My new job

Earlier this year I applied and was accepted for a federal work-study job. I finally started just under two weeks ago. The job I went for, and got, is with the AmericaReads program. I am working 5 days a week in the mornings at a nearby school, Vernon Elementary. This school is one of the most disadvantaged and underfunded schools in Portland and has a large minority student body who mostly come from broken or low income families. The first partial week was kind of hectic and I was doing all kinds of different things. I'm now on a regular schedule and work mostly with one 5th grade class. Since they do math in the mornings, that's what I'm usually helping with. On Fridays, I also read with a few kindergartners for about an hour. I'm working with kids who need the most help in both of these classes, so it is challenging. I have no real teaching experience and have been frustrated and humbled many times. But, it is already rewarding. The kids seem grateful (mostly) and they are always happy to see me. I won't make that much, working only about 10 hours a week, but it should be enough to pay my rent each month. I should also qualify for SNAP (food stamps) and am going to turn in my application and make a reservation to talk to someone this week. Hopefully I will qualify for about $200 a month, which will pay for most of my food expenses (I'm learning how to eat even cheaper than I was before). I might even be able to get college credit for doing this - 1 credit for every 30 hours. If I continue this throughout the regular school year I may end up getting 9 credits for it. I need to go to the Co-op Education office at school this week to try to get this going. I think you have to write several papers about what I expect to get from this experience and what I actually take away from it. I had no idea that these things would be available to me (except the food stamps) and it was a nice surprise to find it out. I think this may turn out to be one of the most personally rewarding things I have ever done.