Well another week is over here at Camp Mason. We had some wacky weather around here. Last week we were seeing temperatures in the 70s. Monday morning we all woke up to 3 inches of snow. It snowed all morning on Monday. Most of it melted on Tuesday and then Wednesday we woke up to another 5 inches or so. I think total camp got about 10 inches when it was all said and done. The snow caused some issues for camp. One group was already here on Monday but the school groups that were supposed to come Wednesday at noon delayed their arrival and only the 8th graders from the school showed up. So all that prep I did for teaching was unnecessary.
The group that was here on Monday was a peer leadership group from Rutherford they were excellent! I am so glad that was my first experience with a student group. There were only about 30 of them and they were here for 3 days so we got to know them pretty well. The first class we did was full high ropes. I was thankfully firmly on the ground watching the students hook up their own life lines in the trees which made me super nervous. A few of the kids stumbled on the elements which I had to talk them through standing back up. Tuesday afternoon we took a nice 4 hour hike with the group up to the fire tower.
Throughout Wednesday night we got about 5 inches of snow and it snowed all morning. I belayed the vertical playpen which was a really good experience. The group was so good they would take the time to talk their team mates through the element and help each other. Right next to the VP there is the pamper pole which is a telephone pole about 25 feet high the kids climb to the top of it and then jump off while in the harness and they try to jump up high enough to ring the bell. The wire that holds the kids up is connected high in the trees. The snow that fell was heavy beautiful snow that hung on all the tree branches. The first kid that jumped from the pamper pole shook the tree so much all the snow came down at once off the branches. It was like we were all literally in a snow globe for a few seconds. You could not even see the kid who had jumped off it was a white out but a really cool experience.
Kara one of my fellow naturalists and I had to design a service project for the kids. It has to be something with meaning, something that will be permanent around camp so that when they come back they will see that their service mattered and there has to be a job for each one of the kids. Kara had the idea to make conservation signs for bathrooms in the cabins. We looked up a few facts that we had them draw, woodburn, or paint on to wood signs. The facts we came up with were:
Only 1% of the water on planet earth is good for drinking so don’t waste it.
It takes 1 tree to make a roll of paper towels… so save an animal’s home and use less.
One flush of the toilet uses 7 gallons of water to if its yellow let it mellow.
If you turn the water off every time you brush your teeth you can save over 250 gallons of water a month
It was really fun and the kids did a good job! We will have to design more service projects throughout the season so there will be lots of opportunity for more service projects.
The group that did end up making it up to camp despite the snow was an 8th grade group. Working with 8th graders made me realize that I never want to re live 8th grade. The kids were more into who likes who and who is cool than they were with our classes. It was a difficult group but I made it through and I learned lots of tips on how to deal with uninterested students. Next week looks really fun; there is a group from the lower East side of Manhattan. They are recent immigrant mainly from China who are coming to camp to have a traditional American experience. I will post more next week hopefully more pictures !!
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