Week two was another great week at the SML Good Neighbors Summer Day Camp. The morning routines are about the same each day – breakfast, songs, story time with the interns, the cycles – reading buddies/art/planned physical activity, and lunch. All of this, including the Reading with Dogs on Tuesday morning, is operating very smoothly and the weekly daily themes guide the planned activities.
The afternoon enrichment time followed by the writers’ workshop at the end of the day is extremely good. The enrichment theme for week 2 to is Peace Education. Some of the highlights follow:
· On Monday Michelle Hollin-Brooks and her staff from Unbridled Change came to the camp with a miniature horse, a Shetland pony and a large draft horse that pulled carriages in its former career. Volunteers from Good Neighbors helped setup a 60’ corral for the program. Working in small groups, the children were given basic instructions and then given tasks to complete in their groups. They were not told how to do the tasks. They were asked to work as a team, using any of the tools available to them, and to complete the task. The tasks were as simple as – go get your horse and bring it to the other side of the ring. Solving these problems required the kids to work cooperatively, to share responsibility, to plan as a group, etc. The older kids did very well at more complex tasks. The younger kids were fine with basic tasks. But – all of the kids loved the activity. The kids got practical experience in listening, being respectful to the animals and their friends, and in working peaceably in a group. Very good program.
· The afternoon enrichments for Tuesday and Wednesday were planned by Elizabeth Brown, one of our Bonner Leader students from Lynchburg College. These two afternoons were incredible. Children rotated through three stations each afternoon for activities that helped them understand how anger escalates toviolence and worked on ways to keep anger from going “KA BOOM.” Many adults would benefit from these programs. The photo below is of Elizabeth and two of the children using puppets to act out a scenario about anger and keeping it from escalating.
The chart on the board is the “anger spectrum” the kids helped develop.
While one group of kids worked with Elizabeth, another group was in the Gym with Jake doing activities that required them to help each other and then doing exercises to relieve stress – breathing, eyes closed, visioning things that upset us, breathing deeper, stretching tall, breathing out… Sounds a bit like yoga! And the third group was in a classroom with Hannah leading them in creating their “Bug List.” A two column list of things that “bug you” and the second column listing “what do you do that bugs others.” Good activity and good discussions.
On Wednesday similar activities were used. Elizabeth led the kids in “What to Do When You’re Mad or Angry. She helped them write “I statements” –
I feel________________When_________________Because____________
Alice Ann led the kids through the “escalator model” that illustrates anger going up the anger escalator that leads to violence. Solution – jump off the escalator, breathe, tell the offender how you feel or walk away, etc. The kids got it! The next day some of them were using the “jump off the escalator” model when they had problems with other kids.
These two days were remarkable. From the early days of planning the Good Neighbors curriculum, we wanted to have a peace thread that ran through everything we do. This is a great idea, but not necessarily easy to incorporate in a program. I had a sense that I would “know it when I see it.” Well – I have now seen it and it is as good as I imagined it could be!
The final activity on Wednesday was Writers’ Workshop. I sat in on the group working with Hannah and Alice Ann. They gave the kids two prompts to use in writing a few paragraphs and sharing their writing with the group. The two prompts were:
1. My version of peace is ___________________________________
2. I am a peacemaker because _______________________________
So, as per our objectives, the children had the opportunity to work on their writing skills with the help of their interns. And, our interns used the peace themes for their writing prompts.
All of these activities were excellent and the kids had fun doing them. And it was all reinforced by the Children’s Theatre group on Friday. They are teaching the kids to use theater skills to tell stories about solving problems peaceably. It has become part of a very integrated package.
And – we took a break on Thursday afternoon for just plain fun – A Water Day. The kids (and the Interns) had a great time. The photos tell the story!
Week three enrichments relate to Global Education/Cultural Diversity. I will write highlights next weekend. On Monday afternoon (1 to 2:15) we will look at Haiti, on Tuesday, Malawi, on Wednesday, Guatemala, and on Thursday either one of the Asian countries or Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska.
Russ Baskett, Program Coordinator
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