The Front Porch Photos
(sort of like a refrigerator to put things on the kids are proud of, only it is global)
(sort of like a refrigerator to put things on the kids are proud of, only it is global)
| FRONT PORCH SUMMER 2015 Most kids in the neighborhood had an extended school year after a very cold long winter. We knew we had to pack in the fun in a short summer. The kids biked the 5 mile round trip to Chandler Park Aquatic Center often, went on the Detroit Public Library Trip to Holly State Park learn outdoor skills, learned about marine science on the Seagrant/Metropark hands on science boat trip at Lake St. Clair Metropark, went to Toronto (to the Ripley's Aquarium, Chinatown and Centre Island to ride bikes and swim in Lake Ontario), went camping at Lower Huron Metropark and to Turtle Grove waterpark, went to the Lake St. Clair Nature Center and learned about snakes, went to the Waterpark in Windsor, made ice cream, fixed bikes with Tim, read books, and played and played at the park, on the street and on the Porch. The kids were ALL wheeled thanks to many donors of bikes, roller blades, skateboards, inner tubes and scooters. It was an international summer and a neighborhood summer. The best of all worlds. Thank you to all our donors.
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The Porch was lucky enough to have students from Missouri come back this year for their spring break. Instead of relaxing on their break, they did all of this and more at Wayne Elementary School! The kids at the school ask where they are? Why couldn't they stay? Thanks to all of the education students: Eric and Christina who made the trip happen again, Anna, Claudia,Gina, Holly, Jessica, Matt, Max, Ohm, and Taylor. Incredible young people who are changing the world.
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| In Advocacy, a university student goes over silent e with a game with an elementary student. | In Advocacy, a university student goes over vowels with an elementary student. | A university student helps a child make clay in the after school program. | One of the vocabulary word comic books the students help the second graders make. |
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| In Advocacy, a university student helps with the difference between b and d. | In Advocacy, a university student helps with subtraction. | All the first graders wrote books with the university students. The blank books and puppets were kindly provided by ConnectUS, a group for adults with severe multiple impairments who use wheelchairs. The program is designed to provide stimulating activity for their members, as well as educational and social connections for student interns and volunteers. | |
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| Vocabulary word comic books the students helped the second graders make. | |||
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| Every other month the SEVA Team from the Bharatiya Temple donates food which is given to families in need from the school and neighborhood. The SEVA Team also donates books for our library and games for the advocacy kids. Each photo is one box of food for a family. | |
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| A very first game of chess for two kids on a day it was warm enough to sit still AND not wear gloves. | Making paper flowers as gifts for parents. | Making rings with baking clay and marbles. |
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| This is the snow wall kids built with plastic tubs. It turned to ice. They painted it blue with food coloring. | Here they wrote with food coloring in squirt bottles. | On the left is the sled hill that turns to go down the middle of the photo, blocked by the snow wall on the right. |
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| The kids LOVE the chalkboard. While adults focus on more and more technology, children still love the old school messy chalkboard. | One child who likes to draw more than study is persuaded to answer comprehension questions about the science of the food chain with a drawing. He gets it. | Learning about the two sounds of G. This was the first time this first grader drew a gorilla and a giraffe. | One of the kids wanted to show how his teacher was teaching subtraction. |
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| Here are two girls going over their 8 times tables visually to complete an assignment for class. | Two kindergarteners work on number identification and decided to draw everyone at the table. | Each time a child comes to Advocacy he/she can pick out a book to borrow. This is a photo of new books donated by the SEVA Team. The Batman chapter book is already checked out after less than a few hours at the school! If you are interested in helping our little library grow, we have a wish list. Used or new, our kids just like the kind of books on the list. | |
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| Phonics Race After School. Who can sound out the most words before the timer runs out? |
Christ Church of Grosse Pointe has adopted The Front Porch and Wayne Elementary School giving gifts to every pre-schooler who signs up, some of the advocacy children and some kids in the neighborhood.
