Urban Arts Academy – 3 hours
I had my first day at Urban Arts academy on last Wednesday. I’m helping with their after school program with kindergarteners. I enjoyed the atmosphere there, the academy serves snacks as a part of their after school program.
The teacher had planned a super enjoyable activity of making vintage maps with the students. She was well prepared and had materials like coffee and paper ready and set up for the kids. After having some snacks the children did not want to go right in and start the activity, but it was awesome to notice how the teacher got them interested and engaged in the activity. She was polite and excited, she explained them though a short story how the maps can be so exciting and the possibilities of what their map would be are endless. Soon they started getting excited about the activity, and one of the students pretended to be a pirate (who had not even made a map at that point, but was already exploring a new place all though his imagination). Finally, one of the students was ready to create her map. Soon the entire class followed and made their maps - which turned out great!
First day itself was really interesting, and I enjoyed the energy in the classroom. My biggest lesson day one was about time management. The teacher must have spent entire day preparing and thinking about the activity. But for the kindergarten students the activity lasted just for a couple of minutes!
Looking forward to many more fun activities!