Probably these are some of the words you would rarely find in a school setting, but that is how our camp, and our school works. This week we've had the chance to enjoy some time outdoors with Mrs. Gallagher, having a picnic in the front garden with our stuffed animals, and playing an extra recess just for ourselves, as a reward for our SOARING behavior and powering up. Campers have also been sent on missions around the school, math missions that is. Turns out there are tons of things to gather data from in every corner of the school, so the campers walked around, whiteboard and marker in hand to write down all the information and then made bar graphs to portray their findings in an organized and professional manner. And yesterday, as you know, we enjoyed our awesome Kidnection Day! Thanks to Mrs. Brigham's incredible idea, our campers, and all of the students in the school learned new skills in two sessions. The school was buzzing with activity, and it was so great to see such movement and enthusiasm in all the kids' faces. I'm sure you have all heard wonderful stories of learning from your kids.
Just one more week of school before the summer break!
Enjoy this week's slide show :)

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!

Here is a slide show of the bird feeder installation. What a perfect day for outdoor work! Thank you to Mr. DeWitte for doing all the work, and explaining to our campers the proper use of the tools. 
Now we just have to wait for the birdies to discover the wonderful buildings we have created for them!

Finally, Spring has sprung. It feels so good to get some fresh air! Our campers have returned from the Spring break full of energy and ready to take on new challenges. This week we have started working on learning how to say the time in Spanish to the nearest 5 minutes, using both analog and digital clock, and we have started the pen pal letters to our friends in Srta. Hernandez's class in Memorial School. We have also had the visit of a very special Mystery Reader, our very own Curriculum Director Dr. Cohen! And we will celebrate Arbor Day today (pictures coming up next week).
Here are the few pictures I took this week.
​Enjoy the weekend!