Gregory

Here is another photo my students in Nashua should recognize. It was taken at the farewell celebration in 2011 at the Area 2 School. I watched the younger boys sit in the front row seats and then a taller friend came around and joined them by sitting on the arm rests of the plastic chair. After my students wrote their own poems based on "The Red Wheelbarrow" to be used as models in Kenya, I had the idea to write some additional poems using photos I had taken in 2011 hoping that a photo might include a 2nd grader who is now in the fifth grade. I thought it would be great fun for the students to see themselves or a classmate used in a poem three years later. Well this one worked perfectly.

I found the tall boy from this photo in one of the fifth grade classes at Area 2 and his name is Gregory. He is a cool and friendly kid, just like you would expect from this picture. Here is Gregory today holding my poem about the chair and his photo.

He was very proud to have a poem written about his second grade escapades and even reenacted the scene in his fifth grade class this time by sitting on a desktop.

It is really fun getting to know these kids a little better and making connections after the passage of three years of time.

Here is Gregory with a poem he wrote based on "The Irish Dancer."

 I like how he gave himself a "super star" at the end of the poem!

Here is he with his poem inspired by "The Tyger" by William Blake.

I like how he started drawing Woody and Buzz Lightyear under the photo 

of the elephant. He would get along well with my 24 year old son 

who grew up with "Toy Story".

Here is a video showing Gregory solving a Tangram puzzle. Mathare Valley is one of the toughest places to live due to the poverty and overcrowded conditions. It is not easy for Gregory as he has some family concerns. However, Gregory never stops smiling!

The noises you hear in the background is a worker pounding nails just outside our classroom door making desks for the school and the students shouting, "Cha." Cha is short for teacher-almost like a Boston accent-"Teacher-Teacha- Cha", so they are trying to get teacher Stanley's or my attention.

By the way Kenyan kids living in the Mathare Valley Slum are no different in nature than students in my fifth grade classes at New Searles School in Nashua. They are fun, funny, and can be quite the characters! Don't you just love Gregory's smile!