We put away their cots and headed outside for snack time. I was handed a bowl of fruit, cups, spoons, gloves, and a basket of cornbread (I think). I then found myself outside, alone with 13 starving 4 year olds asking me for food. I handed them napkins, divided the food, and sat with them until they finished eating. Once they finished eating, I played with them on the playground until it was time for me to leave. We played basketball, soccer, tag, hide and go seek, did gymnastics, ran races, I pushed them on the swing, etc. One boy was holding a soccer ball that all the boys wanted to play with, but he would not let them. Every time I asked him to share he would run away and pout. Once the teacher took the ball he then began to act out. He started to hit me and scratch me. I honestly didn't know what to do because we were not supposed to discipline, but it hurt and he wasn't stopping. The teacher started to video him to show his mom and he stopped immediately. By the end of the day, he was all over me being one of the sweetest boys and wanting me to push him on the swing. When it was time for me to leave, I was exhausted from running around and was profusely sweating. I said my goodbyes and got hugs from everyone. One boy came up to me and made me promise that I would be there tomorrow. This really touched me because it actually made me feel like I made a difference. I can't wait for tomorrow to hopefully get a different age group so I can continue to see what they act like and in general get to know more of the kids at Sheltering Arms.