Ashley- 826 Chicago- Day One

Our first day was a whirlwind to say the least. We woke up at 7 (something I have not done in a year or so mind you) and went to a local grocery store to buy the supplies for our week. This was actually very exciting simply because it was like a peek at what it would be like to live here. The whole time we were walking around I was trying to imagen what it is like to grow up here and how different my childhood was compared to the children who we are working with who have only known city life. After that we headed to 826 Chi. I had no clue what to expect. When we got there they gave us some of the books that the children had written and sent us to a near by coffee shop to get a better feel of the work that the children are doing. We sat on overstuffed sofas flipping through the pages the books as the freezing rain hit the window of the shop. It was one of my favorite moments of the day not only because I love coffee and reading in a hipster setting but also because I had not had a chance to really see what 826 is all about. They were right in making us read what had been written in past years as an introduction to the program. When we returned we did a bit cleaning and elbow grease work on the shop. Then finally the time came to tutor. This had been much talked about and now it was a reality. All during the instructions I felt the butterflies stir. Then the children started to trickle in. I was assigned to a tiny 6 year old boy in Ninja Pjs. Apparently it was pajama day at school. His cartoon covered pjs brought me right back to memories of themed school days. With that the tutoring came so easily. A good example was when I was helping him write sentences and he wrote a D instead of a B and without thinking about it I just knew what to say. I just told him how I remember the difference when I was his age. I showed him how you can make a bed with your hands and by spelling the word bed you can see which way each goes. The best part was that he actually used it the next time he was writing a B and it worked! That made my day. I can already tell that I am going to get a lot out of this break.