This week was the last week for us at the after school program at Hyalite Elementary. For the activity this week, we put up an educational gaming website called funbrain.com. We told the kids to have fun and pick whichever game or games they wanted to play. Some of the kids actually opted to type instead of playing games. The ones who wanted to type, we set their computer up with word processors and had them either write a quick story, or write a note to their parents.
This activity, overall, went incredibly smooth, the kids had fun, and some of them even wanted to repeat some typing exercises. There were no major hangups, and I was really impressed with the level of comprehension and decision making they were able to display. Sometimes, with kids this young, they have a hard time choosing when given multiple options. No so with this group. Once they were settled in to a computer, everything just happened and the time flew by.
This whole experience over the last six weeks has been surprising and quite rewarding. I found myself pleasantly surprised on multiple occasions whenever I caught myself underestimating these kids. The impact we had may be insignificant in the long run, but I feel like something was accomplished. I may look into helping out with the after school program in the future...
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