Summer Camp Recap - Last 2 Weeks of August

The last 2 weeks of summer camp mean that summer camp is over! Let's talk about how the end of summer camp went.

Artistic Adventures Week 2

The 3rd week in August was Artistic Adventures 2. This has been one of my favourite themes to do because of how broad it is. There's so many possibilities within the theme of Art to work with when lesson planning for the week.

We've been doing a lot of painting during summer camp because of the surplus of paint we have at the centre. For some reason we have box after box of these smaller paint tubes at the centre, and I figured it's better to use what we have than spend more money on materials.

Our first activity was doing some blow painting with straws. Essentially, you blow paint around using a straw to create an abstract art piece. In theory, it seemed like a fun activity, but in practise, the kids found it hard because the paint was thicker than expected and so they needed a lot more breath to move the paint around. The little ones also struggled with adding too much paint and having little breath too. I thought the kids would enjoy this more than they did, but it was definitely a short lived activity.

After that, we moved onto what was supposed to be the afternoon activity. I had found some paper home nettings and paper people templates online and thought those could be fun for them to colour, cut and fold to create their own 3D toys.

We had the same kind of idea for Minecraft week with creating their own 3D paper creepers, cardboard pickaxes and Minecraft heads. They enjoyed this in Minecraft week, so I figured they'd enjoy it in Art week too.

I had lesson planned this for just one afternoon on the first day, but they loved the activity so much and were so creative with it, that it ended up being so much bigger than that. They ended up spending the rest of the week creating their own metropolis.

They named the town Scribble town, and it had absolutely everything! There were tons of houses that created a big neighbhourhood; shops such as Subway, McDonalds, and Chick-Fil-A; there was a mall, a parking lot, a movie theatre, a fire department, a police station, a school, pathways all throughout the city, a bridge, a tunnel, bushes, trees, traffic lights, stops signs, and so so so much more. It was pretty much like playing the Sims, but with cardboard, paper, scissors, and tape.

The name of the town ended up being perfect for their collaborative motivation because each time they worked on the town and something didn't quite go as envisioned, they would say "it's scribble town, so it's okay if it's not perfect".

It was such a wonderful group activity! The younger students - this week was PK - grade 2 - participated by colouring the houses and the cardboard, while the older students - this week grade 6 - grade 7 - were cutting, folding, and taping.

This activity really ballooned into something so much bigger than I thought it would, and I'm glad it did. I got to see just how creative they could be, they really enjoyed themselves, and it helped the week go by smoothly in terms of attention, motivation, and social dynamics.

This week was also all girls - we haven't really had many boys enrolled the whole summer, maybe 4 in total? The dynamics were fine for the most part thankfully. The girls got along most of the time, though every so often there was some toe stepping, but I find that's normal when more than 1 student has a strong leadership personality.

Overall a good week! Definitely a huge up from the last 2 weeks.

STEAM Week 2

For the beginning 2 days of S.T.E.A.M week 2, I was away on vacation. We went to Quebec for whale watching, so I can only comment on how the last 3 days of this week went.

From what I hear, the first 2 days of this week were a bit rough, but that's to be expected with nearly all new students, a new topic, and a supply teacher.

The newer students, 3 out of 5 this week, had a hard time making the adjustment from my supply teacher to me when I came back on the Wednesday. They were accustomed to a certain type of teacher and I am quite the opposite, so my first day back was a bit bumpy.

The new students this week were a bit more rambunctious than past weeks, and struggle more so with listening skills. With only 3 days left of summer camp, we didn't have much time to adjust to each other and build a functioning dynamic. But like I learned in a previous week, not everything has to be so serious.

With 3 days left, I can and should be a bit more lenient, so that things aren't as stressful and unenjoyable for me or the students, especially since I won't be teaching these students again.

There are, of course, things I wouldn't let slide no matter what such as, tone of voice, words used, attitude when I'm just trying to help, and fighting with one another, but some other things just aren't worth the battle within this timeline.

But let's not only talk the hardships, there were good bits of this week too. Something really cool happened this week actually. You know how in past weeks there was a student who spoke German to me? Well, this week, there were 2 boys, siblings, and they spoke German fluently! They had just got back from spending the summer in Germany, and it turns out their dad comes from Germany, though in the excitement, I forgot to ask where in Germany.

When I spoke with the boys, I asked they if they attend the weekend German school in town, which they do and I did too when I was little! I spoke some German throughout the week with them and did some spelling of German numbers with the youngest brother. It was so nice to speak to another native German - their dad - as well, and to be able to teach the German language! I find the closer I get to my move to Germany, the more German things seem to manifest in my Canadian life.

I've had the opportunity to teach English as a foreign language at the centre, but I always wondered if teaching German was something I'd be able to do too, especially since teaching my Belarussian girls. I feel lucky to have been able to do so, even if just for a short time. It was such an excited and exhilarating experience, and a beautiful way to end off the last day of summer camp.

Overall, a nice and short week!

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And just like that, summer camp is over! I plan to do a refection post soon to talk about my thoughts on how this summer went, what I learned, what I'd do again and not, and so on. Look forward to that soon!

Here's to the next school year!