Read–With-Me At HGS

Location: House Of The Good Shepherd

Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2014; 6:30-7:45 pm

I had initially signed-up for ‘Pet Therapy’ program, at Covenant House, but then I actually saw how far the commute was, especially for winter time.  In any case, Chicago Cares has a strange policy when it comes to Covenant House, where they have to review and approve your application to attend. I had commented to them how this may dissuade people from attending and some may get tired of waiting for approval and drop out; which is exactly what happened with me.  I saw that there was an opening at HGS and so decided to go there instead.  Wilson said that he would pick me up and as is usually the case when we travel to a project together, we arrived with plenty of time to spare. 

These all will go into a necklace!

I met Rachel, the Volunteer leader for the younger kids program and she said that they were making candy necklaces out of Fruit Loops.  I had my doubts on the fruit loops surviving the necklace making process, but they were not allowed to eat them till they had completed the project.  The younger kids came in and there was a group of 3 siblings.  The older girl told me that she could do handstands and then went on to demonstrate effortlessly.  Then she showed me her slippers, which looked really comfortable and I offered to trade with her.  Her younger brother was trying to insert himself in the conversation and told me that he could do the handstand trick as well, though he was less successful than his sister. Then out of the blue he asked if I was a doctor and I said, yes, in manner of speaking. 

The volunteers started arriving for both, younger and older kids projects.  This included our Volunteer leader, Emily, who was signing-in the volunteers using a smart phone – no doubt being inspired by Wilson.  Rachel was still using paper and I joked with her, saying that she was still stuck in the 90’s!  As we waited, I told Rachel about the colored M&M’s experiment and how she could get the little one’s started on Probability using the fruit loops.  At this, a volunteer standing nearby said that it was too soon.  Come on man.  These kids are 5 years old.  Of course I was joking.  What’s next, you want me to tell them that Santa Claus is made up?  In any case, I told him that it’s never too early, and then walked off before he could argue, following Emily to the reading room downstairs.

Emily had all the volunteers stand in a circle and as we waited for the kids to arrive, she asked us an icebreaker question, “What are you most looking forward to.”  Many said that it was the end of winter or some vacation trip somewhere.  One even said a business trip; though the kind of places I visit are hardly something I look forward to!  One guy said that it was seeing his daughter, which was probably the sweetest response.  Then it was just me and Wilson and I said that it was this project, since I never want to look forward to things in the future and face potential disappointment.  But that’s a discussion for another day.  I knew Wilson would have a weird response and he did not disappoint, saying that he was looking forward to the “Zombie Apocalypse”. Well, I have seen classes being offered to deal with that and I’m assuming he’s attended those!

Where are these guys going?

Since there were enough volunteers, Wilson left to help out with the younger kids.  Our kids arrived, and as usual they ran to pick their favorites.  The kid that I had worked with last week ran over and held my hand.  It had taken a long time, but finally someone wanted me.  Emily asked volunteers to pair up and I asked the kid whom he wanted to pair with, and he picked a girl Lindsey.  I told her that this fellow liked monsters and thus we should expect more books like that.  Sure enough, he picked a book that looked spooky, called ‘Bears In The Night’, and no it was not a review of the ‘Chicago Bears’ football performance under lights!  To my surprise, he also picked a book on ‘Nursery Rhymes’.  We went and sat on a couch with Lindsey and me on ether side of him, and started on the poems book.  Like last week, he did not want to read, saying that he couldn’t read. He then pointed at me, indicating that I should read a page.  After I finished that page, he pointed at Lindsey, which was a sign for her to take over.  He would alternate pointing at each of us and we would switch.  I said to Lindsey that he would make a good CEO of a corporation some day!

The poems were familiar ones from my childhood, though I noticed some subtle changes from what I remembered.  It set me off on a nostalgic trip as I remembered reading these many many many years ago.  Lindsey said that we should skip ”Old McDonald” since it ran for 5 pages, at which he wasn’t impressed.  We realized soon that he was just putting us on and could indeed read, since he was ahead of us and knew when we were close to finishing a page.  He just wanted to make us work.  Next, we moved to the Bears book and it was about some Bear cubs running out in the middle of the night into the woods, getting scared by an owl, and then coming back home to their beds.  It was meant to teach the kids memorization, since many words just built on one another, though that wasn’t his goal here. He wanted his monsters.  The Bears book was done and our kid went and got a bunch of books, including the Robot and Vultures book from last week.  We started with a spooky looking book called ‘Bats In The Library’, but halfway through it he lost interest and then moved to a book on weather facts and Guinness records. Not many monsters in this one.  The boy could definitely read since he was reading the world weather, though he was also directing Lindsey and me to alternate reading the pages as well. 

Emily announced that it was time to play and our choices were ‘Silly Putty’, coloring or some card game.  Our kid couldn’t wait to get his hands on the ‘Silly Putty’ and he started building what he termed as the “Alien City”.  All the colors had been mixed together into a giant grey mass and also available to us were some molds and punches.  The boy was using all of these and was on his way, making structures that could only exist in a city from another world.  He wouldn’t tell us what his name was, and I had been trying to get it out of him since last week.  He then said something, though the other kids said that it wasn’t his name and he was just making it up.  You sly little devil!  Then all of us had a great time guessing his name and making fun of him, though he was joining in as well.  Speaking of guessing, some of the kids were playing a guessing game like ’20 Questions’.  I joined in and one kid asked me what was long, yellow and with two ears.  I said it was a Giraffe, and he seemed amazed that I had guessed correctly.

We played for sometime and our kid kept building his city, though it was soon time to leave.  The kids formed a line to leave as the rest of us cleaned up.  Our kid waved at us and I had enjoyed my time with him and Lindsey.  It is true that continuity makes a huge difference and coming two weeks in a row had certainly helped in building a rapport.  Wilson gave Rachel and me a ride and told us that he was almost done planning a new project with HGS, which would involve the kids in drama like skits, as well as story telling.  I look forward to that for sure.  Hey, my kid might even make me dress like a monster!