Day Three (Scroll down for photos!)

Hi All,

Day Three of camp was a fun and education-filled day! We were busy bees all day long as we kept the children constantly engaged with an array of activities.

After "Free Play" and "Morning Meeting", which we concluded by reading a favorite of all our friends, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, we transitioned to "Morning Movement" where we "shook our sillies out" and played dance games such as freeze dance, copy cat (where one of our friends does a dance move and we all copy the move as a group-took turns till all our friends busted a move :), and "Stephanie Says".

Then it was time to put our chef hats on and try our hand at our daily cooking class. Today we made personal mini pizza. Each child was given their own half of a multi grain slim sandwich bread from Trader Joe's. All children were also given their own cup filled with shredded mozzarella cheese (organic-part skim). Finally, we went around with organic tomato sauce and allowed each child to spoon out some sauce onto their "pizza dough". Some of our friends didn't want any sauce-only cheese-so they had grilled cheese instead of pizza.

We reminded our friends how healthy pizza can be for our growing bodies. We spoke about the whole grain and protein content. We also discussed the difference between whole wheat and white bread. We were so happy to hear how well versed all of the children are when it comes to health foods!

While our "Mid Morning Snack" baked in the oven, we decided to play with the dress up clothing and all adopt new identities. We then had another read aloud--this time Stellaluna which we read as a group; one of our friends, seen below dressed as a dragon, proudly shared this wonderful text with her friends. All the friends were very interested in this book--I would suggest to add it to your home libraries.

We practiced our numbers, in both English and French, before doing some arts and crafts--we played with colored foam (everyone loved this and it never dries out) and with the glitter play dough we made the day before.

After a relatively successful "Quiet Time" we had yet another read aloud to introduce our science project.

Stephanie read The Snowy Day (a great classic that some of our friends recognized) while Alex prepped the back room for science. We appropriately made "snow" using a handy kit found on a wonderful website that has all types of children's science projects "Steve Spangler Science".  The children were gaga for the faux snow. All our friends took turns measuring out the nonhazardous faux snow made out of polymers and water, and mixed the two together as we watched the snow come to life. We then became scientists as we observed the snow with almost all of our senses (we didn't taste the snow).

Outdoor time followed as we brought the snow outside to really play with it! The kids had a blast--who said we couldn't have a snow day in 50 degree February weather?!

After lunch, we had show and tell where a number of our friends did a great job sharing their personal items with the group.

We then had a final art project to complete: tracing our hands in air dry clay, so we would always remember how helpful our hands are at camp and in our lives-and so we will be able to look back and see the size of our hands in 2012.

PARENTS: We encourage you to pick up your child's clay hand--they were not dry by pick-up time--they're all still in the playroom.

After our last snack (leftover brown rice crispy squares--see yesterdays post for recipe) we had our final meeting and lastly, we handed back all the children's art work they completed over the previous days along with a note from us.

Roundtable Question
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

"A superhero that goes around helping people falling from buildings and has laser vision to see through walls." -Oscar
"Anakin" (from Star Wars) -Luca
"Buzz Lightyear" -Rory
"A lizard with eye beams" -Dino
"A hawk" -Finn
"Superman" -Eli
"A firefighter" -Axel

*We cannot stress enough how much fun we had with your children. They were a joy to interact with over the past couple of days and we hope to see everyone at some point in the future. We will keep you updated about any future camps/activities we're planning.

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mini pizza
Some of our friends opted to top their pizza with Cheddar Goldfish :)

a trumpet playing dragon, Green Lantern, Captain America, a firefighter and Superman!

        Reading "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon

Today's French lesson!

Reading "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats right before...

We made snow! 
Using our sense of touch to feel the faux snow's texture.

Day Two

Hi All,

We had another great day at camp. Our group, although a bit smaller (6 friends) was a lot more comfortable with each other today.

It's so impressive how the children so easily accept and embrace our routine. They seem to respond well to the "Camp Rules" chart - some even had the rules memorized.

We were really happy to see how well the children communicated with one another; they were able to "use their words to express their feelings" as one of the camp rules advises. It is a really beautiful thing to see children express themselves when they're having an issue with a friend. I was especially impressed with Oscar and Finn when they had a good five minute conversation sharing how they were feeling and how certain things are hurtful. By the end, they had successfully worked it out together with little grown-up guidance.

