The Power of Unity

   Working with these kids so far has been a wonderful experience, for all of us. This week I realized that I am part of something much bigger than just a job. This job gives me the opportunity to meet new children and learn about them as they learn about me. This week I met this sweet, caring, and protective girl named Jeliah. Jeliah has a little brother named Elijah and she is always looking out for him and making sure he's having fun.

Jeliah and Elijah Getting Water Dripped on Them

       This week all the kids showed great teamwork by being there for one another. Whenever someone needed help, there was always a volunteer ready to help. This week the kids showed both mental and physical respect for one another. I was proud of Evelyn, one of the returning kids from the previous week, for showing so much excitement for returning. Eve was helping and teaching all the other kids how to set the crab trap and how to hold the crabs. All of the kids are learning a lot and they are always excited to return and tell they're parents about the fun.

Evelyn Showing Jack How to Hold a Lobster

Exciting second week : Jazeel Mendes

Making the Most of a Rainy Day

At Community Boating on the Charles this morning, we met the kids and ran eagerly to the eel trap that had been left soaking all night with several smashed clams inside. Slowly the trap was pulled up, and just as the trap reached the surface it was clear that it teeming with living things bubbling around inside! Within a matter of minutes we had filled our bucket with a dozen american eels and we were the hit of Community Boating! A new game of "grab-an-eel" was played, and even the sailing instructors got in on the action as the squirmy eels were covered in a coat of mucus making it near impossible to catch. The kids described the bucket as "a bucket of moving spaghetti and only a few victors emerged from this new game.

Lively game of Grab-An-Eel

Finally a victor, our very own Andy!

Soon after the rain began to fall and we quickly made our way indoors, where we were able to talk about the anatomy of a fish, and even got to play a little hangman with our newly formed vocabulary words (lateral line was a favorite!). As the rain let up we headed on over to Courageous Sailing and were very happy to see the sun! The highlight of the day was pulling up the lobster traps that had been set out overnight to find them full to the brim with several types of crabs, a lobster, and tons of sea stars.

We even put some sea stars on and pretended to be Sheriffs of the Dock!

Helen demonstrating that many hands make light the work

At the end of the day our arms were exhausted from pulling up trap after trap when Helen got a bunch of kids together and thought it would be a good idea if we worked as a team to pull up the last of the traps. It worked like a charm and we all realized that the more people that helped the easier lifting the traps became! I can't wait to see what other lessons we will learn as the summer continues!