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| These are used books donated by groups and individuals at other times of the year. Storybooks are set out for parents to choose and take home for story time at home and they are informed about the local libraries. | These are just some of the gifts. There were 60 packs of gifts in all. | These are some of the snacks given out to the parents given by a donor and volunteer. Additionally, Kids Against Hunger gave us packets of rice that is a meal to hand out. |
A small group of first graders and a few volunteers make Tuesday nights full of learning and fun. The kids play educational games then have time to do an activity they choose.
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| The kids sometimes like to draw on the board. This is the moon. | A puppet show put on by kids, for kids. | A very stylish Santa Claus done by one of the kids. |
Each child from kindergarten to fifth grade got to pick any book in the world to take home.
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| From a thank you note for a Batman book. | From a thank you note for a Princess and the Frog book. | Part of the books from the third grades pick. Everything from rocks, to Cinderella to Stink. |
The third graders made journals with locks to take home.
 |  |  |  The Bharatiya TempleThe Bharatiya Temple |
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This summer has been about bicycling, fixing bikes, riding to the water park when the weather cooperates and plenty of time on the Porch. Arts and crafts like crown making, hot rocks/crayons, and the beloved sandbox. The raspberries were plentiful this year and several children learned the joy of freshly picked fruit. They also rode to the lake a few times, which is not a short trip.
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A group of 8 amazing graduate students from Missouri University came to Detroit for their alternative spring break. They volunteered at Wayne Elementary School, the Detroit public Library and Hope Garden. We were so happy they chose us!
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| This was done by a first grader in Advocacy after the students left. Peijuan, an international student from China who came on the trip, gave a five minute Chinese lesson in Advocacy. The first grader picked up on it and repeated it. We are getting him a "learn Chinese" book to keep his interest alive. | The graduate students helped all the second graders make journals with locks. | The students from China kindly showed children their names in Chinese. The kids wanted them on their journal. |
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| This is a stack of journals. The graduate students helped them write in their journals. They helped them spell things, draw things, and get ideas for what to write. At the end of the week, each child got the lock to their diary and took it home. | journal covers | |
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| journals | ||
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| journal covers | The graduate students helped the fifth graders with their Battle of the Books. They really enjoyed the attention the kind graduate students shared. | |
One class made these journals from holiday notebooks. They were very proud. These were donated by DR.
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| Finished journal | Putting a lock and key on the journal |
Drum lessons started this year with Motown drummer Cliff Harris at Wayne Elementary School, then on the Porch. The kids really enjoy it.
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The 2013-2014 School year was financed by the Detroit Indians and their supporters, Christ Church, Continental Automotive and individual donors. It was a fine year with many Advocates and children working with teachers, parents and school staff for academic confidence and success.
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| A typical day of multiplication and spelling words | Doll shoes help as counters for math facts | Sand instead of pencil and paper (Thanks to Ms. Diane!). We also use fake jewels as counters. | Math and spelling. Every child has different needs. |
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| Understanding time - drawing the whole clock, every minute. | The kindergarteners chose to draw in their reward time for working hard on sight words. | One kindergartener has been working on her skills in drawing princesses. The hair was especially important. | Math facts are so important. Every child has their own way of learning and we work to meet them where they learn best. |
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| Counting money, one of the kids' favorite things to learn. | A math professor told us that in order for kids to really memorize something they need to first believe it. This is a picture book of math multiplication facts. We find that this method works best for kids who excel in reading and fail at math. | Some children cannot under any circumstance remember their math facts. Here is a story about a girl having a pary for her friends. There were six girls (note the ponytail)...telling a story for each math fact is time consuming but for some kids its the only way. | Map to study states and capitals. The kids had a riot with Mr. Eric and Mr. Kyle, Advocates, racing to memorize the information. |
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| Using counters for math facts. | Using the chalkboard for math facts. | one-on-one reading comprehension | spelling practice |
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| spelling practice and reading comprehension - every child has different needs | Working on writing good sentences. | Vowel sounds and drawing pictures to associate them to objects and to keep learning fun | |
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| Vowel sounds drawing mixed with an amazing phonics kit donated by one of the kind Reading Corps volunteers, Pat. | Vowels that are long make sounds like in the alphabet song. | Studying for a science test and learning to learn: mnemonic devices. | Science work supplemented by a book from our advocacy library. We try to get as much science intoregular reading time as possible. |
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| More science reading. Here we have a Dr. Seuss book, a more advanced book about stars, and then taking the time to draw the solar system as he reads. | |||
Science Club is in partnership with the engineers from the Detroit Indians. Each week, the science teacher does and experiment and the engineers Skype in to discuss what happened and how it relates to engineering. It is an exceptional opportunity for the kids.
