"Just a day, Just an ordinary day..."

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Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:04:19 -0500

I love this teacher

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:03:36 -0500

I love this teacher

itsnotthatfunnyisit: saraadianee: remember when baby spice...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:15:56 -0500

saraadianee:

remember when baby spice sang about wearing a condom

remember when it took me over a decade to realize what she was singing about

I love this!

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:21:33 -0500

I love this!

atheatregeek2: Simba!

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:34:40 -0500

atheatregeek2:

Simba!

donaldglover: i think my problem is that i’m trying to be a fictional character in a non-fiction...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:33:23 -0500

donaldglover:

i think my problem is that i’m trying to be a fictional character in a non-fiction world

Photo

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:42:44 -0500

Photo

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:40:31 -0500

mydrunkkitchen: Just some warm fuzzies.

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:54:48 -0500

mydrunkkitchen:

Just some warm fuzzies.

The leaves are finally changing colors in Texas. No...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:02:30 -0500

The leaves are finally changing colors in Texas. No biggie…it’s only December lol

White Chocolate misses you!

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:36:08 -0400

Butterfly misses you too!

Are you ever coming back????

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:35:51 -0400

coming back to Tumblr or Louisiana? I uploaded the last of my journals thus far and I’m in LA now :)

Weeks 14 and 15

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:34:13 -0400

In my 14th week at Fort Hood I was really busy at Kouma trying to finish arranging the field trips. Tuesday, I worked a full day shift instead of the normal split so I can have more time to call the different destinations. I was able to reserve all field trips except for three of them. Although making field trip reservations sounds like an easy task it literally took me almost the whole day. Let me explain this a little further.

Kouma is having a summer camp for Pre-K and Kindergarten from June through August. As of now our estimated numbers are 40 for Pre-K and 84 for Kindergarten. Initially, when planning the field trips, we assumed we would have two groups going on field trips—1 Pre-K group and 1-Kinder group. However, after attending the field trip risk assessment training last week we were informed of a few guidelines we have to follow.

We cannot have more than 50 children going on a fieldtrip a day. This means that only one group can leave the facility a day. For example, if the Pre-k group was going to the Zoo on Friday, April 20th at 0900 and the Kindergarten group was going to the Planetarium on April 20th at 1300, only one of those groups would be able to go on a field trip that day even if they go at different times and to different destinations.

Also, the kindergarten group has to be divided into two groups because there are more than 50 children estimated to attend camp. Although the two groups are both kindergarten, they will still have to go to their field trip destinations on different days because only one group (regardless of whether or not it’s the same grade) can leave the facility a day. In addition to this it was also suggested that we don’t go on a field trip the same day as another center. Plus, Ms. Kathy, the program manager, does not want field trips on Monday since the children are just coming back from the weekend and many parents might forget about the scheduled field trips. She also preferred that they don’t go on a field trip on Friday as well.

So keeping this in mind, I began adding a third group to the field trip calendar and rearranging some of the projected dates to make sure they didn’t conflict with other centers. At first I tried to keep the schedule to where all three groups would go to the same destination in a one week time frame. This looked really good on paper until I started to call and make reservations. Some places only had set days for camps to visit their facilities. Also, on some days our field trip destinations and times conflicted with other centers. Once I found this out, I had to start rearranging yet again.

Later I was reminded to be mindful of the days the teachers chose for the field trips. For example, the week of June 11th is the military birthday so both the kinder and pre-k groups wanted to visit the First Calvary Museum that week. I had to make sure when rearranging dates I looked at the teacher’s lesson plans, special events, and or holidays that might be in that week. I was also reminded that we could only go on one long distance field trip per group a month.

Needless to say, I went through multiple calendar drafts. However, I think we may have gotten it all straightened out. Now I just have to call the destinations again once my supervisor approves out dates.

Although I spent a lot of time working on field trips, I was also able to get my fair share of time spent working at the front desk and in the classroom. Ms. Kelly and Ms. Brenda have trained me so well with working on CYMS and at the front desk in general. I feel very confident now compared to when I first started the internship. I can answer the phones, take payments, and manually sign the children in and out without having a mini anxiety attack on the inside. I have also learned how to multitask and maintain my composure when a lot is going on.

Since Kouma shares the facility with SKIES there are certain times when the front desk gets really hectic. As parents sign their children in for Skies classes you have to make sure that you check their I.D.s and give them a SkiesUnlimited visitor pass if the child development center children are in the building. While they are signing in, you may be answering another parent’s question, a child might interrupt to ask you to turn the TV on in the waiting room, and the phones will start to ring all at the same time. Sometimes CYMS will even start to act up in the middle of a payment or the receipts will get jammed in the machine.

I always remind myself that it’s not the end of the world. I am only one person and there is only so much I can do. It is essential that to be patient, calm and courteous. I don’t want to cause any unnecessary stress for anyone.

In addition to working the front desk, I was also able to spend time with the children. I was able to go to the schools with the teachers to pick them up and assist in the classroom. Every time I have a conversation with a pre-k or kindergartener, I am reminded of why I enjoy working with children so much.

One of the days I went to the school, I got to get the pre-k group. When I checked the attendance and did a name to face count, one of the children said, “I don’t know you.” All I could do was laugh because for the past two weeks I have been manually signing her into CYMS in the morning and speaking with her and her mom when they come in. When all of the kids were finished asking me 20 questions and decided I passed the stranger danger test, they wanted to sit next to me and read various books to them.

Week 15

The excitement continued during my last week as I helped Kouma prepare for Month of the Military Child. We made framed die cut art. I helped prepare the activity and I worked our table. I was worried that we would get bombarded by all the kids at once but that did not happen. We were put between two face painting tables so the children would come to us sporadically. They all enjoyed making their art and some were begging their parents to make more! It was really fun to work MOMC and I would love to be a part of it next year as well.

This week, my supervisor also asked me to visit all of the centers and do a mock ACYSE inspection. She said it would be benficial to me and it would assist the centers as they prepare for the real ACYSE inspection . That was an all day event! I only visited five of the centers and only did really in-depth insepections at three of them. After doing that mock inspection, I have no dreams of ever being a part of an in-depth inspection team like ACYSE. However, I understand that inspections like these are needed to make sure CYSS is adhering to army standards and performing to the best of their abilities.

This week was also my outprocessing week. Outprocessing is so much easier than in-processing! I only had to sign one document and fill out an exiting survey. I also spoke with my supervisor about what areas I want to focus on for the next term of my internship. I am so happy that I have such an awesome supervisor. I was under the impression that I would just be working the summer camp that I’ve been helping plan at Kouma. Nope! She said she still wants me to learn more and get something tangible out of my internship. She told me to think about some of the things I want to spend more time learning. I plan on reading some of the other blogs on here that I haven’t read and see if there is something one of you have focused on that I haven’t had the chance to get experience with yet. I will also get a chance to work with the middle school age kids (since I haven’t gotten a chance to spend time with them) and I might even get a chance to work with ACCYN again since they will be trying to transition FCC HOP into their program and could use extra assistance. Over my break, I also plan to continue working on my resume, complete some more trainings on IMCOM, and finish applying to grad school. I cannot wait until the summer term begins! I hope everyone enjoyed their internship as much as I have enjoyed mine. Have a great summer and congrats to all of the interns that will be walking across the stage in a few weeks!