Summer Camp Recap - First 2 Week of August

If you read my last blog article about summer camp, you know that I believed these next 2 weeks were going to be easier, and boy was I wrong. These last two weeks were Food Science and Lego, and Food Science week was by far the most hectic week of the whole summer, and it was a short week! Let's talk about it.

Food Science

This week I had 1 more student than last, making it 9 students, ranging from PK to grade 6, the most I've had all summer.

This week started off by painting terracotta plant pots, filling them with dirt, and a seed of their choice. This was to teach them where food comes from, the science behind growing a plant, and so on. They watered them daily and took them out for sunning on their breaks.

This activity was by far the smoothest of the whole week. It was peaceful and calm, but it was the calm before the storm.

All the other activities, of course, involved food given the week's theme, and if you've ever worked with kids, you know what an unbelievable mess kids can make with food and what sugar does to them.

We did an activity with Skittles where they had to aligned them on a paper plate then drop water onto it to see how the colours would bleed. It was a rather short activity, but one they really enjoyed, especially since they got to eat the Skittles after. None of them seemed to mind that they were wet, which was very evident when two of the kids where eating the Skittles by the handfuls. Naturally, we were done with sugar for the day.

By far the most chaotic activity we did this week was mug cakes. The idea here was to teach them the science behind baking - when certain ingredients are combined, what happens and why. Awesome idea in theory, crazy in practice.

Imagine having 9 students all screaming in excitement at the same time over the mug cakes rising in a microwave, especially when they overflow. Imagine 9 students covered in chocolate icing - it's on their faces, hands, arms, shirts, and somehow their legs! Only about 3 students actually finished their cake with the rest leaving more than half either in the mug or on the floor where they also dumped all the sprinkles.

While they absolutely loved the mug cake activity, it was so messy and such a waste of food. It also took 2 minutes for each mug cake to cook in the microwave, 2 x 9 = 18. It took a minimum of 18 minutes for me to 'cook' all their cakes before they could decorate and eat them. Definitely time consuming, which has it's pros and cons.

It's also time consuming after they all go home because of the amount of dishes I had to do before I could go home for the day too. 9 mugs, 9 spoons, 2 bowls, some containers for the pre-measured ingredients because lord knows, with this group, I would not have let them pour and measure oil from the container themselves. I would totally do this activity again though because, while it was crazy and a lot of work, they were really happy during it all.

The last activity of the week was building their own structures out of marshmallows and toothpicks, and they definitely enjoyed this one, especially since they got to eat some of their building materials. One of the kids, however, managed to smear marshmallow all over a chair, and the process of getting sticky smeared on marshmallow off the chair was definitely not fun for me.

When it comes to the academic side of the week, having 9 students with all varying ages (this week PK - grade 6), and academic programs, is definitely overwhelming at times. The first day I had to teach on my own because of unforeseen circumstances, and it was definitely a huge challenge to keep up with questions, grading, planner marking, and the extra work of ballots for the candy draw all within 1 1/2 hours.

Thankfully, for the rest of the week, I had my co-teacher (she is such a blessing) teach 4 of the 9 students which, not only, made it easier to keep up with grading, but also saved some of my sanity. It is so humbling to think of how public school teachers do this for 6+ hours a day, with 30+ students, 10 months out of the year, without co-teachers. Bless them.

I've been really lucky thus far into camp regarding student dynamics. The vast majority of the students have organically gotten on really well, we've only really had minor arguments and most have been between siblings.

This week though, while there wasn't really fighting, there were more moments of having to mediate the dynamics a bit more. Some students already knew each other and weren't exactly the most fond of each other, and so finding a balance of giving each other space and including everyone was more of a task this week.

I think it also stemmed from having the most 'new' students thus far. In the prior weeks, we might've had 2 or 3 new students, with the rest repeating from the weeks prior, and so the new students would be brought into an already built dynamic. This week however, only 2 of them were continuing from the prior weeks, so we had 7 new students. The student dynamics were bound to change.

It was also more challenging regarding the student-teacher dynamic. While I'd already taught 8 out of the 9 students who attended this week, out of those 8, some I'd only taught for 1 or 2 classes. So, it took time for them to adjust to my approach to teaching and understand what my expectations were for them. There were definitely a lot more moments of stop-look-listen.

While we're talking about students, I have to mention this one moment I had with one of the students this week. During of the the 'bin' times this week, a student handed me her book and said, in broken German, "Das ist mein Buch, which I repeated back to her, "This is your book". She then said, "Wait, you speak German?", and naturally I said yes. Later on in the week, I handed her something, she said "Danke Schön" I said "You're welcome", she said "No no", then I said "Bitte", and she said "Bitte Schön".

Like I mentioned in last week's article on my adventure to Tobermory, when I have moments like these, moments of finding German in unlikely places, completely unpromoted, it feels like a sign.

Lego Week 2

I'd like to say the dynamics got better, and they did academically, but socially it was still a challenge. We had a few students from the previous week repeating, some students from past weeks re-joining, and 1 new student this week. The age range was 11-3, so still pretty big gaps.

The first Lego week we did back in July, the students got along so happily. They collaborated well with one another without much intervention on my part. This week however, there was a lot more fighting over Lego; a lot more possessiveness and trading and bartering, and so a lot more intervening on my end.

I think this is an area of weakness for me as an educator. I have a hard time sympathizing when students are constantly coming to me and telling on one another for issues, I believe, simply need perspective. I know when they are this little, everything they go through is the biggest thing they've ever experienced, and that this gets better the older they get and the more they experience, but nonetheless, I still find it challenging to remain understanding at times.

But, this week, I spoke to my co-teacher about it and she had great advice. Not only is it a matter of perspective for the students, but also for me as an educator. They need to know that it's just Lego, but so do I. Not everything has to be a teachable moment, or needs to be taken seriously on my end either, that's draining on me and the students. It reminds me of what my mom says, "Pick your battles". Sometimes, the easy way out, the simple solution, is what's best for both of us.

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The last 2 weeks are Artistic Adventures 2 and S.T.E.A.M Week 2. We have lots of changes with enrollment these week, so let's see how that changes things.