I just got back (5 hours ago) from camp. This camp was with the 5th and 6th graders. Every year, all of our students get to go for a week or so to škola v prirode - school in nature. It is a like summer camp, but with all your classmates and teachers along for the fun. And it was fun. Sit back and remember how much fun camp can be.
Theme of the Day
Every day we had a theme for the day. For each theme, we had a song, a movie, a drama (preformed by the teachers), a game and a night talk. Then, at the end of the day, the kids would have to use all of the clues we had given them to guess the theme. Monday's theme was prejudice, Tuesday's was Courage and Image, Wednesday was Grace and Consideration, Thursday's was Patience and Perseverance and Friday's was Friendship. Even though these were hard words, our kids really caught on. The song of the day was a huge hit and we would listen to the same time over and over and over and over again. Each evening, we would show a power point with the words from the songs and pictures from that day. By the end of the week, the kids knew the words to all the songs (and the teachers were being driven crazy by the songs).
Workshops
Between breakfast and lunch, we would have workshops for the kids. Each teacher prepared one workshop for each day, and then did it three different times. The workshops were varied from first aid to Frisbee golf, doll making to dancing. We tie-dyed t-shirts, learned how to survive in the wilderness, played board games, did origami, made paper flowers and played kickball. We had a total of thirty different workshops, all varied and all enjoyed by all.
Big Games, Crazy Games, Water Games
After lunch, it was game time. First, we would play a big game - one that everyone, all kids and teachers - could play. We played human foosball, crack the code (the code was hidden on trees in the woods), capture the flag and a scavenger hunt. It rained on our crack the code day while we were traipsing through the woods, but the kids were good sports and we just finished quickly and ran to our chatas (cabins).
After the big games, we would have crazy games. These were smaller games (for 7 or 8 kids) and the groups would rotate through 6 different crazy games. The kids had to eat jello with a nylon over their heads, pick marbles out of a tub of water with their toes, throw chips at a partner who had shaving cream on their face and other such crazy things. These games were a huge success as kids really like being silly and laughing at each other.
On Thursday, we played water relay games instead of crazy games. One was a sponge relay, where you had to get water from one bucket to another but you could only use sponges. Another you had to carry water in a cup on your head, but the cup had a hole in it. They were all crazy and most of the kids were soaked by the end of it. So, to make it even better, we filled up two big buckets with water, gave each kid a cup, divided them into boys and girls and encouraged them to soak each other. Three of us teachers played and got completely drenched by kids who were amazed we wanted to play.
Eat, Eat, Eat, Eat, Eat
Camp food is always interesting and when it is Slovak camp food it is even more interesting. But, interestingly enough, it doesn't seem very strange to me any more and I ate almost everything. Breakfast was bread with tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, with either butter or soft cheese or tuna spread. Another day it was hot dogs with bread and veggies. My favorite breakfast however was sweet bread with jam and hot chocolate.
Lunch is the main meal and always included soup. After soup was some kind of meat (pork or chicken) with either potatoes or rice. However, one day we had spaghetti with a choice of sauces - tomato sauce or ketchup. Yuck!
Dinners were very Slovak. One night we had a big piece of sweet bread with plums and a struessel topping on top. Another night it was a potato casserole made with sliced potatoes, sliced hard boiled eggs, pieces of bacon and chopped pickles. Different, but very good. For dinner on Thursday night, we had pasta with a big scoop of melted butter, topped with hot chocolate mix. At one time I would have thought this was very strange, but I ate it with gusto. Seems I am becoming more and more Slovak every day.
On Thursday, we also had our campfire, which means sausages. After we had finished out night games (at 10:30) we started our campfire. We broke out the sausages, bread and mustard and roasted them over the fire. Yummy! After sausages were finished, I brought out the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolates and we made s'mores. (Thanks to my mom and cousin Patrick for the marshmallows and graham crackers.) The kids were so excited and within minutes all the marshmallows were gone. I had one s'more and it was the best thing I have tasted in a long time...
Each day the camp served us rajnaky (breakfast), deciataj (morning snack), obed (lunch), olevrant (afternoon snack) and vecher (dinner). In addition, there was a snack bar where the kids could buy snacks even though most of them brought enough snacks to last 3 weeks. So, the kids were eating constantly.
Evening Program
Each evening we would have a program about the theme of the day. We started with a skit. Each of the teachers took on a new persona, crazy-happy, clumsy, goth, shy, super-organized, queen bee. We then performed a skit about the theme of the day. For example, for courage, we went mountain climbing and our crazy-happy got scared and didn't want to climb, so Shy showed courage and climbed down and helped Crazy-happy climb up. Then we went canoing and Super-organized and Clumsy were together. Of course Clumsy tipped the canoe and Super-organized fell in and couldn't swim. Queen bee, who had all the best clothes and dressed perfectly jumped in and saved him, showing that image isn't important.
We would then listen to the song of day, while a power point with the words and pictures from the day was playing. The kids were then invited to guess the theme of the day. Then one of the teachers would give a talk, explaining why the theme of the day is important, and how we can put them into practice in our everyday lives.
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| 5th and 6th SvP |
Looking Back
Looking back at the week, it was easy to see God's hand at work - in the teachers and the kids lives. The sixth graders were really not happy about having to go with the fifth graders and many even threatened to not go. In the end, though, they all went and by the end of the week, the sixth graders said that they were glad for the friendships they had made with the fifth graders. Each day, we had opportunities to talk with our students and share life lessons with them. My cabin had all the sixth grade girls and I spent a lot of time in their cabin, telling stories, doing hair and just listening to them. They were very happy to have me there and asked lots of questions. My sixth grade boys loved the songs and were always asking if I could play one song or another. We went to a castle one day (Cervny Komen) and one of my boys asked me if he could translate for me. I said only if he wanted to, and he spent the entire hour and a half tour by my side translating everything. What faithfulness! I was worried about this camp as my sixth graders can be very moody, but it turned out to be the best week of camp ever! Praise God!
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