Elementary Camp: "Breanne's not a craft lady. She's the art teacher."

"I know a recipe to make Breanne. 2 parts crafty and 3 parts camp."

Elementary Camp and the end of the season...

So.. it's been said before.. k-5 kids challenge me immensely. My patience, my organizational skills, the volume of my voice - all of them are put to the test when the littlest scampers arrive! However, when I see messages like that from the parent of a returning camper I smile wider than ever :) I planned lots of activities for these high-energy, high-VOLUME campers and I like to think I adapted to their personal learning needs and preferences.

first things first - name tags!

 One of the board members donated some laminate samples from her work. ONLY A FEW. The morning the campers arrived I enlisted the help of the other staff members to drill holes and sand off the glue from the backs of the samples to create name tags. Then we strung on some lacing *gimp thread* and beads for a little bit of fashionable flair. The kids loved them! We decorated with sharpies and some kids had stickers, too.

The first projects we worked on were not in my original plans - go figure! Being an art teacher/craft lady = flexibility at all times. Anyhow, the first two projects were rockets and day group sculptures. To clarify: day groups are the various assortments of kiddies as they are separated throughout the day. Counselors have a mix of boy and girl campers and each day they organize different activities and group games - it creates a really strong sense of ownership and belonging for the campers. I was asked to orchestrate the construction of day group centerpieces - umm..okay? So I went for it!

So many tiny houses - I have a jug of old game pieces. 

my favorite - by far. it was over a foot tall!

 So the main goal for the project was to create a big, colorful, unique centerpiece for each day group table. In my controlling way of doing things.. I separated the process into steps! First step was to sit with their day groups, for obvious reasons. There were so many different personalities; this was also a good way to see how different campers took control - or sat back and let others lead. I want to do this project with students! I think it would be a great way to break down barriers between kids and form teams..

planning committee

The plan went like this:

1. Sit with your day group! Do not stray to the other table/team because they are your competition (all in good fun, nothing vicious lol) and you will have great ideas with your group members alone!
2. Choose three pieces of scrap wood. ( I had a bunch of scrap wood left from other camp projects and from the wood pile at maintenance. ) Think about how they could fit together. Your centerpiece MUST stand on its own when put together! We don't want them falling into the food :)
3. Work TOGETHER to plan the structure before anything is put together! Remember, you are a team and this centerpiece represents your entire team - not just the thoughts of a few people.
4. One or two people are in charge of hammers, nails, glue, and construction materials. (This eliminated the problem of bottlenecking at the glue guns and with the hammers etc). If you are not using a hammer/nails/etc DO NOT TOUCH IT! These are tools, not toys. Be careful and be aware of those around you!
5. After the basic form is constructed you may begin to decorate! (At this point I passed out ribbons, pipe cleaners, the little game pieces, markers, and pretty much anything else they asked for) You can do a church-themed design or just make something awesome! EVERY PERSON in the group needs to glue on at LEAST 1 ITEM. (prevented those controlling kids from taking over the whole project - sneaky Ms. K.)



writing the names from the group

6. Make sure you put your name(s) on the centerpiece so we know whose is whose. Give yourselves a pat on the back - you worked in a team and that is really hard to do. What did you learn about your team members? What was most successful when you were putting together your centerpiece? Did you have any difficulties? What was the most fun about this project?

an offering dish

ahahha enough said! 

planning and discussing ideas - future CEOs ;)

 As stated before, project 2 was ROCKETS! These kids are so spoiled - one of their grandparents comes and provides rockets for the campers to build. Each day group got their own rocket so it was perfect! The kids worked on their centerpieces and their counselors painted the rockets to the kids' specifications :)

Throughout the first day, each day group worked on their centerpiece. In all, there were 6 beautiful 'sculptures' made to decorate the dining room tables. The kids had a really fun time and I loved watching their minds at work! Every group had a different idea and took different amounts of time for each step  - very fun :)

so many little game pieces

"Let's make sure we all get to think!" haha too cute

church camp-themed

Day 2:

After the day groups had finished their centerpieces and taken them to show off in the dining hall it was time for a new activity! Of course, craft lady had put out all the stops. I offered several options for projects and brought back the concrete stepping stones and planters, too.

this was the cleanest the cabin was all week! hahaha

One of the most important lessons learned from working with Quickrete: MAKE THE KIDS MIX IT! Saves time, energy, and they genuinely want to help.

stirring their brew

 Also, I figured out the secret to not messing up the stepping stones - Plastic wrap! the downside is you lose that really nice, smooth finish on the sides but I didn't have to bash them out of the molds to free them. You win some, you lose some, right?

tiny tiny stepping stones/paper weights

I added some artistic flair to the white board... CAMPVENTURE TIME

 Day 3:  was interesting... I substituted my craft periods for Archery. One of the biggest things I learned at camp this year: BE FLEXIBLE! This campers were grades 4 - 6 and let's just say.. their attention spans were very varied! But I made sure that everyone went through orientation and they all hit the targets - we even had two bulls eyes!

