The sun is out, fun is in. In the Crayons Count Learning Lorry that is.
Crayons Count Summer School 2014 was in full effect as the team travelled to two basic schools in Kingston to spread the fun from July 7- July 24, 2014. The program focused on using the donated learning tools from our learning kits to emphasize concepts in the curriculum that addressed building social skills, such as manners and cooperation. Central Academy and Central Branch Infant was home base for the Learning Lorry every morning as a team of volunteers worked closely with children on developing hands-on skills and reinforcing concepts by way of fun, creative activities.
These activities encompassed many early childhood concepts essential to academic and social success inside and outside the classroom. Concepts such as fine motor skills, discipline, sharing, socializing with others, manners, respect for self, others and the environment, self-esteem, co-operation, communication, social interaction, self-awareness and appreciation were highlighted and emphasized with the use of the learning kits tools which included crayons, play dough, paper, scissors, glue sticks, paint, paint brushes, cube blocks, puppets, manipulatives, puzzles, books and balls.
Ably led by our early childhood teacher consultant, Shaanii-Grace Robinson, every day the volunteer team assessed and adjusted activities to find the right balance between group and individual tasks based on the personalities of the children and their demonstrated interests. There were times when the volunteers had to get the children motivated or even give someone a time out but with so much to do and so much to learn and squeeze and draw and tear and build, who had time to waste?
Individual tasks focused on developing fine motor skills, encouraging creativity and emphasizing the discipline of completing tasks – all with arts and crafts activities using crayons, paper, glue sticks, scissors and Play Doh. We helped the children make string telephones for our session on building communication skills, body outlines on blank newsprint for our session on self-awareness, picture frames, paper hats and boats and much more. Our bright stars were able to create, decorate and lead their own work station which encourages creativity. It took some prompting but we even had the shyest little one working and learning. The children tore paper, cut paper, folded paper, coloured paper, glued small things and big things, and made shapes with Play-Doh. Learning is hard work!
Group tasks focused on working together, movement and building gross motor skills. They were a big hit. The children loved Simon Says, passing blocks along to learn coordination with ‘Go dung a Immanuel Road’, Kiddie yoga, Sing-A-longs to a video presentation about Communication, musical chairs, using London Bridge is falling down to teach manners, puppet shows, drama and more. We even had a ‘Street Dance’ which included fun children dances such as the Chubby Checker, the Boom Chicka Boom and Father Abraham. Remember 1, 2, 3 Red Light? We even had that too with the children learning how to identify colours and following instructions with the help of the coloured blocks found in the Crayons Count learning kits donated each September.
Speaking of manners, we sure made that fun. Soon the children were quick to tell us to say “Please’ and “Thank You”. Not only did we emphasize manners in every activity, but every day the children sang and danced along to “Jamaican Mannaz” and we even had a dedicated fun exercise to learning manners in French and Spanish.
Of course, we could not forget the Crayons Count Saturday Gleaner Page chock full of games, rhymes, and exciting early childhood themed activities sure to get any child and even adult animated.
In the last week of Crayons Count Summer School 2014, the children were treated with a field trip to…drum please, *drums* Hope Zoo! The children were over the moon seeing Lucas the lion and couldn’t believe their eyes when the squirrel monkeys swung by to pay them a visit. The children were not afraid of the snakes and wanted to pet the ostriches as they strutted by. One happy camper got a hold of a peacock feather and never wanted to let go. To say it was a good day, would be an understatement…in fact, it was a ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ day (that means happy for all the Non- Mary Poppins fans).
We celebrated the end of Crayons Count Summer School 2014 with a party in the Learning Lorry to celebrate all the times the children shared with each other and their volunteers. The Learning Lorry was brilliantly decorated with colourful streamers and drawings on the dry erase boards – all done by the children themselves. Party hats on, they also got funky with a dance session that included a conga line lead by Deika Morrison, founder of Do Good Jamaica/Crayons Count. Yes, we ALL know how to have a good time.
The children also decorated and ate fun little mini cupcakes and were presented with their very own portfolio filled with all the art work and activities from the start of summer school. A slideshow recapping all the interesting and animated activities drew the day to a close as each child was presented with their very own goodie bag filled with tools from the learning kit, snacks and the Saturday Gleaner page.
It was a truly illuminating experience as the volunteers also received a Crayons Count Certificate of Appreciation for all their hard work and dedication. Many thanks again to Rachel Hendrickson, Amanda Hendrickson, Daniella Sykes, Jenelle Dowie and Bradley Chen-See for the time they spent with the children – being firm but fun.
Once again our major sponsor National Baking Company supported this initiative not only with the amazing Crayons Count Learning Lorry but also with providing snacks through-out the summer school. Thanks also to Wisynco for providing refreshments. We cannot forget to thank Central Academy and Central Branch Infant for allowing us to be a part of their summer school and for giving us the opportunity to touch the lives of their students, if even for a short time. The support and appreciation we were met with was overwhelming and we will continue to rally for the early childhood cause.
Check out all the photos from our Crayons Count Summer School on our Facebook page