Location: Young (Ella Flagg) Elementary School
Date: Saturday, October 11, 2014; 10:00 am-12:00 pm
It had been 20 months since I had
last been to this project. It had been a
fun experience but the commute had taken a considerable amount of time. Plus there had been the ice on the sidewalks
making it very tricky to get to the school.
There was no such problem today as I took the train and then the bus
which dropped me a block from the school.
There are multiple programs that occur simultaneously and they all first
assemble in the indoor play court. I
made my way there and saw that someone was already putting up signs to let
volunteers know where to assemble. They
were based on the grades that the kids were in and I noticed that besides Science
for the 3rd and 4th graders, there was 'Read With Me' for K through 2nd
grade, Geography for 5th and 6th and Sports for older
kids. Also, there is a Computer skills
project that Chicago Cares runs as the parents wait for the kids. I must say that of all the schools that I
have been to, this one looks the most comprehensive in terms of engagement
across the board.
 |
| Soda bottle before and after "blowing" |
I waited by my sign for the Science
project and was soon joined by 2 more volunteers as well as the Volunteer Leader
John. He gave us the experiment sheet
for today and we were going to start with “Baby
soda bottles” that look like test tubes.
After quizzing the kids on what they were – soda bottles after blowing
up – we would do some more experiments in them. The kids came in and I saw a
girl sitting in the 5th-6th grade section, and I remembered her
from the last time that I was here and how she had been the life of the
group. I chatted with a girl who was at
my table and asked if Science was her favorite subject. She said no, it was Math. Oh well, I tried. The Principal of the school was here and she
looked like she was a no nonsense person.
She welcomed everyone, introduced the leaders and then asked the kids to
follow them to appropriate rooms.
All the groups dispersed and I
went upstairs to our room and the first task was to put all the tables together
so that we could sit around them. There
were about 12-13 kids and John said that we should go around and introduce
ourselves, followed by naming our favorite sport. I was surprised to hear a variety of sports
being mentioned, ranging from Hockey, Volleyball, Softball, Tennis, Swimming,
Gymnastics, Dodgeball etc. When my turn
came, I said that it was Fall, the time for my favorite sport, Football. Next, John gave out the small tubes and asked
everyone what they were - glass or plastic. It took me back to many years ago
where we used to do experiments to identify materials. I told
the kids near me that I went to school to study this and showed them the point
where the injection mold makes a stub, which is never found on glass. One girl asked why it was tough and not
flexible like a soda bottle and I said that the material was very dense right
now and needed to be blown up first.
John gave everyone 2 types of “packing peanuts”, one green and the
other white. Then we were paired with
one person having each color. We were to
add water to our tubes and then these materials, followed by shaking vigorously
for 30 seconds. This activity proved to
be a party in itself as everyone not only had their own style, but also the
speed at which they counted. I had green
colored stuff and that would not dissolve, while the white ones did. The reason was that green was ‘Styrofoam’ and non-biodegradable,
whereas the white was made of ‘Cellulose’
and thus could dissolve. I found it
funny that something that was colored green was supposedly bad for the
environment. Many kids tried to force
those to dissolve through more aggressive shaking, but to no avail. We then had to clean the tubes and some of the
green ones were stuck inside. So while
the volunteers tried to remove these by pen, the rest moved to next
experiment.
John gave everyone fine foam
pellets and once again asked them to put in the tube and shake. These materials stuck to the sides of the tube
due to static. Then we added water and
colored pellets into the tubes and it actually looked quite cool with colored
water and suspended pellets. The kids
enjoyed this and each of them got one to take home. Then we took another tube and added oil and a
bit of water, followed by a colored pellet.
Then it was more shaking and demonstration of the difference in
densities and how colored water globules float in oil. The kids loved this as well and tried to
create different colors by mixing 2 pellets.
For the final 20 minutes John
said that we would play a game of ‘7-Up’,
where everyone but 3 people close their eyes with their thumbs up and the 3
remaining people then put their thumbs down and people whose thumbs went down
had to guess who had done it. It was
very popular with the kids and they enjoyed it, especially playing with the
volunteers. It just goes to show how
much they enjoy integrating the volunteers…or even adults in their
activities. Besides this there was
another game in progress, which involved matching pictured cards. I wasn’t doing either, sweeping the floor
instead since a lot of waste had been accumulated through the fine
pellets.
It was time to leave and we had
cleaned the best we could. The kids
thanked us and collected their tubes with colored water before leaving. As I walked out, I saw Dave, who I had met at
‘Job Coaching’ project last
year. He is a popular leader with
Chicago Cares and leads the ‘Adult
Computer Skills’ project here. He is
an all-round great guy and we chatted about his project here as well as some of
the other ones that we had been to. I
left after a good session and realized that my trepidation of not coming here
due to the commute was unfounded. The
concept of long distance is only in the mind and now that I had overcome it,
there is no reason why I can’t return soon.
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