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| Putting out fire | Making windmills | Testing a bridge |
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| Building bridges | Building bridges | |
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| The competing bridges | Making wind cars | Lego propeller mixed with solar panel |
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| Vedic math class |
The book wagon is really just a wagon of books that pulls up to a classroom and children can pick a book of their choice to take home and keep. The book wagon was so well stocked that it went around the school once a month from January to June. Some kids reported that they had TOO MANY books!!!! YAY! Consider that there is no bookstore for miles and you can understand how important this project is.
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| First graders pick through gently used donated books from many kind children and parents in Metro Detroit. | Here is the book wagon full of books |
Throughout the school year, SEVA donated food to the families. It went to the families of the children in Advocacy. Here the Advocates set the food up like a store, so families could pick what they liked. Other times the food is delivered to their homes, making sure the kids in Advocacy get everything they need.
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Christ Church members each picked a child and got them a giant gift bag or bagS full of holiday gifts according to the child and parents' wishes. When the gifts came we also offered parents gently used books donated from many kind groups and individuals for them to take home , resources for food help and snacks donated by JD.
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| These are just some of the holiday gifts for the pre-schoolers and Advocacy kids from Christ Church | More gifts from Christ Church! SO MANY! Each bag is for a child. |
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| Parents could also pick from many used books to take home for their children for the holidays. | Families could also get a snack, donated by JD. |
Several generous groups, families and individuals gave children a new book of their choice to keep. Every child at the school and on the Porch got a book. An important part of literacy is developing a love of reading. Giving children the books they really want to read encourages them to read more. A priceless gift.
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| What kinds of books will 5th graders in Detroit choose if they are told they can get any book in the world? Thanks to our anonymous donor for this pile of books about wrestling , Diary of a Wimpy Kid, cookbooks, cars, football, diaries, comic books, craft books and more. | A card from one of the kids at Monteith Elementary to a child at Wayne Elementary that they made. It talked about the book that was given. | A card from one of the kids at Monteith Elementary to a child at Wayne Elementary that they made. It talked about the book that was given. | Here the kindergarteners unwrapped their books. The kids were excited to unwrap them, even though they knew what books the had asked for! Nothing like a present. |
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| Thank yous for holiday books. | A card from another kid at Monteith Elementary to a child at Wayne Elementary that they made. | A letter to the Varsity Club at Grosse Pointe South thanking them for a Dragonball Z book. And believe us that class LOVED Dragonball Z books! |
In January the kids made smoothies on the Porch on a warmish day. Once it got warmer, the kids started many activities. One was lotion making where they experimented with different scents. Another was pillow making. These three pillows are the first time sewing for the children who made them.
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First graders in after school tutoring get play time after they finish their homework and learning time. Pictured here are puppets and painting. The most popular activity this year was clay.
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Third graders learned about the symbols on money in their reading book. They each drew and painted their own money.
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The third graders read a story about Roxaboxen, a pretend city children made up in their neighborhood. The kids took the room we usually tutor in and made it into a city of their own. They created a girls' house with no boys allowed. A motorcycle from and upside down desk and a helmet from a box . There are flowers for outside one house, a bank, boat, school, and a sports club with a look out.
