And this is the printer, it prints things

Tonight was my first night of volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club. When I got there, the "Power Hour" for homework was pretty much over, and they had enough assistance in that area, so instead I helped out in the K-2nd grade area doing numerous activities.

The facility handles between 150 to 200 kids daily, all between the hours of 2:30 to 6:30. They divide them up pretty well in K-2nd, 3rd-5th, 6th-8th, and 9th-12th. And, the kids have name badges that are color coded into groups; the groups transition to a new area about every 45-50 minutes. They have homework time, computers, gym, art, games, and reading.

Tonight I helped out with art, computers, and games for the young'uns.

In art, they were drawing, cutting and pasting something to do with their favorite part of Halloween. One little girl made me a picture with a pumpkin and a Christmas tree. (I'm not sure why the Christmas tree?? Would be interested to see what trick-or-treating is like at her house...?)

At game time, I played Connect Four with a little 8 yr old boy, and then Sorry with a couple 6 yr olds. I haven't played Sorry in FOR-EV-ER. The 6 yr olds pretty much made up their own rules but we had fun. As for the Connect Four, I may have let that little boy win a few times -- but not every time. He said, "When I play with my brother, I always beat him. Dang, you're good!" I didn't tell him I used to be addicted to the iPhone online Connect Four game.

Then at computers, they were typing a thank you note to a staff member. One little boy typed "This is my first day but I really like it. Thank you for being nice. Thank you for vallanteering." Another little girl wrote (names have been changed to protect the innocent, as per my orientation guidelines), "Dear Miss Stephanie. Thanks for your help. At school I keep calling my teacher Miss Stephanie. Love, Anna." I thought that was cute. (The gal that worked there told me one of the earlier kids had written a note to one of the staff members that said, "Sorry I almost got you fired." Now that's a good one.)

Today, they were giving tours of the facility because they just opened their new "Literacy Lab". The kids were the tour guides. When I first came in, a little 9-yr-old came up to me and said, "Can I show you around?" I later saw that little boy giving a very in-depth tour to a guest, "and these are our chairs, where we sit at the computer; and this is where we put the trash; and here is a keyboard, see, its hooked up to this computer..."

So, I enjoyed it. I will probably do more of the activities kind of volunteer work than the tutoring just because it seems like that is more what they need at the time that I will be there. But I definitely think it will be a gratifying experience.