Abby Goes to Calhoun

Yesterday was hectic. The internet in the apartment wasn’t working, and still wasn’t this morning. I haven’t been on a computer until right this very second.

How sad am I to not in New York.

Yesterday, my final day at Calhoun, was sad. Lavern and Jen, the upper school heads, both said I could come back anytime. Lavern made me chocolate cupcakes and banana poppy seed cake for my last day. It was so nice- and delicious!

I then had my final 3rd grade LA class. It was poetry day. The poem was about living in a city. The kids put the poem in their journals and drew pictures about the poem. Amon, probably the smartest 3rd grader at the school, drew this beautiful picture. I was able to take a picture- Steve kindly let me borrow his camera for the day. After the kids drew pictures in their journals, they choose their favorite poem in their journals and read it aloud to either me or Lisa. Almost everyone picked the poem Amon wrote, titled ‘Big Huge Belly’. Here it is:

My sister’s belly

is big, huge, and heavy.

That big, huge and heavy

100 pound belly

was from eating too much

jelly.

All I know is that her

belly will

remain big, huge

and heavy.

Written by Amon. I love the rhythm of it! It’s so creative.

I then went to 2nd grade math with Austin. My last 2nd grade class. We played this great game with dice and hundred boards. It was called Crabs in a Barrel. I’m considering having it set up for Winterim fair.

I then had my final US class, Psychology. Everything I’ve been doing at Calhoun relates so much to this course. Lulu and Shanta presented their project on Jean Piaget. The experiments were really cool- I’d love to try them out on some kids. If only I stayed at Calhoun a little bit longer. I never really knew much about Piaget. I felt like I learned something.

I then had 3rd grade math. My last course at Calhoun. I was really sad. It was a great way to end my stay though. Anthony assigned four boys from my favorite cluster to go with me. I was to teach them to play Crabs in a Barrel, by myself. It was Will, Cameron, Devin, and Ethan, four of the best 3rd grade math students. Everything went great a first- the kids were loving it. We were having a great time! I love those kids, they catch on to things so easily. Then, since they’re boys, they started to get competitive. I thought it would be okay, but with Cameron lost and the other boys went crazy, feelings were hurt. Poor Cameron. He’s so sensitive. He went and hid under the table.  Devin took his hat and then they all started throwing things at him. It was awful, I didn’t know what to do. Somehow, I got them all to sit down. I lured Cameron out from under the table, and we sat down again. We played one more round, then went back to the class. Cameron didn’t leave my side for a second, poor kid. The kids all said that they were going to miss me and thank you. It was really sweet. A couple kids gave me hugs, which was really sweet. I’m really going to miss those 3rd graders.

It was so sad to leave New York. I’m really going to miss my friends and classes. I had a great time at Calhoun- I highly recommend it to any future Networker.

In honor of the city, some tunes:

Manhattan- Ella Fitzgerald

Empire State of Mind- Jay-Z

New York- Cat Power

Back to Manhattan- Norah Jones

New York State of Mind- Billy Joel

My favorite building in New York.

I love you, New York.

Today started with the Psychology test. It was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I only didn’t know two answer- and they were from the chapters I wasn’t at Calhoun for. I finished the test in ten minutes.

Then it was time for quite a somber assembly.  An elderly teacher had a heart attack outside school yesterday morning and died. He was a woodwinds teacher for the Middle School and US.  The woodwind ensemble played- it was really touching. Some students said memories they had of the teacher. It was nice, but very sad.

I then had 2nd grade math- one of my last LS classes! This was a very large class today, and we got to play this great game with the number rods. All the kids wanted to play with me. It was so much fun. When I left, all the kids hugged me. Aw.

I then had a free period, during which I read aloud from As I Lay Dying to my friend Sota. It really helps me understand the book if I hear it out loud.

I then had English class. They talked about the rest of the reading and their paper topics. It was really sad thinking that I wasn’t going to be there for the rest of the book. I’m really going to miss Calhoun, especially this class. Then we partnered up to discuss a chapter we read about Jewel and his horse. This is probably the saddest, most tragic chapter we’ve read so far. Lauren and I paired up to discuss the chapter. We worked well together. I wish I could finish the book at Calhoun…

After lunch, a couple classes went on a field trip to the Met.  It was a photo class, 20th Century, an Biology (?). Not sure about that last one. Anyway, we went to see Robert Frank’s exhibit about his groundbreaking book, The Americas. It was absolutely amazing! I loved his work. The descriptions written by the photos really made me appreciate the work more. I’d never really seen any of his work, but I’m in love. It’s so beautiful and simple.

The rest of the day was spent at the Met, walking through Central Park and the Upper West side, and at a delicious farewell dinner with Meredith and Steve. The evening was topped off with a wonderful thematic discussion of the great film, Superbad. What a great day.

One of my favorites from the book. I love her face compared to the creepy Santa. So good.