Brain Games!

Every day that I am at the school, I have to take bottles away from kids during recess to keep them from kicking them around like soccer balls. The recess area is in the back by the bathrooms, pre-school classrooms, kitchen, and storage room. The pre-school classrooms are made of sheetrock and the storage room and kitchen are made of plywood. So running into them could cause holes and the lock on the storage room was already broken off once by someone running into the door.

Yesterday a group of sixth grade boys had their own little ball and were playing. They whined and complained when I took it away and explained to them why they couldn't play. They followed me back to the office and promised that they would not run into the wall. I told them that when they get into playing soccer, they won’t even see the walls or think about it but will just be running after the ball. And that I was sorry, but until we had access to the outside area, we could not run during recess or any time during school.  

They continued to whine and complain. I told them that there were other fun things to do that were quiet and didn’t involve running, and then remembered the cool game that had come in the latest barrel that Cole and Adam sent. It has pieces of different random

shapes, sizes, and colors along with connectors to connect them together. On the box, it has examples. I brought it out, put it on a table, and told them that I would give 10 pesos to the person who made the best creation out of these pieces before recess was over. Five boys (Ivens, Jon, Ronalson, Frandly, and Renaldo) participated. Some of the soccer players had gone to get snacks or do something else.

I don’t like the idea of bringing money prizes into the school, but on this occasion, I wanted to make an exception to get them quickly

into a new game, as there were only 7 minutes left until their recess was over. Their teacher, named Mentor, observed and encouraged them. After the 7 minutes were up, he and I judged. We chose two different creations as our favorite, so we called Claudion, the doorman and asked him which was his favorite. He chose yet a third creation, so I looked out the door to see who was nearby. A student from prior years, Peterson, was outside the door listening to a little hand radio. I called him in and he chose Jon’s creation, as did Claudion, thus breaking the tie! I awarded Jon with the 10 pesos and we took pictures.

I want to come with mini marshmallows and tooth picks one day soon and challenge them to see who can make the highest tower out of a limited number of materials! Looking forward to a few days of a Bible and science after school program Hillsong Church volunteers are coming to do in October!

Don't forget, if you haven't sponsored a student yet, the cost is $100 for the year. http://esperanzameanshope.org/student-sponsorship