Day One - "I Just Want You To Know, You Are All Loved!"

Day one for Next Steps Academy began with nervous anticipation felt primarily by the parents and teachers.  The students seemed calm, prepared with their backpack which held a snack and self selected comfort items.  Without hesitation, each one followed an adult back to the meeting rooms.  Some parents followed and some just watched in stunned resignation.  "I guess he'll be fine.  I'll just go then.  See you at noon."

"Beginning of Day" large group started off with exercise warm ups and announcements.  Three minutes into it, though, one student picked up his backpack, a yoga mat, and his water bottle and said "This is too much!"  He headed for the door followed closely by an adult.  Without incident, he made it to a quiet room where he spent the majority of the morning; looking at his book of lego kits, and complaining about not being able to ever finish what he wanted to say...but wait until you hear how his first day ends.

After large group, the kids were divided into two smaller groups.  One room was for students, ages 11-14 and in another room for students ages 14-18.

One of the older boys wanted to start by saying something. So he formally stood and said, "I just want you to know, you are all loved!"  And so the first morning began!

An hour of drama and an hour of music was the plan, but both first day activities were heavily movement oriented.  The lead teacher began and amazingly all the students followed - activity after activity.  And the laughter filled each room!  Spontaneous actions, blunt comments, unexpected movements all brought joy to the kids and the adults alike.

Do you know what pantomime means?  "Yes, I do.  It's pants that are mine!"

One student quietly writes a note on a whiteboard.  "Are we going to do any Shakespeare?"  A teacher reads it and calmly says, "I agree.  I would like that too."  And so it went.

We pretended to lift and pass heavy balls and tiny microscopic balls.  We formed lines and walked, first fast, then as slow as possible.  Then everyone focused on the teacher who stood quietly at the front of the room and started making gestures with her hand. Soon everyone understood what each gesture meant and followed along.  Before the activity ended, they had all taken turns being the teacher.  Then we started to learn a couple of songs, one complete with a hand clapping rhythm.  By the time the morning classes ended, two students were moving arm in arm, one student was wrapped up tight in the blanket that he had brought from home, one student had chewed through a whole pack of gum and kept asking "How many minutes more?"  But they all made it successfully to "End Of Day" where their parents were waiting.

Ms. Jenn said, "Would anyone like to share something that they learned this morning?"  One teacher said, "I would love it if someone would help me show how we did the Ball Activity."  With confidence and courage, one student (the gum chewer) said, "Oh, I will!"  And as he got up, so did many more!  And laughter again filled the room.  That was followed by someone volunteering to act out a pantomime with a partner.  The partner was amazingly willing. Everyone, parents and students,  got involved in guessing what they were doing.  "I was a butterfly and he was a butterfly catcher."

Remember the boy who left the room after three minutes of the Beginning of Day large group?  Well, he was jumping up and down in the back of the room for End of Day obviously excited about something.  After everyone had shared an activity, his teacher of the day said, "I think we have one more."  Straight up to the front he went followed by his teacher saying "You have to see if you can guess what I am doing.  It's ok if you can't guess though.  I will tell you."  And away they went - he pretending to be an alien and she pretending to be a spaceship.  When they finished, everyone applauded.  He handled the noise with grace.  In fact, he smiled and took a bow!  Then he hurried to his spot at the back of the room.

Day One ended already with tears and hugs.  We did it!  And the kids?  Well they just said "I'll see you tomorrow!"