Oh, did we have fun on our field trip day! The campers had a blast using all of the gadgets at the Ecotarium, and seeing all the beautiful animals. Take a look at the pictures in the slide show.

This week at the camp we have been working on a few things. In math, we continue with measurement. We have been figuring out fun measurement riddles for our math talks, and worked on our measurement books. On Thursday we got out during National Outdoor Classroom Day to measure in centimeters some objects in the field. In Language Arts, we have been working on our second letter to our pen pals. In Social Studies we have been reading biographies and creating small books along them. And on Wednesday we have been saying goodbye to our very special aide, Esther. The campers prepared beautiful cards, and a couple of them brought a gift for her. She was very touched by the gesture, and we will all miss her and wish she comes back to visit someday.
Take a look at this week's slide show!
​Enjoy the long weekend!

Is there such thing as "rain fever"? Be it real or not, there have been quite a few days this month where I just couldn't stand the overcast skies and rain any more. For that reason, the moment there was a little bit of sunshine, I took my students out, any excuse seemed reasonable. Last week we got to our field and collected several branches to put on our measurement books, it was a lot of fun working on the outdoor classroom, measuring the branches and taking pictures of them. We were working in there when the first grade students were coming out for recess, one of them commenting to me "one of your students is standing on the bench!", "That is right - I said- He is supposed to stand on the bench to take a good picture!" After a few minutes of bliss and sun on our faces, a couple of curious bees decided to show up, so we called it a day and got back in. We went out back yesterday to fill up our front bird feeders. They were almost empty. We are happy to report that they are really enjoying our birdie town.
Included in this slide show are also pictures of the International Night, it was so much fun to see everybody having a great day of community and celebration of other cultures! I had a blast!
Finally, in our camp we have been working on writing our second letter to our pen pals, and a lesson on producers and consumers for social studies.
Enjoy the pictures!

And here are a couple of proofs that the birdies are building a nest in one of the bird houses. When I showed the pictures to my students one of them said with such a sweet enthusiasm "We are going to have a birdie!". Yes, let's hope for a full nest, we will even give names to the chicks :) Our outdoor classroom pets!

We are making and publishing books! Take a look at what the campers have been working on. We have been measuring branches outdoors, and measuring classroom objects indoors to the nearest inch and half inches, taking pictures and making picture books of measurement. You can read the books here, just don't use the "read to me" feature, unless you want to learn how NOT to pronounce in Spanish. More books coming up next week. We are still in the editing process.
Enjoy the weekend!

Another hard working and adventurous week here at the camp. Our campers have been finishing up their learning on money exchange and time to the 5 minutes, using activities and games to practice their skills. In language arts, we have finished writing our pen pal letters to our friends in second grade Memorial School, and will be sending them out today. We have also been reading interesting stories, practicing partner reading and working on reading groups and literary circles. In Social Studies, we finished last week our travels around the 7 continents, and have moved to learn about how seeds propagate during our science period (pictures on the presentation show our students acting as trees dropping the paper seeds from their arm-branches). And on our special bird feeder project, we have installed the camera and have seen a lot of activity in our bird feeders and bird houses. We can't wait to see the footage that the camera has captured. The project has had such a big impact in the school, that teachers and students are doing some bird watching on their own and reporting what they see to us. The houses and feeders look so pretty over a background of green grass and blooming trees, and the birds seem to love such colorful constructions!