NBMC After-school report, December 2007
City Gate after-school care program currently has 12 students enrolled at our National Baptist Memorial Church site, located at 1501 Columbia Road site. The age range of our children is 5 to 12 years old, with an average attendance of about 7 children within the 7-10 years of age group.
The after-school program began the week of October 21. The hours of the program are 3:30-6:00. We are presently enjoying the help of volunteers from American University (students), and members from both Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church and National Baptist Memorial church. Beginning the week of January 14, we will welcome student volunteers from Sidwell Friends School. On an average, we will gain the assistance of 3-4 volunteers a day.
Our afternoon begins at 3:30 with a snack before indulging in homework. At the completion of homework, most of our children enjoy 1:1 or 1:2 student teacher ratio of individual academic enrichment in the areas of math or reading. This is also precluded with a larger group sessions of secondary enrichment activities that include science, history, math, reading and fitness (including nutrition) Each day of the week is scheduled to include 20-30 minutes of a special subject to be covered by a volunteer or the site coordinator.
We enjoy keeping logs regarding our student's academic progress, weakness, and strengths, social and emotional struggles. This information is strictly based on observation and homework assistance. In additions to these notebooks each child also has a daily workbook in which their academic enrichment activities are recorded. These notebooks allow each individual student, volunteer and our site coordinator to monitor and track academic progress.
Our Site Coordinator, Kelley Greening, describes some of the ways that our children have benefited from our after-school program
- One of our 5 year old has shown great improvement in writing. When he entered the program he would become extremely frustrated with simple task, such as writing his name or tracing letters. He now enjoys practicing writing his names and other letters of the alphabet. I have found that he is practicing his name while I am assisting other students without even having to ask him. One day I had to talk with a student and therefore had to stop helping him learn his letters, while I was talking with this other student he runs up to me and shows me a piece of paper that he had wrote all the letters of his name on. It brought me such joy to see that he is enjoying learning how to write his name and is not getting as frustrated anymore with practicing these tasks.
- Another one of our older students has shown improvements in their self-confidence. When she entered the program she was very timid about trying to do homework problems on her own and would easily give up and want the answers. I soon discovered that she knew what she was doing just didn't have enough confidence to do it herself. After working one on one with her for a few weeks she is now coming to the program with less and less homework because she has the confidence to work on it in the classroom. She lately has been coming in and showing me the work she has done at school, and you can see the pride she has in herself for completing it correctly.
- One of our parents has taken the initiative to come into the after-school program to observe what we do with her child in order to practice these skills at home with him in the evening. We have also been able to provide this parent with a computer at home to further support her efforts in assisting her child in educational computer games.
Our program manager and site coordinator was also able to attend a Christmas program that involves two of the students in the after-school program. This kind of outside interaction has been very valuable in establishing trusting relationships with our students and parents as well as creates opportunities for communication with the schools, teachers and parents.
Finally, we are still in need of volunteers of all kinds – people to tutor kids, people to assist with Saturday field trips, and especially people with special skills and talents to share. Please contact Theodra or Kelley at info@city-gate.org at (202) 561-5113 for more information.