Today we made our own glitter play dough! It was very exciting as we took turns helping add the ingredients (see no-oven-required recipe below). To know they had made it themselves seemed to make them to enjoy it even more!

We also played with foam today and did an excellent job at sharing the different colors with one another. They were all very good at asking their friends if they could trade colors. Again, great use of sharing and using their words.

For our prepared snack of the day we made healthy rice crispy treats--everyone loved them.

We discussed the health benefits of brown rice. We also examined the ingredient used to make the rice crispy treats.

Our daily French lesson went well; the children are good listeners and eager to imitate the foreign sounds. We practiced our counting today.

Roundtable Questions:

Q: If you could be anywhere, where would you go?

"A museum"-Eli
"Jumping on my bed."-Oscar
"In a restaurant; Coco Loco."-Nina
"The zoo but the rhino isn't there because she is having an Indian rhino baby."-Dino
"Candyland!"-Finn
"In the castle with Beauty and the Beast."-Rory.

Q: What does daddy do during the day?

"He goes to work, he is a banker."-Oscar
"He works and makes magazines."-Finn
"He goes to work; he is a computer worker."-Nina
"He goes to work in the kitchen and makes Mac and cheese."-Dino
"He goes to the grocery store."- Rory
"He works at magazine. Martha Stuart."-Eli

Play Dough

3 c flour
1 1/2 c salt
1 c water
1/4 c oil
food coloring
glitter

Rice Crispy Treats (Healthified)

3 tablespoons butter
4 cups marshmallows
6 cups brown rice puffed cereal (or any other healthy cereal)

-melt butter on low heat, add marshmallows and stir until melted
-remove from heat and add cereal to pot; stir until all cereal is mixed with melted marshmallow
-grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper/foil and evenly place mix onto cookie sheet.
-cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares.

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Ring Around the Rosie!

making a Princess' magic wand with pipecleaners

dressing up & drawing

homemade glitter play-doh

Another super healthy snack of fruit & homemade granola

reading "Goggles" by Ezra Jack Keats

playing with foam

Hi All--

The first day of camp was a great success! We were thrilled to see the group of 8 get along so well all day.

We did plenty of activities but as it was our first day, we tried to gauge the group's energy-and with all the new faces and new environment-we moved at a slower, more suitable pace for all our friends.

Half of us began our day playing with blocks on the carpet, while some of us played with trains. Filippa began by decorating her name card, which we used to better remember our new friends' names. Within 5 minutes, all 8 were painting and drawing with different mediums (colored pencil, crayons, markers) their name cards.

We continued with Morning Meeting and that led into a circulation of preparing and eating snacks, doing arts and crafts, dancing to kids songs, and finally eating our lunches and spending time outside playing with chalk.

We led question based discussions to get to know our new friends better.

Some of the questions and answers (wonderful way to engage in a large group conversation, helps have a more communicative lunch setting):

Q: What is love?

"You make hearts for people."-Oscar
"Its when you play with each other and love each other."-Filippa
"When you kiss someone."-Eli
"When you love someone."-Rory
"Hugging."-Dino
"When its Valentine's Day."-Finn
"When you kiss someone."-Luca
"It's when you can kiss them."-Axel

Q: What does mommy do when you're at camp?

"She puts my brother to bed."-Oscar
"She sometimes takes care of Lola."-Filippa
"She goes to work, and she makes games."-Eli
"She takes care of mommy!"-Rory
"She takes care of my baby sister. She changes her diapers."-Dino
"She goes home and takes care of Harry. I'm the biggest bother!"-Finn
"She goes home and does work; she does mommy work."-Luca
"Working at home but sometimes she works at Unicef."-Axel

Some priceless responses!!

You guys should be very proud; we have done a lot of babysitting and not all children are as comfortable in new settings as this fun bunch was.
They were willing to try new things; like try their hand at prepping the snacks (we made whole wheat pita chips--see below for recipe-- that we ate in the afternoon with a fruit salad and in the morning enjoyed a lovely granola bar made with brown sugar and sulfide dioxide free dried apricots and plums).

We are excited to see everyone tomorrow for another day of fun! We're going to make glitter playdoh and health(ier) rice crispy treats....

Thanks for everyone's participation!
Alex and Steph

PS We were great on supplies, but if you're able:

-Books for read aloud (maybe your child can bring their favorite story to share)

-Old newspapers (to cover table for speedier cleanup)

-Don't forget about Show + Tell!  Have your child bring in something to share. Great way for children to draw connections with others.

