14/04/2025- Family Fun 2

Monday April 14th, 2025

Introduction:

In this semester’s family fun event, I played the role of age group leader, pizza distributor, and cookie dough maker. Katherine and Angelina led a tight ship, and it was a successful event with many parents and kids happy.

Competency:

Theme 5: Project Planning- Identify components of an effective activity

Event Participation:

Preparation

During the meeting on the 27th of February, I took part in the idea making process with suggestions of STEM challenges. We brainstormed a lot of ideas for the day of the event, but most ideas were already submitted.

After the meeting on the 12th of March, I noticed that for cookie baking activity to be more effective, bringing in a baker would be helpful. So, I invited Sabrina to come since she was interested in taking leadership the next year and she also bakes often. I double checked with Angelina to see if it’d be possible to have her help and it was greenlit.

On the dough-making day, April 2nd, we gathered at ESS to make cookies. We all got into aprons, split into groups of 2, and were given recipes on how to make the cookies. Since Sabrina had made these cookies before, I focused on gathering ingredients, washing equipment, and checking with Ms. Labossiere if the dough was right. After wrapping the last of our 2 batches, I cleaned my station. Afterwards, I noticed that Natesh, Finly, and Laia were struggling to clean their station properly and where items go. As I identified that to have a successfully effective activity, we must clean and put away all equipment before ESS ends. So, I gave them pointers on sink cleaning, helped clean appliances, and put away the utensils & glassware. Later in the day we had a leadership meeting. I noticed that in the meeting, nobody was volunteering or saying anything. I identified in order to have a more productive meeting; I should proactively participate and volunteer roles. So, I discussed any issues or concerns I had and volunteered to be a general leader for the event.

On April 10th, there was a meeting to debrief all groups what exactly they will be doing on the day of the event. Since I was a general leader, I could basically leave since there wasn’t much information I needed to know beforehand. But I stayed as I wanted to know what each group was doing; so that during the day of, I could answer any questions. I ended up helping out with making samples for the arts and crafts station with Ethan and Morgan.

During Day of Event (April 14th):

Event Preparation:

After school, I helped with the prep for the event by hiding easter eggs around the lower A classrooms and by helping Dowar into Timmy. I then headed down to the cafeteria and helped with setting up the speaker to connect with Pat’s phone to play some music.

Event Duration:

To begin, I observed that many families were starting to gather around the color sheet areas. So, to disperse the crowd a bit (to have a more effective activity), I set up the cornholes near the areas and began to play it with the kids. Afterwards, I began to help out with pizzas as handlers were needed ASAP 🍕. I kept at the job until about 5:35pm after serving all the families and leadership students. Through the job, while others took off gloves and ate, I decided to keep going as it was more efficient for the event to serve the families/students who went for other portions. I was also able to meet my preschool teacher again from handing out pizzas. Afterwards, me and Heela called our group’s names to hand out the nametags. We then started to move the families to their respective zones for the Easter Egg Hunt. I stayed behind for a bit, as Ms. Rioux wanted me there to guide any late families to the zones.

During the Easter Egg Hunt, I helped close the door to unused rooms to help direct kids to the proper rooms to search. However, when closing Ms. Grandy’s door there were 8 eggs hidden behind it. As I decided that it was more effective for the event to scatter the eggs, I grabbed as many as I could and hid them around the hallways and other classrooms. Yet, as there weren’t enough eggs- not ever kid got them 🥚. I rushed down back to Ms. Rioux’s room to find the “sympathy eggs” but they were gone. Afterwards when the time hit for the improvised schedule, I called me and Heela’s group and led them to the library.

In the library, I interacted with the kids positively and tried to find the dice for the Soggy Doggy game. I ran down to the cafeteria and Ms. Rioux’s room, but I couldn’t find it. However, when I got back to the library I played “toss-and-catch” with Callie as I saw that he was throwing a balloon to himself. After his parent came to play with him, I recognized that an efficient use of my time for other students when I have downtime is to take photos in case if they wanted pictures. I ended up taking photos of other Leadership students in their stations when I wasn’t in immediate need. When the time for the 2nd activity came, I rallied my group together with Heela and led them down to the Cookie Decorating Station.

At the Cookie Decorating, I helped out on writing names on dishes to keep track of cookies to give at the end. I also interacted with Ms. Dam and her kids and was able to give them a jollier time. Some families left, as their bedtimes were approaching soon. Me and Heela then lead the remaining kids to the Arts and Crafts Room.

In the Arts and Crafts, I did not do much as the parents and Leadership students were interacting with the kids the most. For the most part, I just interacted with Kai as he was holding a balloon, and he handed it to me. We played catch with the balloon a little, and then a ping pong ball. Afterwards, we led the families back to the cafeteria.

Cleanup/Conclusion:

I helped with the cleanup and takedown of the items in the cafeteria. There were a lot of cans of varying fullness left in the cafeteria. There were also many plates and bags of unfinished food 😢. Afterwards, I helped with carrying items to the Leadership storage room. On the meeting on the 23rd, we did the reflection on the event. In the group, I identified that people at the beginning were shy to speak up. To have an effective discussion about the event, I took the rein to open the silent atmosphere with some positive and negative feedback regarding the event (e.g. the lack of easter eggs, starting the event earlier due to bedtimes, etc.).

Actions Taken & Evidence:

I identified that an effective cookie-making session needs qualified and responsible individuals to help. I also recognized that for a smooth event, effective and proper cleaning is needed.

As Sabrina was interested in taking leadership next year and an avid baker, I found that she would be perfect for helping with cookie-dough making. I asked for permission from Angelina, one of the point people, if Sabrina could help and was greenlit. She worked great and liked the activity. I also decided to help Finly’s group as ESS was ending, and they didn’t know the proper Foods cleaning procedure. As I wanted to make sure we respected Ms. Labossiere classroom (especially because she let us use her space), I checked that all equipment was cleaned, dried, and put away properly.

2. I determined that a component to effective discussion is to speak and interact; and if others didn’t, I should lead by example

In the meeting to both decide roles and to reflect, I picked up that people were either shy or they didn’t feel like they had the right atmosphere. As I labelled that nobody was willing to take the first step in effectiveness, I went first with my own thoughts and opinions to open the table to discussion. This went for both meetings, as when Katherine/Angelina asked questions or for feedback it was a little bit awkward😑.

3. I knew that in order to have a more effective (successful) Easter Egg Hunt, I should distribute the eggs in a wiser/calculated fashion.

During the prep for the hunt and during, I knew that the placement of eggs is a crucial component in a successful hunt. If the eggs were in too hard to reach places, they would not be found as our audience were younger kids. I also know that if you put 20 out of 30 eggs in 1 corner, you will not have a fun experience as 1 kid will have all the eggs. So, when I was placing the eggs, I made sure the difficulty level was appropriate for the age intended. Also, when I saw 8 eggs lazily hidden in a corner, I made sure to quickly take them and spread them around for a more fun Hunt.

Pictures:

<— Sabrina Making Cookies 👩‍🍳