Tidy Up Snack

We first learned about the artist Ursus Wehrli through Robert Krulwich's blog on NPR. Fascinated, we also watched Ursus Wehrli tidies up art | Video on TED.com. And, after showing the King Street Kids an image of a properly organized bowl of alphabet soup, their first response was, "We already DO that!" and they set to work right away:

And, here are some very tidy, properly organized snacks:

Tutoring is ON!

Guess what?

The Champlain College Work-Study Each One Reach One tutors started yesterday, which means 2 things:

1. The kids are psyched.

and

2. My office looks like this right now:

Don't worry, though. This is what the kids and tutors saw when they entered the board room for their match-up meeting:

Doesn't it look super-organized? Each tutoring pair keeps track of their work in a journal - that's what the colorful journals are for. Many of the youth have been in the tutoring program for three years now, and since their journals follow them, they have these great documents of all their hard work for three years.

The blue binders have phonics and math work in them. Each binder is different, set up to match that youth's reading level and math level. The tutoring pairs work on homework completion first, and then afterwards, they use the binder to help develop reading and math skills.

And, that stack of papers? That's the contract that the kids sign. It pretty much says, "I will be prepared for tutoring, and I will work hard while I'm at tutoring."

But, organized-schmorganized! What does the room look like when it gets fun because the youth and tutors are in there? Here it is:

And, after we had our snack (if you've never had rice cakes with cream cheese, you totally need to try it), here's what tutoring looked like:

And that's why yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year.

Aikido!

Thanks to Aikido of Champlain Valley, the King Street Center Afterschoolers were able to take part in an Aikido workshop yesterday with instructor Jamie Nicks, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN.

One of the major focuses of workshop was introducing youth to the idea of Aikido as a martial art that emphasizes peaceful conflict resolution. Here's Gonzalaiz learning about showing respect to your opponent:

The next skill that the workshop focused on was deflecting an opponent's attack. In this move, the opponent tries to push you, and you stop him or her not by blocking but rather by taking a step backwards:

It takes practice, though! Here, Ali and Haris get the move backwards:

Now they've got it!
And, here's Ahmed practicing:Thanks so much to all the instructors and students who ran the workshop! The King Street Kids had a great time!

Ahmed Talks About Tutoring

Ahmed: Bethany, can I have the same tutor that I had last year?

Bethany: Absolutely! [note - I had already talked to Cathy] Why?

Ahmed: [Gives answer that's in the video]

Bethany: Ummm . . . I'm going to need to film that answer right now.

We're still looking for more tutors for this year!

One More from the Art Hop . . .

Meet Makayla. Her painting is on display at King Street Center right now, and we just love her artist bio too much to leave it off the blog.

Name: Makayla

Age: 8

Favorite thing to do at King Street: Draw. Because I’m basically an artist. I like to do arts and craftsy stuff.

What was the best part of your summer?: Going to Camp Hochelaga. I had fun meeting new people, because it was my first time there.

What do you want to be when you grow up?: An artist—an art teacher.

Male Mentors Needed!

Every day, Gabriella, King Street Center's Volunteer Coordinator, has at least ten conversations like this one. Just sayin'.

Get Ready to Hop!

Meet Semplise, just one of the many kid artists whose work will be displayed at the Kids Hop at King Street Center this Saturday from 10-2!

Name: Semplise

Age: 6

Favorite thing to do at King Street?: Play games. Like Poptropica on the computer.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?: Running really fast!

If you could be an animal, what would you be?: I would be a cheetah—because that’s my favorite animal. And a cobra snake, too. I’d be both.