Summer School

On to summer school! I just finished a week and a half with my adorable first grade class. Summer school is a new idea that is unique to the San Jose site, and this is actually the first year that the entirety of the first-year corps members were asked to participate! Summer school ran from 8:00 am - 12:00 pm, and consisted of math, literacy, PE, and Starfish Corps, which is a program designed by City Year to teach young children about community, teamwork, citizenship and service.

Overall, summer school was a very positive experience for me. I learned a lot about the demographic I'll be working with, even though these students were much younger than the ones I'll be working with for the rest of the year. Each corps member had a co-teacher who was also a first-year corps member, as well as Senior Corps members who serve as peer group leaders and peer mentors during our teaching hours, providing feedback after each day and assistance during the day if needed. My students seemed to have a lot of fun, especially on the last day when we took them to the San Jose tech museum! It was a great learning experience for me, and hopefully they are now excited to return to school and start the first grade!


A gift for me on the last day of summer school from one of my students. Apparently I have really awesome triangular dresses (I wore a City Year t-shirt, jeans and sneakers every day) and shoulder pads when I teach. ;-)

Wish me luck on my first day of middle school tomorrow! Until next time...