Projects
Completed Projects:
In Ghana, Jaymie implemented the following programs most of which are still continued in her absence:
French Curriculum:
- She created and implemented the first French curriculum for the Kiddy Kare Preparatory School in Abokobi, Ghana, where she was teaching.
Field Day:
- She organized a field trip between her students and children from a nearby orphanage, a total of 80 kids, to participate in a "field day" with eight fun-filled events: the three-legged race, a shoe toss, wheelbarrow race, lime-on-a-spoon race crabwalk relay race, water bucket relay race and Tug-of-War.
- All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners for each event was rewarded with prizes that Jaymie had donated and sent to her from the U.S.
Community Service:
- Jaymie started a community service program for Kiddy Kare School where the children and teachers go around the village community and pick up trash for 2 hours every Wednesday morning.
- While they clean, they sing clean-up songs.
- Jaymie also had 40 T-Shirts donated to the school and got them printed with the school crest on the front and on the back with each students individual name on the top and then "Keep Ghana Clean" underneath in the colors of the Ghana flag.
Pen Pals:
- In collaboration with Linda Green, a 3rd grade teacher in Nevada, Jaymie was able to begin a pen pal program between her classes and Linda's. This was great English grammar and writing practice. It also gave the children a chance to build long-lasting friendships and learn about a different culture from a child's perspective. The kids loved it!
Physical Education:
- Jaymie bought a "Slip 'N' Slide" and used it with her students during their PE class to teach them about baseball, base-running and how to slide from third base into home plate. Then she asked her father to come visit her in Ghana and asked him to bring baseball bats, balls and baseball mitts. Jaymie and her father used them to teach the children baseball during P.E.
Extra Classes & Extra Help:
- For her English and French classes, as well as for students who couldn't read. Jaymie organized and administered after school extra-help classes.
- During her vacation time, Jaymie held extra classes for those students who wanted to continue learning. These classes included: computer training courses, sewing/dress making, painting, jewelry making, singing, French, letter writing and reading.
- She taught the children songs in English, French and a couple of other African languages which she had learned during her time in other countries.
Library Books & Book Reports:
- By organizing the library with donated books, Jaymie was able to teach the students how to check out books. Each student got to keep their book for two weeks.
- She taught the children the importance of reading comprehension by requiring each student to create and present a book report of their book at the end of the two weeks. The reports consisted of a plot map (title, author, setting, antagonist, protagonist, summary, likes/dislikes), a list of ten vocabulary words from their book that they didn't understand along with the correct definition from the dictionary, a visual (drawing, color picture, poster, etc.), and a presentation of their book to the class.
Textbooks:
- She also used donated money to buy textbooks and dictionaries for her French classes.
Future Projects:
While in Ghana, Jaymie had an architect from South Africa come and estimate a price and draw up plans to finish building the Kiddy Kare School Library/Learning Center. This architect and his project manager will be overseeing the project and ELF will be doing the fundraising and coordinating with the school.
The current "library" at Kiddy Kare Preparatory School, in Abokobi, Ghana, is a very small closet in a back room that only the teachers can access. There are many books, but no space for them to be displayed and accessible to the students. Even if they were accessible, the students would have no where to read because they are not allowed to bring the books home.
The school actually has two computers, but due to lack of facilities, these computers are kept in the proprietress' den at her house and are unavailable for the student's learning advantages.
Building this Library/Learning Center will allow students and teachers to have a separate place to store all books, textbooks, and reference materials. It will also offer a designated and more accessible area for the computers so that the students may practice their computer skills with the programs that Jaymie has already set up for them. Each student already has his/her own account and have already begun the computer typing training course. Providing a place for the computers will provide a chance for the students to further explore this technology.
The benefits of this Library/Learning Center to the school, students and teachers are countless. Not only will it provide a more organized environment for storage, it will actually give the students a place to read and conduct their research for book reports, etc.
Additionally, it will allow more room to expand the collection of available reference materials, literature, and learning tools for the school.
Here are pictures of the current Library/Learning Center in progress:
Foundation of Library/Learning Center is there.
Architects, designers and project managers discussing the project.
The Plans for the Library/Learning Center:
Click here to view larger as a PDF.
