EARTH DAY CLEAN-O-THON!!!

I feel like I've been at Sojourner ALL WEEK...oh wait, that's because I basically have been! Monday Arielle and I went in for the weekly school assembly. Two of our students put together a skit to inform the school about the upcoming CLEAN-O-THON on Thursday (today). One of the boys was going to throw a crumpled up piece of paper at a waste basket and miss (on purpose of course). And then another student was going to come up to him after he shrugged his shoulders and started walking away and ask him, "Hey, aren't you gonna pick that up?" And then he was going to say no and she was going to tell him about the Earth Day Clean-o-thon on Thursday, and at the end she was going to ask him again if he was going to pick the piece of paper up. Then he was going to try shooting the paper in the waste basket again, but this time make it (or go for a slam dunk if he missed again). It was short, to the point, and fun. Unfortunately, one of the students wasn't there that morning, and the other one was too upset to even want to do it, so the principle made a short announcement for them instead. It worked out, but it was kind of a bummer since we had spent a substantial amount of time working on the skit the Wednesday before.

Tuesday I was not at Sojourner, but Arielle and I took some time Tuesday evening to plan for our meeting with our students on Wednesday...so my mind was there. :)

Wednesday was our last meeting before our BIG EVENT!! We took some time to finish preparing for it. We finished coloring our posters and putting them up in the school. We checked in with the janitor to make sure he was able to order extra gloves and bags and such. We redrew the map for the teachers of where their grade was cleaning, and made copies for them. And we ended our meeting with an overview of how the next day was going to look. We talked about different roles that the students would need to take for their project, and they volunteered to do those roles. Unfortunately we were missing two of our students and they weren't expected to be coming back the following day. :(

It's funny, but I think I was more nervous about the assembly than I was about the actual event. Once the assembly was over on Monday all my anxiety just washed away. Arielle and I went over all that our group had left to do before the event on Thursday, and it seemed manageable, so I was able to get really excited for the Clean-o-thon!

Today I found myself back at Sojourner for the EARTH DAY CLEAN-O-THON!!! (yes, I do realize that Earth Day isn't actually until tomorrow, but they don't have school tomorrow). Arielle and I got there a little early, so we just sat and waited because our students were out at recess and I don't think it's very nice to take away a kid's time to play...or at least they probably wouldn't think that it's very nice. We did warn them yesterday that their recess would probably be cut a little short due to the fact that our event started right at the end of their recess.

Arielle and I grabbed the box of bags and the boxes of gloves and headed out to the playground to get our group. They were a bit resistant in leaving their friends, but we got them to come over. As we expected two of our group members were not with us which left us with only four students. We reminded them of the run down of the event and their roles they volunteered for. One of our students didn't seem very interested in helping out (actually this student didn't seem very interested for much of the planning of this event), but they still helped.

Our first group was the K-2nd graders. The Kindergartners cleaned up the outdoor classroom. The first graders cleaned up the playground area, and the second graders cleaned up the school and church side of Emerson. Our students did a great job of handing out needed supplies with this group, and then splitting up and helping these grades clean their designated areas. Though one of our students had a hard time with one of the second graders who was being mean to her, and she had enough (the same girl who didn't seem very interested in the event), so she went back to her class until they came out to help with the clean up.

After they were done a first grade class came out just for recess, but the other first graders were still on the playground (some were done cleaning and so just playing, but other kept picking up trash because they were having fun!), and so the class that came out just for recess wanted to help because they saw their friends having so much fun! When they asked for gloves I gave them some, but then their teacher said that I could tell them no, and to just have them ask their teacher. I thought that was kind of sad that their teacher didn't wan them helping clean up the playground. They were probably going to help either way and at least I could give them gloves to be sanitary about it!

After the first group came it was kind of hard to keep our public achievement group together and ready for the next group because the classes would come at different times. It's hard to stand there and watch friends play while you just wait for another class to come out and clean. Plus the groups didn't stop picking up trash at the same time, so it was kind of staggered which added to the chaoticness. (Though, like Arielle said to me after the event, it was not as chaotic as was expected). Because of this Arielle and I did some more handing out of gloves and bags than originally intended because we wanted our students to take most of the responsibility.

The fifth graders were next. There was some slight confusion as to where their were suppose to clean...apparently the teacher's had a problem with the street we chose for them? (actually it was just one of the teachers). But we got it figured out and they did an AWESOME job picking up trash!! One group of brave students even picked up a dead squirrel!! No worries, they used gloves. ;)

The sixth and seventh graders came out last. There was only a small group of them because the others had some sort of ice cream social to go to (i think that's what it was). Another 3rd grade class came out with them which i wasn't expecting, but we worked with. The sixth and seventh graders were a lot more willing to help than I thought they'd be, but they also probably picked up the least amount of trash. That may be because there wasn't a lot on the street they were assigned to, or because there was a smaller group of them, or just because they weren't actually that into it. The third grade class seemed much more excited and picked up trash all along the front of the school. While the 6th and 7th graders (and the 3rd grade class) were picking up trash we let our students have a little recess too because of all the hard work they put into the whole event and helping all the other classes clean.

After each class was done cleaning they got some time to play on the playground which i was glad that the teachers allowed their students that time as a thank you for helping clean up.

Arielle and I estimated the amount of trash that was picked up because I forgot to bring my baggage scale from home to weigh the bags. We estimated, by means of picking up the bags and approximating the weight we felt, that there was about 500 lbs of trash that was picked up. There were a LOT of bags, and a LOT of trash! WAY TO GO SOJOURNER TRUTH ACADEMY!

After every bag was tied up we got the rest of our group and put the bags in the dumpster-we finished!

As the students were lining up to go inside we talked with each of our group members individually and asked them how they felt it went, and told them how much trash was estimated to have been picked up! They did a great job!

We had sent a parent letter home explaining and inviting parents to come join us in our endeavor to clean up the school grounds. I saw at least two parents come. One woman was the mom of a 1st grader and a 5th grader. She was so sweet and friendly, and just a joy to work with! She spoke Spanish as her first language, but did a really good job speaking to us in English the best she could. :)

I think our students did a great job at facilitating and participating in this event. It was somewhat chaotic in making sure we had everyone when we needed everyone to help each of the classes, but some of that couldn't be avoided because classes would come out at different times. Arielle and I ended the day with a smile on our face and pride in our hearts for our 5th grade public achievement group!