Retreats

Our class retreat was probably the funnest school day yet! We did so many activities, and we went to the FFC (Families For Children). I learned that there was more to the retreat than just visiting the FFC for Service Learning. There were some team-building activities but I got to know a side of a lot of the teachers (as well as students) that I've never seen (much less known) before. There was more to teachers than just the teaching part. I already knew that but I never got to actually see it and this retreat gave the chance to do so.

Our first activity was the "Egg Drop". What we were supposed to do was to try create a sort of case that would fit around an egg, or go under it, or above, etc. Our goal was to try to break the egg's fall with our case. It was a difficult task. Plus, the only materials we were allowed to use were 12 bending straws, and a piece of tape that was about a meter long which made it even harder! There were many designs but only 8 of them broke the egg's fall! We were working in groups of 3 0r 4 and our team members were assigned to us. We didn't choose. Most of the groups had people who barely knew each other. It took us team work, cooperation and also some compromising to make an egg case that we all agreed to. I liked that there was more than one skill you needed to have to do this task. Some of the skills are, being artistic, being creative, and being smart. When I say smart, I mean being able to tell which way the egg should be dropped. Which side of the case will break most of the egg's fall? That was a tough decision to make. But my group and I decided that the point that is farthest from the egg, is the place that should hit the ground first. It was easy to plan our design out but as they say, things are easier said than done. It's true! From this activity, I learned that cooperation is needed when you do something like this. Everyone is different and everyone will have different ideas. Instead of getting rid of other people's ideas, we should try to improve them. I think I got along well with my classmates. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't being bossy but I was still participating in our group discussions. I observed that both my group members were very independent so it was a little hard for the three of us to work together but we worked our problems out and it turned out OK. I wish we could have some more materials because than our egg case would be better. I got to know a little more about a person that I never knew before.

Next, we went to the ARA (American Recreation Association) and did some more team-buildingstuff. I worked with a different group this time. We did many tasks. Some were easy some were not so easy (like when we had to make the number 6 with our group members). It was interesting. We also prepared for our activities that we were going to do with the FFC (Familes For Children). Then came the fun part. We went swimming! I liked this part the most. In one of our team-building tasks we had to make the number 6 (because we're in 6th grade) and it was a little hard. Since some of my group members didn't want to touch each other. At the ARA, I learned that I should bring flip-flops if I'm going to to swim because the Girls' locker room is really disgusting! The floor is wet and there was hair on it and dirt! It was really gross! That was a good lesson. I interacted well with other people that were swimming. We did chicken fights ,you know, when people got on each other's shoulders and try to push their opponents down. We only swam for like 15 minutes though. I wish we had more time to swim. Swimming pool + Us = Big splashes and even bigger smiles.


After swimming and eating lunch the ARA, we drove for about an hour to FFC. The FFC is an orphanage the 6th grade at AIS/D goes to every few months. We played with the orphans and teach them new things. I really liked playing with them but I wish we had more activities. Nothing was really that difficult because the children at the orphanage spoke Bangla and that is one of languages I know how to speak pretty well. In other words, it was easy to communicate with them for me. In the group I was in, we sang a song and we taught the FFC children the song. But I wish we did something that was more exciting and had more action to it. For example, we could have had a few more instruments (small drums, tamborine, etc.) and we could have had some dance moves. Scratch that. I wouldn't want to dance but just standing their and singing wasn't very exciting. It could be improved. But I think the FFC kids had fun so it's alright. Our reward is to know that we made them happy which makes us happy. That's more than enough for us.