We go to Larchmont every day. We go to Larchmont to learn and play!

Training is officially over and our first-round project has been underway for the past week and a half. It feels great to finally be out in the field and putting all the things we've been talking about in training into action!

There are a few teams left on campus but for the most part we said goodbye to friends on other teams who were off to work on projects in places like Portland, rural Utah, and the Mexican border. It was nice not to have to worry about packing and I'm enjoying having access to all of the amenities on campus (some teams are camping and I'm extremely happy to have a bed this round). We won't find out details about our next project until probably early December but we will definitely be traveling somewhere for it.

For now it's all about Larchmont Elementary School!

Silver 3 on our first day of school!

We spent Thursday and Friday of last week getting to know the school and students by visiting classrooms and introducing ourselves. Some teachers asked us to observe or help out with things right away but for the most part we wandered around and received a lot of attention from the kids. Larchmont has had NCCC teams for the past few years so the students are familiar with the program and what to expect from us. We were greeted with cheers of "Americorps is here!" and lots of hugs.

Hugs from students on the first day... they mobbed us!

The first few days were kind of chaotic and we were definitely a distraction to the kids but it was also a lot of fun to see how excited they are to have us there. The principal and teachers are all very welcoming and excited to have us as well.

This week we've had a more regular schedule and are assigned to specific classrooms to help out during the day. I'm with a 4th/5th split class first thing in the morning while they're getting ready for the day and doing independent reading and journal writing. The teacher works will small groups and I walk around to have them tell me about what they're doing and sometimes read a few pages out loud. It's encouraging to see how excited so many of them are about reading and brings back memories from my own book filled childhood. The classroom is well organized and the teacher does a great job of teaching two grades at once considering how difficult it must be. I don't always feel very useful in that class but it's a nice way to start the day and a chance to get to know students one-on-one. The most interesting class I work with are 3rd/4th grade special ed students. There are only about 10 students in the class and there are huge differences in their individual abilities. I come in while they do math groups and usually lead a small group while the teacher and aid work with the others. Some students are working on multiplication while others are working on number recognition which means I really have to tailor the way I explain things depending on where they're at. The teacher is pretty amazing at keeping students on task while making the classroom a fun and nurturing place. In the afternoon I'm with a 3rd grade class then a 2nd grade class. It's making me realize that I enjoy working with older students a bit more but the younger kids keep me on my toes. In these classes I mostly try to keep the kids focused and work with students who are struggling to keep up. The teachers definitely have their hands full and seem glad to have me there to pitch in where needed. After school we work with students on their homework and get the chance to get to know them a little better. A lot of them have rough home situations and you can tell they really like the positive attention we give them. Overall the days are exhausting and sometimes frustrating but I think we have the ability to have a positive impact during this project

I could write forever about Larchmont but will save some things for my next entry. I'm renewing my blogging efforts and will try to update more often so it's not so overwhelming to have to write about everything at once.

Until later, thanks for reading!