yesterday we had our teach-in i thought it went grate. i was  kind of scared and nervous at the beginning but then it went exactly how we planned it. the kids paid a lot of attention to our presentation and i had the feeling that both of the groups learned a lot about underfunded schools and the situation of underfunded children and parents. the parts about our teach in that i liked the most where the video that we showed them with our interview to the teachers  in the school in the Bronx that we visited during the field trip that we took with Dennis in one of the school that Dennis organization sanded to at the beginning of the year. another part of our teach in that i really liked was the activity that we prepared we made the kids decorate pencils and they did it they were very creative and seems to me that they were very into it and not only about the decorating but about the facts also while we were decorating the pencils we would have conversation about the facts the kids were impressed about them. none of them really knew that much about underfunded schools or how big is the actual problem. teaching to the second group was a little harder than the first one kids were a little more exited about it but still it went pretty well even better than i expected it to be but i am glad we are done with it even if from my point of view you are never done with social justice. because i think all of our topics are important and they all need people like us to help we are the ones that make the change. the assembly went grate also we presented the fun raising that will start soon for our organization.

Today Jason, Chase, Ivo, Bryce and I went with Dennis in the library like always. we talked  about the coming up teach in. the activity we are planning to do and the fun raising we thought about for the next months. we are ready for the teach-in the activity we made and the 5 6 and 7 graders are going to have is perfect and has been prepared in details. we also talked to Dennis about different ways that we could present and remind to the middle school students about the fun raising that its going to take place in a few months for our organization because we still need a lot of supplies. i am very exited about it and i cant wait! i am sure it will be an amazing experience.

Today Jason, Chase, Ivo, Bryce and I went with Dennis on a field trip. We went to a public school in the Bronx, which Dennis’s organization gives tools to. We left school at about 2:30 and took the subway uptown to the Bronx. We actually had to take two trains to get to were we needed to go. The total subway ride was about a half an hour long. We took the first part of the subway ride with Naomi, Kayla, Vivian and Nora. When we got off the train, the school was pretty close to the subway. The first thing I noticed was that there were many kids on the streets with their school bags that were probably going home. Jason brought his Flip with him to film the interviews that we were going to do. Dennis also filmed us while walking to and entering the school. When we entered we were pretty surprised at how big and colorful the school was. Dennis introduced us to the assistant principal and then we took the stairs up to the top floor. There were really a lot of stairs!  When we reached the top we met one of the teachers.  She was the art teacher and she was extremely nice to us. We interviewed her.  When we finished, we interviewed one of the students that got the supplies from Dennis’s organization.  She was kind of shy but very nice. After, we thanked both of them and went back downstairs to talk to the parent-teacher coordinator.  We interviewed her also. Interviewing her made me understand a lot of things that I didn’t know about the school, the kids in the school, and the parents. Lastly, we interviewed the assistant principal who we met when we arrived. 

The interviews we did were not too long, but I was definitely surprised by some of the answers that people gave us. Everybody was really nice.  I was extremely happy about it, and I can’t wait to see the interviews once Jason edits them. 

Next week we won’t all meet together, but Ivo and I  will have to meet on our own sometime this week or next.  We have to make a poster, I think.

Today we were also at the library. Chase, Ivo, Jason, Bryce, Ben and I met with Denis. We mostly talked about the questions we were going to ask when we interviewed the people we were going to meet on our visit to the school in the Bronx. We came up with some very good questions. Bryce recorded the questions in his computer, and I kept notes of them in my notebook. We thought up about 10 questions for our interviews. It was difficult to come up with questions that we wanted to ask so this took up most of our meeting. Denis helped us a lot with this. We also thought about ways to really make people bring in more stuff and raise money for the organization. By the end of our meeting today we were all looking forward to our visit to the Bronx. I think we will learn a lot when we go there. We will learn more about the situation in public school in New York City.

Today during our last period Jason, Ivo, Bryce, Ben, Chase and I spent time with Dennis Kitchen.  We talked about different ways to raise money and make people and students bring in more supplies.  Carin Cohen, our art teacher, was also there.  She gave some good ideas and helped us to come up with some ideas of our own.  Because she knows how to make chocolate, she said that we should perhaps do something like a bake sale.  So we thought maybe it could take place at one of the basketball games or another event.  I offered to make Rice Krispie Treats.  Since I know how to knit, I also offered to make scarves to sell.  I think people would be really into buying the scarves because they are homemade and the materials that I use are soft and colorful.  This will actually be a fun project for me because I enjoy knitting.  Dennis thought it was a good idea.  Then the guys in my group came up with various thoughts on how to encourage students to bring in more money.  They thought that with a little bit of competition between the classes that people would have fun giving.  Ivo also thought that because we are such a big group, 6 people, that maybe we should divide into smaller groups so we could get more done at the same time.  Ivo offered to make posters.  Ben and Bryce, because they own cameras will make the videos.  Dennis also said that he would take us on a field trip to one of the school’s that his organization helped.  This will be inspiring for me to see.   I am looking forward to our meeting next Wednesday.  Dennis is very helpful and I think we came up with some great ideas this week.