Whole Wheat Pita Chips
-100% whole wheat pita bread
-olive oil
-cinnamon
-sugar
-salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. tear pita bread into bite size pieces, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar and salt.
2. toast on a sheet pan in oven for 10 minutes.

Fruit Salsa
-3-4 kinds of fruit (e.g. bananas, strawberries, kiwi, apple)
-lemon juice
-sugar

1. chop fruit into small pieces
2. drizzle with small amount lemon juice and a pinch of sugar
3. cover and let sit in fridge for at least 1 hour to macerate

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Hopscotch!

working together on an alphabet puzzle

Camp Rules where everyone can see them

whole wheat pita chips, goldfish & fruit salad

Sample Daily Schedule

Stephanie and I are still deciding on what our “Daily Themes” will be each day of camp, as well as the appropriate activities - as we decide we will post them to the site!

Thanks!

(Sample) Daily Schedule

9:00am-9:30am            Arrival                    (30 min) 

• Choice of pre-selected activities (i.e. free art, pretend play, building, math games)

9:30am-9:35am            Clean Up                (5 min)       

• Children will be given a 5 minute warning before it is time to clean up - a simple clean up song will be sang to maintain momentum and get on to the next activity.

9:35am-9:55am            Morning Meeting            (20 min)

• Greet the day (and our peers) and sing the Good Morning song as we sit and dance on our floor spots. Introductions (name games), Review of “Camp Rules” (i.e. Hands are for helping), and introduction of Daily Theme-likely interactive and complete with lots of visuals-will be discussed during our meeting.

9:55am-10:25am             1st Group                (30 min)

• Large group project that is related to our Daily Theme.

10:25am-10:30am            Clean Up                (5 min)

10:30am-10:50am            Music Time/ Morning Movement        (20 min)

• Combination of sing-a-longs, musical instrument instruction and play, as well as movement and dance games.

10:50am-11:10am        Morning Snack/Bathroom Break             (20 min)

• We will take a short break for snack time. We will explain the importance of good hygiene and how to properly wash our hands before we eat!  Transition to our morning snack time where the children will help collect their own pre-cut snacks (combo of fruit and grain - all vegetarian) in the center of the tables. Children will also practice serving themselves water using small plastic jugs and small plastic reusable cups. After snack time, we will take turns using the bathroom; one teacher will host a read aloud (storybooks related to our Daily Theme) as the other escorts children to the bathroom.

11:10am-11:15am            Share Time                (5 min)

• We will encourage the children to each select one item of their choice to bring to camp to share with their friends, each day. At this point in the day we will ask the children to take turns in sharing the reason why they chose their item.

11:15am-11:45am            2nd Group                (30 min)

• Split up into small group activities- games, projects, activities all centered around the Daily Theme.

11:45am-11:55am        Movement/Bathroom Break        (10 min)

• Dance games and yoga-inspired instruction to work up an appetite.

11:55am-12:25pm            Lunch                    (30 min)

12:25pm-12:55pm                 Quiet Time                (30 min)

• Classical music will be played quietly, curtains drawn.

12:55pm-1:25pm                Outdoor Time                 (30 min)

• Depending on the weather, we will take short neighborhood walks, trip to nearby playground, or play in the front yard.

1:25pm-1:55pm            3rd Group                (30 min)

• Split up into small group activities- games, projects, activities all centered around the Daily Theme.

1:55pm-2:00pm            Clean Up                (5 min)

2:00pm-2:05pm               Bathroom Break            (5min)

2:05pm-2:25pm               Afternoon Snack            (20 min)

• Perhaps something we started baking earlier in the day!

2:25pm-2:55pm                  Choice Time                (30 min)

2:55pm-3:00pm          Clean Up/Closing Meeting/Dismissal        (5 min)

• Our final clean up of the day followed by a Good Bye song.

Welcome!

Hello new friends!

We are very excited for our President's Week Camp Feb 21-24!

We are eager to meet your children and we plan on using this blog to share pictures and stories with you from the days we spend together.

We would also love to use this space to start a dialogue among all of us; we plan on posting about ourselves, a sample "Day At Camp" schedule so you can have some idea of what we will be doing all day, our approach and influences, our "Wish List", and whatever else we can address to make this the most enjoyable experience for all parties involved!