2 day groups per teaching session, 15-20 kids per day group... nearly EVERY camper and some of the counselors wanted to participate. Oh, did I mention there were 6 day groups? So.. let's do the math. Three periods of archery x 2 day groups per session x 15-20 kids/counselors per group. Uhhh that's the whole camp! 

a quick moment of relaxation before the MADNESS continues

 More scampers ready to go? Another orientation session in progress.

working on grip

As a recently certified archery instructor I have learned so much about teaching students/campers one-on-one and the ins and outs of specified attention. For example, I learned in my class that there is a specific strategy that allows me to cut out doing a mass orientation and focuses in on each individual archer. Problem with that is TIME.. I only had 45 minutes with each pair of day groups and even then you have to account for hyperactive kids, people not paying attention, wind, bugs.. the whole nine yards.

bow arm check!

in shooting position

  Here's the strategy I was taught by my courses:

1-on-1 First Three Arrows Strategy

1. instructor invites one student at a time to the line

2. “stand facing me with your feet like mine” – demonstrate stance

3. show how to hold bow

4. show how to nock an arrow (listen and look)

5. demonstrate proper holding technique for bowstring

6. demonstrate archer stance and form

7. release arrow (first arrow)

8. repeat steps 1-7 with less instructor interaction – maybe just pointers

9. repeat steps 1-7 (student –led)

PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE

I think in the future I will work with this strategy.. as I had fewer campers I was able to focus more on individual needs and concerns. The campers listened much better when they had one-on-one time and  I was able to get to know them, too. 

Day 4: I was allll over the place! Between cleaning bathrooms, helping with dishes, and teaching.. I think I grew some new arms and legs, to be honest! Two of the day groups had skipped out on a day of archery in order to go on a hike so today was the day they were able to participate in archery lessons. These kids were also the oldest so I didn't have to yell QUITE as much at them. They listened well and were eager to start shooting. One of the best things about this week? The willingness of the campers to HELP. Every day I had volunteers offering to help carry targets, bows, and other supplies to the games field. On the first day of shooting I was actually still painting the range - timing is truly everything! - but the campers offered to help with that too.

cheeeese

 I had one of my returning campers this year whom I get a kick out of. He has such a great sense of humor and so much spirit and willingness to learn :) He wanted to shoot archery with his fellow campers and I wasn't sure how he could. He has a congenital deformity in his arm and hand which makes his left arm much shorter than his right. He assured me he shoots archery at home and would not have any problems.. if the bow was left handed. I felt so bad! The bows I purchased for the program are right-handed and there is no way to convert them otherwise.. I apologized to the camper. To which he replied "Don't worry about it! I've got this." He promptly changed the arm guard to the other arm and set himself up in shooting position. He had the most power behind his shot of all the campers in his group! Nothing was going to stop him from shooting that target :) Lesson Learned: if the archery program is going to expand I need at least five more bows that are left-handed or convertible.

enthusiastic archers!

This group had quite a few home archers/hunters and they all did really well with their grouping and most importantly PATIENCE. They listened and learned the safety procedures and didn't even think to move from their stalls until told to do so. Such good ponies-- er, I mean, campers.

smile if you love archery!

practicing T-form will get these kind of results!

All in all.. this particular group of campers was a lot of fun. Not to say they didn't challenge the almighty patience of Smaug the craft lady (as I was affectionately known by the end of the week), but

it was a lot of fun to see so many returning faces and smiles.
I am now recognized as THE art teacher or THE craft lady.. and this is where things become complicated. After this summer I will be preparing to student teach and I have no idea where that will take me. That being said, I am not sure I can return to camp for another year of crafts/maintenance/various odd jobs across grounds. In addition to life conflicts there are also personal reasons I am thinking of retiring the rainbow apron I wore every day in Rockland. The main reasons having to do with management of time, resources, and people - many changes need to be made for camp to function and not just look like it is running at 100%. But that's another issue entirely.. I want to get back to the fun stuff!

I will save my reflection for the next post: Smaug the Magnificent Craft Lady signing off!

Ms. Kanak