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In Advocacy for the kindergarteners, they get 5 to 10 minutes of free time. They usually choose to play with play-doh. After a session of sight words, phonics, addition and subtraction, they are ready for some down time. These photos show a star (their class had just learned to make them)., a cupcake, and a cloud.
One of the kids made this sculpture after she was done using them for her math.
Two third graders spontaneously decided to read in the last photo.
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Second graders read a story about courage. They each drew and painted their own ideas of what kind of superhero they would be and what they thought courage meant. One of the kids, J.L., wrote that courage is "guts and love."
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Second graders read a story about Dr. Martin Luther King's life. They got to make a journal for their own dreams and learned how to make goals. These photos are of the covers of their journals.
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Second graders had been reading about dinosaurs and working on creating a dinosaur museum. Here the kids made dinosaur tracks in clay. They made dinosaur jewelry and other items. They also made rubbings of fossils.
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The kids had a chance to visit Sugar Hill Pottery downtown and throw a pot on the wheel. The instructors were impressed because the kids "got it" in their first session - whereas college kids usually take a few sessions. They can't wait to go back. The pot in this picture was done while she was waiting for help - she figured it out herself.
A few kids from the Porch got the chance to sled down Balduck Hill. The first photo shows one of the kids enjoying a break for a granola bar. Its hard work don't you know!
The kids in one second grade class did a writing assignment about a scarecrow. They also made a woman and a man scarecrow for the local community garden - Hope Community Garden that is a few blocks from the school. It was a test of teamwork, creativity and correctly stuffing- which is not as easy as one might assume.
At school the kids read a story about a man who gave without expecting anything in return (very much like Front Porch donors). They learned a little bit about Japanese culture and made origami kits including an example they folded. The kits will be given to Children's Hospital of Michigan. There is one kit to make a crown and another kit to make a samurai helmet.
At school, the second graders made buckets of kindness and were read the story. They filled the little clay bucket they made with slips of paper with kind things about someone they chose to give a bucket of kindness to. The kids were making them in the first picture. The rest of the photos are coil pot made on the Porch by some very creative and talented kids and teens.
The second graders read the story of Cinderella in reading class. They were asked to think about how they feel when people are kind or unkind to them and then paint half the face expressing each of those feelings. They were happy to put on their raincoat smocks and paint. one group even said they weren't going to stop painting. We had to promise them we would do it again.
By an outpouring of generosity of many groups of people and families, every child at Wayne Elementary School and the Front Porch kids (who were around in winter) got a new book of their choice. These are photos of one second grade's books, one first grade's books, a Head Start's books, and the fourth grade books. The donors of the over 350 new books included: The Sabin Family, Pere Gabrial Richard Elementary School in Grosse Pointe, Bharatiya Temple - SEVA team, BBC Book Club, Rankin Grams Family, Cranbrook Kingswood Book Club, Grosse Pointe South Varsity Club, Barbara and David Perez, George Zigas and Loretta Altobelli, a generous anonymous donor, Noel Jones, Linda Stone, and the Berschback Family. Those who helped with the books were Mrs. H (who even came at the last minute to help!), Ms. Shannon, Ms. Chi Chi, Ms. Brittany and the teachers at the school. What an enormous group of wonderful people sharing the love of reading!!!
In English class, the third graders were learning about urban wildlife. They made bird houses from water bottles. The photo shows them weaving the bird house hangers.
In Advocacy tutoring we spend much of our time working on phonics skills. Here one of the kids drew pictures to go with each of the blends we had been going over. Perhaps you can spot a many wheeled truck that goes with tr, or a person sneezing for sn?
This is just a fraction of the harvest of raspberries from the raised bed in front of the Porch. Just before the heatwave the kids enjoyed at least two weeks of golden and red raspberries.
