Today was my last day at HK and it was very emotional for me. I'm going to miss my students so much!
Gave 4.00 hours on 05/05/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
-
IMPACTS11
-
HOURS43
-
GROUPS1
About
GivePulse Stats
Groups
Impacts
Today was the annual Horton's Kids Family Fair! I had so much fun getting to finally meet my students' families. I came early to help set up for the fair, and then I spent about 4 hours rotating between bouncy castle duties and passing out cold waters. Everyone had a blast!
Gave 6.00 hours on 05/03/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
Today, we administered progress reports to the Kindergarteners.
Gave 4.00 hours on 04/28/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
It was so much fun to be back at Horton’s Kids this week! I really missed my students over spring break and I enjoyed surprising them with the new pink streaks I have in my hair. One of my students has a very hard time with change, so I pulled him aside to show him my hair before everybody else and I let him touch it and get used to it before we walked into the classroom together. I think this helped him feel safe and calm.
Today was the first day back from spring break, so naturally everybody had a lot of energy. It took some extra redirection to get the kids back in “school mode” today, but they eventually eased back in to the structure of Horton’s Kids and did great work!
Gave 4.00 hours on 04/21/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
|
Amanda Choutka
Love how you worked through that moment of change with your student. Excellent in the moment problem solving! |
Normally, students have about an hour and a half of enrichment (dance, engineering, etc.) led by a teacher before dinner time and tutoring. Today, the Kindergarten dance teacher was unable to make it to Horton's Kids, so I led Kindergarten enrichment and had an amazing time! I led the students in a variety of games such as four corners and freeze dance, both of which are games that engage the entire body and are therefore great energy burners for little kids.
Gave 4.00 hours on 04/07/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
|
|
Amanda Choutka
I heard about this day and staff said you were natural as a leader! SO proud of you, Dora! 🔥 |
Before tutoring began, one of our Kindergarteners was having a very hard time because he didn't want to be at Horton's Kids today. When he refused to bring his snack upstairs with the rest of the kids, I could just sense a temper tantrum coming on. So, I made a deal with him. I told him that he could continue eating his snack downstairs, away from everybody else, as long as when I came back in 5 minutes to bring him up upstairs for dance, he listened the first time I asked and would be on his best behavior the rest of the evening. The rest of the night, when he would start to push the teachers' limits, he'd glance back at me and I'd say "remember our deal" and he'd smile and sit back down. After dance class, I was told that I would be tutoring a group of Kindergarten girls instead of the boys that I usually work with. The girls were so excited when they found out that I would be their tutor for the day - it was adorable.
Gave 4.00 hours on 03/31/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
|
|
Amanda Choutka
EXCELLENT behavior management skills, Dora! Phenomenal way to support a kid who really needed something different and your support helped avoid a bigger meltdown. 🔥 |
Today was a challenging day as all of the kids had indoor recess at school because of the rain so they were extra energetic. But, we still had fun learning!
Gave 4.00 hours on 03/27/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
|
|
Amanda Choutka
Indoor recess day is ALWAYS a challenging day! Glad you figured out a way to make the day work though. |
I assisted in packing books for Storytime at AU Book Drive. I worked with CLCE staff member Sarah Rezendes who can verify my hours. I saved a book on how to appropriately deal with anger for one of my kindergarteners at Hortons Kids and I'm excited to share it with him.
Gave 1.00 hour on 03/27/2025 with American University, College Writing Seminar (101) - Section 032
|
|
Amanda Choutka
Sarah told me how lovely it was to work with you! Thank you for being such a lovely partner to everyone you work with, Dora. |
Today I subbed for 5th grade math instead of working with the kindergarteners. It was challenging at first because the 5th graders finished their curriculum with an hour to spare. But, I was able to find more challenging math problems online and we had fun working through them together!
Gave 4.00 hours on 03/16/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
|
|
Amanda Choutka
I deeply appreciate your ability to pivot and adapt based on who you are working with and what they may need! |
Today was my first day tutoring. I had two students, both in kindergarden, one of which excelled in the math work we were doing, and the other one really struggled. I ended up giving the first student bonus challenge problems to complete on a mini-whiteboard, while I broke down the original assignment with the second student.
Gave 4.00 hours on 03/04/2025 with American University, Community Service Learning Program, Horton's Kids
|
|
Amanda Choutka
Excellent problem solving with two kids who had very different needs. ❤️ |
Glad you got this shift in. Gave you credit, even though this is not the required 3-4 sentences.