Tree House Books' Volunteer Blog

There were two boys…

treehousevolunteers — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:39:27 +0000

The activity for today consisted of a series of writing prompts. One involved each team of children writing a story about the two characters on our back mural. Here’s team yellow’s response:

Once upon a time a black and white played football, but they didn’t really like each other. Then they started to play football as a team. As then started to get to know each other they became friends. Then one day they went to New York to face the Giants and they became the quarterback and the other caught the ball. The Giants were known to not win a lot of games, but they still tried their best and never gave up. After trying their very best they won the game. That’s the story of two races, black and white.

Annual Report 2010

treehousevolunteers — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:11:29 +0000

We’re pulling together the annual report, and are looking for your favorite photos. Especially close-ups.
If you can, please identify who’s in the photo and what was going on.
Please send them ASAP to bruce@schimmel.com

Many thx, Bruce

Friday at Tree House Books!

treehousevolunteers — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:26:52 +0000

Momentum from the limo reward trip is alive and well at Tree House Books. This past Friday we split the kids up into groups and did team-building activities. The group on the Playhouse side put together a book where they each came up with a sentence to create a story, they they illustrated their page. Check it out:

"It started raining when he went back outside so he went back inside because he was wet." -Rasheem

The group of kids on the Bookstore side of Tree House Books participated in a paper-clip game. The kids split into pairs and only using one hand each had to create a paper clip chain. To make it even harder, there could be NO talking. Congrats to Maurice and Radeam for creating the longest chain!

One hand each! Such great teamwork.

Our winners!

10 days till our Limo Reward Trip

treehousevolunteers — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:22:04 +0000

Next Wednesday, the children registered in our Life With Books Tutoring Program who have read 10 books will be rewarded with a trip in a limousine to the Kimmel Center! So far, 20 children have accomplished the goal of reading 10 books. Here is some of their art work & writings based on the books they’ve read:

Picture done by Malique, age 8. Based on the book "Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark"

Picture by Taliah, age 7. Based off of a Clifford book.

Picture by Zahlee, age 8. Based off of "Green Eggs & Ham."

Volunteer Orientation. 2011.

treehousevolunteers — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:31:29 +0000

On Monday we had over 40 volunteers take part in our first orientation of 2011. Students from Temple University of different majors and backgrounds learned the mission of Tree House Books & the different ways we can use their help. After an initial meet & greet, filling out paperwork and introducing staff we broke up into groups and met with our teams for tutoring.

Volunteer Coordinator welcoming everyone

Workshop Coordinator, Colwin Bocasan meeting with Magazine Workshop staff

Team Leader Jamie Smolen and the Friday Team

Team Leader Leigh Buzzard & Ms. Jess talking with Team Wednesday

Team Leader Dan MacGuill and Team Tuesday

Team Leader Lauren Macaluso & Team Thursday

All the new volunteers for our Life with Books Tutoring Time program

Our opening ice breaker activity

Thanks to everyone who came out for the orientation & to Ms. Star for the pictures. Stay tuned for posts from our newest volunteers :)

My best friend juggles a Mississippi Zoo

treehousevolunteers — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:06:10 +0000

Today at THB, for a Tuesday writing activity, we played with nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Kudos to Tee-tee, Malajah, Dominique, Miss Kaitlyn and Miss Mollie for their imagination and quick learning!

Mr. Dan

The week of ‘The House’

treehousevolunteers — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 21:08:21 +0000

On January 4th, all of the Tree House kids came back & an average of 3 volunteers held down the fort. Needless to say, it’s been a bit hectic but everyone is glad to be back together after 2 weeks of vacation. Thanks to Ms. Star we had a special treat for the kids these past two Fridays–a cardboard house! At first we covered it with a few gray curtains & had the kids discuss in groups what the strange, gray blob could be. They guessed everything from a tree house to a vampire. Once we unveiled the house the kids wrote their own stories about it and then got to color it. You can see Mr. Max in the photos maintaining their excitement!

Yesterday, we stepped it up a notch & asked the kids to write a script using the house as a prop. Check out the videos!

My 2010 at Tree House Books

treehousevolunteers — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:13:13 +0000

I met Darcy through a mutual friend at the end of 2009. I started volunteering at tutoring time in January 2010. I was on sabbatical from my faculty position at Widener University and it was nice to interact with kids under the age of 18 (18 year-olds know absolutely everything about the world, and are convinced their professors are clueless!) In addition, I really like the philosophy behind Tree House of growing and sustaining a community of readers, writers and thinkers. To me, that speaks of the old adage about teaching a man to fish and feeding him for a lifetime, rather than just giving somebody a fish and feeding them for a day. Tree House teaches kids how to fish.

I have tried to show up on a regular basis at Tree House this year and Ms. Lauren & Mr. Mike have been very gracious about my random comings and goings. It is special to walk in after an absence of 2 weeks or so and have Maurice run up to me and say “Ms Becky – where ya been?” or to have Brittany (JSM) come up and give me a hug. These kids have so much potential, I can’t wait to see them realize it all. I hope that, in some small way, I can help them in that endeavor.

P.S. I have a video of Kevin rapping/hip-hop/singing his song “Funny Money” during magazine night last week. I will try to upload it somewhere…..

–Ms. Becky

Hanging with Kev & Michael

treehousevolunteers — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:20:51 +0000

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of taking two of our young boys to the Hard Rock Cafe. My cousin had won a $25 gift card at our Life with Books fundraiser last month & he gave it to one of the boys. Talk about best experience ever. It wasn’t until I was with Kevin and Michael outside of Tree House that I noticed how absolutely awesome it is to know them and how honored I feel to be a part of their lives. I learned that night that I’m not just their tutor, I’m their friend and if I never volunteered at Tree House I wouldn’t know them…how crazy is that? I can’t imagine my life without Kevin, the 12-year-old kid who loves wrestling more than anyone I know; the kid who will do just about anything to make you laugh, and Michael his 13-year-old brother who lights up a room when he smiles, and loves to “make you look” whenever he gets the chance.

These boys are so special. That night we spent downtown will always top the list for me. We laughed, we ate, and I got to see them for who they really are…GREAT KIDS!

Michael loved his milkshake!

Kevin and me, waiting to be seated.

This was probably the only moment he wasn't talking about all the guitars on the walls

-Ms. Lauren

From New to Old-ish

treehousevolunteers — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:46:06 +0000

Hello Everyone,

My name is Miss Jess. I have been volunteering at Treehouse since last Spring and I have made some current observations. I’m not the “new guy” anymore! I’m sure everyone has had an experience similar to mine. You know, when you have spent a significant time at a job and people start asking you for help or answers to questions? Well, my transition from being a new volunteer to being an older volunteer has been the most rewarding transition I have ever experienced. Being an older volunteer at Treehouse means the kids know you and know they can count on you. It means that you have shared memories with both other volunteers and the students. It means that Treehouse starts to feel like home.

I’m not the only one who is experiencing this transition either. I have noticed that some of the kids are starting to feel the same way, which is a huge success in itself.

This fall semester has been a really fabulous Treehouse time. Here is a picture to prove it:

so much fun.