For the children in the Advocacy program, we will try as many ways as they need to to learn. Children know they can use play-doh, blocks, the chalk board and anything else that keeps their interest in what they need to learn.
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| Here a child chose to use an abacus because she liked the the visual and tactile opportunity it gave her to learn her multiplication tables. | On the wipe off board, a child is learning the sound of the letter H that he just couldn't remember. He likes karate so here he drew a karate H saying HI-YAH! |
Kindergarten, first and second graders made puppets and learned the story of Pinnochio in summer school.
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| Frog stick puppets made by the kindergarteners. On the right, the puppets are talking and the kids are under the lunch table. |
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| Marionettes made by the second graders. Two are basketball player marionettes and one is a girl. |
Thanks to an anonymous donor and students at Schoolcraft College, each of the children in first grade, fifth grade, in the Advocacy program and the kids in the neighborhood who visit the Porch got a new book that they chose, patiently waited for, and were excited to get.
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| Each of the kids in Advocacy got a book and a certificate for their effort in the program/ | Here are some of the books. | These are the bookmarks made by the Schoolcraft College students. |
Thanks to Mrs. H, a volunteer tutor, who provided the children in after school tutoring the opportunity to try several different kinds of fruit in a fruit buffet.
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| Here one of the volunteers help teach a child how to serve themselves neatly. | Here is one proud culinary creation. | Mrs. H. labeled each of the fruits for the children. | Here is another unique fruit salad. Every child's was different. |
The kids made great salads for themselves with the help of Amanda, a college student who assisted with the program.
This is the room at Wayne Elementary where we tutor the children in Advocacy.
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| This shows the tub of letters and blends, a math dice game, and the table full of tattoos to pick from when the Advocacy kids are good in tutoring. | The kids love to use the blackboard. The plant was donated by Shawn and the little table was found for us by the staff of the school. | This is the other side of the tutoring room. The couch was donated by Ms. Chi Chi. the rug by Alan, Kathi and Griffin. The kids love being able to choose different places to sit to go through their work. The computers are for parents to use and the board has information for parents. |
A chicken raised by one of the kids.
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The kids are painted a mural on the day that the waterpark was closed because of a power outage.
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The kids are learning basic bike repair.
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The kids chose these outfits from a thrift store and directed their adult model's photo shoot (a kind volunteer) . They learned that saving money and recycling can still be fashionable.
Photos by A.C., age 14.
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| Business to Night by JD | Edgy by AC | Summer by TD |
July 2012 at Lower Huron Metropark
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| Putting up the tent and loading and unloading the bikes took a lot of teamwork. | It was the first time cooking over a campfire for some of the kids. | Swim stuff hung out to dry on the clothesline they put up. |
A school science project for one of the kids in Advocacy. She needed to use a computer, get supplies and learn to make graphs in Excel, so we helped. She experimented with the graphs on the sidewalk first.
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Some of the kids can't get enough of the TV show so make their own creations on the Porch.
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These were made by TD, who is 12.
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To go along with the story the third graders were learning, A Story A Story, The Front Porch brought an art project to the local elementary school, Wayne. Ms. Chi Chi, one of our advocates, came in and told them about her African background, about life in Africa and how masks and costumes are used. The kids saw examples of costumes and masks in National Geographic and made their own.
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| Mask made by a 3rd grader | Mask made by a 3rd grader | Mask made by a 3rd grader | Mask made by A.C. |
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| Mask "Seagirl" by 3rd grader A.D. | Mask "Colorsgirl" by 3rd grader A.L. | Mask "Princessgirl" by 3rd grader A.P. | Mask by C |
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| Mask "Birdman" by D.T. | Mask "Featherman" by D.W. | Mask by E.J. | Mask "Peace" by G.W. |
At Wayne Elementary School's Open House
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| Book made by a 5 year old about basketball | Book made by a family member of the kids, Jackie | Sports book made by R.W. It is a pop-up book and movable. One page has a lever where the basketball player can shoot the basket, and the other page has a soccer ball that moves like the boy is kicking it. |
After learning time at after school tutoring at Wayne Elementary School, there is playtime. This day, drawing was one activity. These are the original drawings they wanted on the website.
