So today was my second time volunteering with 826, and of course I was a
little less nervous than yesterday (those tenth graders in AVID at Galileo
really broke me in). With not a whole lot to do in the very beginning I
watched as the fourth graders from the Live Oak school come up with wacky and creative ideas for their storybook. One of my favorites of the day:
“Oooh, Jack the Kid. That sounds like a great title for our story,” Dave Kneebone suggested.
Then from somewhere in the back someone said, “why don’t we call it Jack the Drunk?”

Another favorite:
“Are any of you Pirates by profession?” Dave E. asked the group.
“I am, I am!” screamed Zander above the voices of the other kids.
“Oh yeah, I bet you get all your pirate supplies from our store,” Dave said.
“Oh no, I go to Mexico to get my supplies,” Zander calmly replied.

9 year olds really do say the darndest things.

These kids truly amazed me. When asked what elements a good story should
have, my jaw fell open when little Marie suggested “suspense.” And then
later when she used adjectives in her ending like “deafening” and
“cautiously” I was really bowled over.

At first I was unsure how this story was really going get completed in the
time allotted — they wanted to describe in great detail Jack and his 10 dogs,
Mimp the (not-so-evil) Witch and the intricacies of the bizarre creature
that lived inside the bump on her head, much more then come up with ideas
about what was actually going to happen in the story. Soon enough they
proved me wrong. Their ability to remember details from the beginning of
the story and make sure that they were played out in some way before the
ending was remarkable.

As far as my experience, I had a great time hanging out with those 9 year
olds and the other volunteers. At an age when these kids are really
learning what it means to collaborate and cooperate, the 826 team of
volunteers and staff couldn’t be a better model for them.