I was bit anxious Sunday night since I want to make the most of the 5 days I have to interact with the kids. I didn't want to overthink while planning for Monday's activities since I hadn't met the kids at the daycare, but I wanted to be as prepared as possible. The home base has about 10 mats so I decided to try some Yoga poses to gauge their interest, prepared a memory based alphabet exercise, packed coloring supplies, UNO cards and some soft frisbee like toys.
On the ride to work I had an opportunity to talk to Jaiya. She graduated from high school early, completed her freshman year and decided to take a gap year between. She's currently working with CCS to rebrand their website, create a social media presence and capture volunteer experiences in a meaningful way that's relevant for marketing goals. She gave me an example of how Tarte Cosmetics uses Snapchat for product launches sharing video from the global location where the minerals used are exported from. She's pitching a job for herself to capture volunteer experiences at each CCS location for social media. Jaiya is 18 years old!!! [M&M, yes I've started recruiting efforts for Turner].
I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the daycare. I was escorted to a huge playroom and the first two things I saw were a basketball goal and punching bag! I was right at home. There were 7 children present, ages 3 thru 7 and their arrivals were staggered. Juan Pablo [3], Jonatan [3], Zoe [4], Yeltsin [4] and Keyleth [6] were there when I arrived. Johel [6] arrived an hour after I began with kids and I only had an hour with Katherine [6]. People in LATAM countries have a hard time pronouncing my name so I decided to give everyone the option to call me my middle name, Tiempo. It's a weird name, especially here but the kids at the daycare just rolled with it. Unfortunately, I'm not supposed to post photos of the kids so I'll describe them well enough to form a mental picture.
The kids enjoyed Yoga especially cow and cat poses since I would "moo" and "meow" while doing them. I was able to get thru about 4 poses before they became more interested in stealing each others mats. I regained their attention playing a little basketball, picking up the smaller kids so they could dunk.
Juan Pablo pulled himself up onto the rim and tucked his legs under it. I knew at that moment he'd be a handful and my favorite. He's a strong stocky kid and somewhat bullish, but incredibly affectionate with me. I quickly discovered he loves to laugh so I'm able to be silly with him.
Jonatan is new to the daycare and initially wouldn't enter the playroom and interact with any of the kids. He stood in the doorway so I placed toys near him like bread crumbs until I finally found a toy he couldn't resist...the frisbee. Juan Pablo and I played with him a bit and eventually I was able to get him to sit at the table and color with the other children. He's very laid back and patient.
Zoe is the princess and also Juan Pablo's sister. She doesn't like sharing and cries whenever she doesn't get her way. That is unless Katherine is around and she instantly becomes a well behaved "BIG" girl.
Keyleth and Yeltsin are brothers whom compete with each other every chance they have. Yeltsin is more reserved, patient and better behaved. Since he's younger he gets pushed around by big bro.
Johel is the biggest and leader of pack overall. He's all boy and enjoys the physical activities best. He put on the boxing gloves and went to town on the punching bag while I held it for him.
Katherine is a sweetheart. She gave me her candy and drew a picture of me with fruit and flowers that she also shared as a gift.
The kids burned thru the other exercises and I discovered they need extra help with the alphabet. Overall, they're all very energetic and extremely eager to learn! The "Tia" is very organized, clean and her self discipline is reflected in the kids via their established daily routine.
I had a reflection session with the CCS staff to give my assessment of the daycare. They were surprised to hear the kids weren't proficient with the alphabet since their files reflect the opposite. They were able to identify all the colors and numbers on the UNO cards, but didn't know any of the letters. They were also not able to recite the alphabet when presented visually on paper.
I spent 3 hrs walking thru Catargo with Emilie and Ivory in the afternoon, then the entire group made a quick store run for supplies and we ended the day with a late night run to the ice cream shop.
Here are some of the things I captured throughout the day.
Parque Central de Cartago
Commenti