Summer Camp Recap - First 2 Weeks of July

Summer Camp has officially started! Let's talk about it!

Like I mentioned in my last post about summer camp, this is my first time doing something like this and I think that was obvious the first day of camp.

Minecraft Week & Lego Week

The first day was July 7 and it was kind of awkward honestly. I felt weird going into it mainly because the night before I managed to brush out one of the fillings in my teeth, so I started the first day with a gaping hole in my tooth.

I forgot to introduce myself, to talk about the candy jar draw, to discuss the schedule, and instead just jumped right into the activity for the day. They ended up loving the activities on the first day and I was able to defrost as the day went on. But losing a filling definitely wasn't fun.

It reminds me of the first time I ever taught a class back in my early twenties. It was teaching my first conversation class for first year German language university students and had to wear a long sleeve shirt for the first month because the week before I had gotten into a major car accident which left me with a gnarly bruise that went from my shoulder to my elbow. Let's hope this isn't a trend for first teaching days.

On to my next story, kids are some of the most honest creatures since they're still learning the elements of social conduct, so I end up with some funny stories of how rude the kids are sometimes.

One of my fears going into summer camp was that the kids would hate all of my lesson plans. When I teach normally, it's based off the private school's curriculum, so if the kids say they hate it, it doesn't hit me personally. But with summer camp, all the planning came from me.

Within the first week, my fear was realized because you can't please everyone. I had a student point blank ask me "Why did you make such a boring activity?". The activity was a work booklet full of different activities on the Minecraft theme. They had word searches, cross words, colour by numbers, code breakers based on picture and numbers, etc. The other kids told me how much they enjoyed the activity and that they liked how it worked their brains, but I get how it's not for everyone.

In this case, I just told the student that you don't have to like it, but there is a nicer way to communicate that they aren't enjoying the activity. You can say this isn't your favourite activity or ask to do something else, but calling it boring makes me sad because of the work I put into it.

Another story I have of how rude kids can be sometimes due to still developing this social awareness has to do with my nails. They have always been a topic of discussion because I have naturally long nails and they are sometimes stained by the nail polish I use, so they aren't always a nice white colour.

I had a student come up to me, pet my nails (not the first to do this) and point blank ask me why my nails are disgusting. I told her that was rude and that there is a better way to ask me about my nails. Maybe ask why there is a blue stain, or why my nails look they way they do, but calling them disgusting is rude.

If you couldn't tell already, teaching kids is such a roller coaster. Sometimes, they make me want to rip my eyeballs out of my head from repeating myself 100 times in an hour, or from telling them to speak kindly to each other, or from dealing with screaming, crying meltdowns 30 times a day. But then in the next second, they're hugging me, telling me they'll miss me, giving me drawings they made (insert picture) and making me little gifts like this perler bead magnet (FYI; never do perler beads crafts if you want to maintain your sanity).

With my private school teaching, my classes are only a hour usually and they often have 3 or 4 students at a time. But summer camp is a different beast. Entertaining kids for 6 hours, 5 days a week is a hell of a task, even with prepped lesson plans! We only do 1 1/2 hours of academic work and the rest of the time is spent eating, playing outside, or doing on theme activities. I don't know how public school teachers do it. How can you maintain your sanity with 30+ students doing academic work for 6 hours, 5 days a week??? At the max so far, I've had 8 students and it's made me want to rip my hair out at times.

My co-teacher has quite literally been the thing to hold together my sanity somedays. I don't know what I'd do without her, I'm really lucky to have her support. She's made me realize how important it is for parents to be on the same page, to not contradict each other's parenting styles, and to share the responsibilities of child rearing. She's been such a rock for me so far, I'm so grateful.

Overall, I think it's been quite the transition for me, but I'm learning so much already. I'm ready for the next 6 weeks of camp.

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I'll keep you updated on how the rest of camp goes. The next 2 weeks are artistic adventures and S.T.E.A.M, which I filled to the brim with Bill Nye. Here's to hoping they enjoy the next 2 weeks!