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| by SD, 1st grade | by TW, 2nd grade | by NR, 2nd grade | By SG, 1st grade |
Hats the first graders at Wayne Elementary sewed (they pressed the peddle on the machine) for themselves and decorated themselves.
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A valentine made on the Porch for a relative by TD.
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| Handmade earrings by TD, age 12. | The first crocheted purse by JD, age 11. | The second crocheted purse by JD, age 11, made the next day!! |
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| The campsite at Stony Creek. | It was home for one night. | Sandcastle by D. She made a pyramid and some houses along a river. |
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Doll making
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| Monkey wearing a bikini by DG | Doll by IG |
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| Learning to
be a beekeeper. JD bravely touches the bees. Photo by TD |
JD holds the
bees who are making a honeycomb in the frame. Photo by TD |
The expanded strawberry patch built by three girls who are longtime experts at painting, hammering planting and using the drill. |
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| With homework time behind them, the first graders play chess... | and make bracelets at the after school program. | Proud of finished homework. |
After homework time was over, the first graders learned to draw.
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| cow | castle | castle | dinosaur |
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| Snowman | Ice castle | After one of a billion games of Life and playing the stock market in it, one girl picks out her real stock hoping it will go up next week. She hopes to win our little stock market game. | Pretend birthday cake by JD and TD made of Play-doh, pipe cleaners and a paper plate. |
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| Dress up on the Porch. | Shrinky Dink necklace made by RW | Shrinky Dink necklace made by IG. She explained that Kitty got in a fight and is blue like a Smurf. |
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| This is the Front Porch's computer lab. The laptop and one child are under the covered table. We can't have it out in the open because negative people walking by may see it as an opportunity. Many teachers require kids to type up their homework on the computer & do web research but the kids do not have one & they do not have transportation to the library to use a computer. We used to have a computer lab at the now closed community center. We would like to have one again. Please let us know if you can help us with this. | A puzzle made on the Porch by JD. | The kids have started to learn about honey. They got a tour of the Front Porch's hive. It is from the Sweet on Detroit Program from the Detroit Agriculture Network. Then they went to Earthworks Urban Farm to help harvest the honey. Here JD scrapes the honey coming off the pressed beeswax. They learned a lot from their volunteer time there. |
 Here they are in their cage. The cage was built by kids many years ago. |
 The kids picked them up. |
 The cage came off the butterflies and some wouldn't leave. The kids decided to see if they would eat cantaloupe - their fruit snack for the day. The butterflies weren't interested. |
 Kids feeling the butterfly wings - the butterflies didn't mind. |
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 The butterflies that wouldn't leave were transferred onto the butterfly bush. The kids had a bus to catch. |
 The caterpillars hanging upside down before becoming chrysalises. |
 Mating two days after they came out of the cocoon. |
| The caterpillars were ordered from http://www.monarchwatch.org. | ||
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| P.P. harvested this bag of berries. | E.S. is asking if this one is ready. She says they don't taste anything like the ones from the store. | E.S. and her strawberries. |
This is a drawing of giant corn
dog and a girl by D.  |
These are D's hands.  |
This is a drawing by I.G.
of the earth, a heart and the brown dog is hers.  |
ES holds the cockroach herself.
Three school science projects, one homework math ditto about money, learning about magnets, some community service from L.H. who is 12 years old, and bike riding on a pretend street made from chalk on the sidewalk.
The
Front Porch P.O. Box 24744
Detroit, Michigan 48224 USA frontporchdetroit@yahoo.com
This website made possible by the Youth Development Commission and designed on open source software from Kompzer.
This work by The Front Porch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
This website made possible by the Youth Development Commission and designed on open source software from Kompzer.
This work by The Front Porch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.