What We’ve Been Up To…

For this session of ImpACT Academic Boost classes, we learned the answers to three important questions. What makes a great invention great? What’s a Haiku? Who impacted our lives?

What makes a great invention great? In ImpACT’s Papermaking class, we learned from Teacher Cindy that without paper our lives would be pretty hard. She challenged us to think about it. Without paper to print money, we would have to carry lots and lots of heavy coins. Without paper, we’ll have to turn in homework assignments on clay tablets or on big sheets of rock. Paper, like all great inventions should, makes everyone’s life so much easier. After learning about the greatness of paper all the ImpACT students got some hands on experience helping Teacher Kathy make their own paper! Students contributed shredded paper, glitter, and even flowers! The end product was the most colorful, recycled paper.

What’s a Haiku? Is it an animal from South America or a fruit from Asia? According to Teacher Tracy, it’s a form of poem from Japan! Haikus are short poems with three lines. To write a successful Haiku, the first line must have five syllables, the second line must have seven syllables, and the last line must have five syllables. Wait a second, what’s a syllable? It’s the smallest unit of word. For example, the word IMPACT has two syllables. Hint: You can tell how many syllables a word has by counting how many vowels are in the word. In true ImpACT-style, we practiced counting syllables by playing a game. Teacher Tracy read a word aloud and everyone had to quickly count the number of syllables it has and get into a group according to the number of syllables. After an exciting time of running around everyone sat down and wrote their very own Haiku on a scroll. The students wrote about a variety of topics: their love of basketball, pets, family, and of course, ImpACT.

Who impacted our lives? Our lives are actually connected to the lives of other people, so when others make a decision it can change our lives as well. For example, if our parents or grandparents did not decide to come to America, we would have never grown up here. Our families are not the only ones who impacted our lives; people in history impacted the way we live now. Without people like Martin Luther King Jr., our world would not have been so great. In our ImpACT class, we learned about another awesome person, William Wilberforce, whose great sacrifice and life’s work greatly impacted our lives. It’s because of him, England abolished the slave trade and many people, including people in America, changed their attitudes about slavery. Had it not been for him, we may not live a free country.

Truly, it has been another exciting session of ImpACT Academic Boost. But you don’t have to take our word for it: come and join us next Sunday. Pickups are at Franklin and Garfield schools at 1:30pm. See you there!

Convalescent Home Visit

This past Valentine’s Day, we witnessed how much the ImpACT students have changed and also what a difference they are making to others around them.

Their attitude about sharing and giving changed as we prepared for the visit. Initially when we told the students that we were going to make special frames to give away to the grandmas and grandpas at a convalescent home field trip, many were disappointed. These kids are used to being on the receiving end at home, at school, and even at ImpACT. However, that Sunday they left empty handed.

The next Sunday, at Crown Bay Convalescent Home, they asked for the frames. However, this time the students were not requesting to keep it but to give it away. The grandmas and grandpas lighted up when they received their gifts. In this way the students experienced the joy of giving, and it appeared they couldn’t get enough of it. Two of the girls gave away all their frames before they left the recreation room. When they saw an extra frame on the floor, they raced toward it so they could have another frame to give away to another grandma.

Before, it was common for the ImpACT students to comment about having to go to Joyland large group time. To them, there was “too much singing and dancing.” One of the girls refused to sing or dance at all. However, days before our convalescent visit, her Team Lead spoke to her mom, where the mom asked, “Are you guys going somewhere special?” The Team Lead explained to her about the visit. The mom replied, “Oh no wonder, my girls have been practicing singing and dancing all week!”

As the kids crammed into the front of the recreation room to perform their songs, they were shy and uncomfortable. Many kids didn’t look at the residents but looked nervously at the floor. However, once Mr. Tony started the music, the kids gave the audience their all, dancing and singing their hearts out as if it was another Joyland Christmas Celebration! Afterwards, one of the students told a Team Lead that she saw a man cry. The girls around her were all stunned that they could have such an effect on others.

On the ride home, some of the students said that this convalescent visit wasn’t a normal field trip. As they talked about what they had experienced, they smiled proudly and nodded to each other. The students have changed so much. We’re really looking forward to seeing how much more they’ll grow and hoping to hear about how they’ll be bringing what they learn at ImpACT into their class-rooms and their homes.