HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

To all the #REAL children's mothers! 

To all the mothers and special caregivers that dedicate themselves to raising children....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Have a Wonderful Summer to all of our #REAL college students!

It is hard to believe that it was one week ago that we had a #REAL blast at Gordon College with our #REAL families from Gordon College. THANK YOU GORDON COLLEGE STUDENTS. We miss you already and we hope you have a wonderful summer. Please follow our summer fun at www.theREALprogram.blogspot.com

Getting Ready to go to Gordon College for #REAL

It is the night before our little kids go to college. The little kids are students primarily from the Brickett School who attend The REAL Program at Congregation Ahabat Sholom at 151 Ocean Street in Lynn. Tomorrow 34 children and 16 adults (moms, dads, aunts, uncles and #REAL volunteers) will form a car pool processional to drive to Wenham.  The thirty minute drive is one that many of our volunteers do in order to come to Lynn but our little kids have not been that far away from their neighborhoods. The Gordon College students participate in a service learning class as a freshman and many of them have never experienced urban life. Learning about each other's communities and neighborhoods is the theme for our visit to Gordon College tomorrow. The little kids will learn about the college student's neighborhood of a college campus including a dorm, the college library and the gym with some basketball playing followed by some pizza. Many of these families have not had the opportunities to help them in education. Many of the parents had to leave school at an early age in order to help put bread on the table when they were not much older than some of our #REAL kids. The parents of the kids are just as excited to join us tomorrow as the little kids. So off we go! Look for the photos tomorrow for #REAL.

May- Your Day be Great! READ!

It is hard to believe that we are looking at the calendar and it says May 1st, however, it is bleak and wet outside! The colors of the flowers in the garden are the only hint that it is indeed spring! Today we will give the children their May READING LOG that is a collaborative of a group of organizations who dedicate their lives to helping others. The Lynn Reads will celebrate literacy with children on Saturday, May 31st and we anticipate the #REAL kids to be the SUPERHEROES of Lynn when they read all their books every day!!!

Today our #REAL plan is to play bingo with our kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Lynn- not until we have read for 10-15 minutes to start! Thankfully we have our dedicated volunteers in Mrs. Brown, Jay, Emma, Ashley and our superhero, Mrs. Lemelin!

Jay Keshevan has been a dedicated volunteer this whole year at The #REAL Program. Jay is entering his junior year at the University of Maine, Farmington in the fall. Here he is pictured with a very bright young guy, Chris, who is a great reader at the Boys and Girls Club of Lynn.

#REAL Kids from Lynn are going to Gordon College

This Saturday, May 3rd, the #REAL kids will be going to Gordon College to see where our volunteers study, live, play and learn about the neighborhood of a college campus. Rebecca Hugal has worked very hard to plan a morning for our children and families with a visit to the Gordon College library (they also have a children's library); some basketball with players from both the women and men's basketball team; a visit to a dorm to see where they sleep (no parents) and ending with pizza!
#REAL families going to #REAL college!

Rebecca Hugal has done a great job facilitating and volunteering at The REAL Program. She is a social work/sociology major at Gordon College.

Oh The Places We'll Go!

This is the helicopter cockpit control panel made from our boxes that we bring in our food from My Brother's Table and Traditional Bread as part of our own version of Family Dinner Project. Children who attend The REAL Program at the Boys and Girls Club in Lynn also bring home dinner for their entire families to allow more conversation and sharing about their day at school and at The REAL Program. Stay tuned for much more about the #REAL movie but thanks to the creativity of Jay Keshavan we have a a very #REAL -looking control panel.

Language and stories developed when children are given the opportunity to create things on their own  are so powerful. The above photo is part of our helicopter cockpit that children worked on with the guidance of a college student, a teacher mentor and each other. The concept of our movie "Helicopter to Hawaii" started with a discussion about movies. It was a revelation to the children that a movie is a story just like a book and that someone started to write that story. We took that seed of an idea and we asked about the main character(s) and the setting for our own movie. The engagement was the highest we have ever seen by about 8 children. Our settings were to take place in Transylvania, South Dakota, New York, under the sea, Afghanistan and Hawaii. It was the beginning of an adventure. (to be continued).

Danielle and Jonathan at Work for #REAL

Apologies are due to Danielle Kunis of #Gordon College for naming her Sara in the photo with Jonathan in the last post.
Danielle is a wonderful, cheerful first year student who finds delight in working with the youngest children at The #REAL Program. We often find Danielle in the middle of a board game or coloring with our art-inspired group when we are indoors but we also find her in the middle of a jump rope game or Duck, Duck Goose outside.

Jonathan is a preschooler who enthusiastically joins us every Monday and Wednesday at Congregation Ahabat Sholom. Jonathan's first language at home is Mandarin so when he first joined us he spoke only with his school aged cousins until recently. He was understanding everything for a very long time. When our young students enter the building their next step is to get a bushel basket to place their belongings in (our version of a portable locker or cubbie) and they enter what we refer to as study hall. They almost have it down that everyone sits down at a table and we take the attendance for the day. The next question is who has no homework today. Invariably, Jonathan says, "Mr. Brown. I don't have any homework today." It simply makes everyone smile.