Highlights of Week 2 of the 2010 Good Neighbors Enrichment Camp

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

Highlights of the First Week of the 2010 SML Good Neighbors Summer Enrichment Camp

Summary of the In-Service Week and the First Week of Camp at Moneta Elementary School

Because we are off to such a good start I want to share some of the highlights of the in-service week and the first week of camp. This can be part of a “program” report for the next board meeting and some i=of this will be used in the annual program report that I will write in September.

The in-service week:

The week was very productive and the interns, camp director and program coordinator (that’s me) received valuable information and guidance.

· Chris Brinkerhoff provided a great workshop on dealing with special-needs children. She is a retired special ed teacher and one of our volunteers. Wonderful resource

· Our very own Jim Mullens provided two workshops, one on helping children write and the other on managing behavior. Jim is a great teacher and we were given practical guidelines for working with these children.

· Mrs. Inge, reading specialist at Moneta Elementary School, facilitated a great workshop on being reading mentors. This was simple, practical information and we have been applying it at camp. Great session!

· Chuck Murphy gave us a session on CPR and First Aid. As usual, Chuck educated and entertained us. Good basic information that we hope is never needed

· Michelle Hollin-Brooks, Executive Director of Unbridled Change, spent three hours providing a workshop for the interns. She and her staff guided the interns through a set of tasks/problems to be solved that gave all of us important insights about the individual gifts, personalities and styles of working in groups. The interns learned much about themselves and their community. It will serve them well in anticipating and resolving conflicts that may develop in their community. All of us were amazed by this program. It is impossible to describe. It has to be experienced to fully see its power and importance. This was given without charge this year. I will strongly recommend this workshop next year as part of the training. It is great preventive medicine.

The first week of camp:

We have 62 children registered for this camp. However, we have had no more that 52 children at camp. The lowest number was 46. So… Jim Mullens was correct in his prediction: you need 60 to 65 registrations to have a camp with 50 children.

This is the largest camp we have had. But, it is the smoothest start we have had. It was an amazing week and we should all be very proud of the program. The hundreds or thousands of hours that have gone in to planning the program and tending to the administrative details are bearing fruit. Some of the highlights of week 1 follow

· The interns are remarkable – they work well as a team, are well prepared every day, set high standards for the children and have a real sense of ownership of the program. They truly understand our mission and curricular objectives. Everyone working with them is impressed.

· Shearer is doing a great job as camp director. She is on a steep learning curve and has developed an appreciation for the dozens of details involved in managing the daily tasks of the camp. She is very good with children and quite comfortable in working in a collegial manner with the interns. She had excellent help from Sue Becker as the volunteer camp facilitator. Sue will be one of the intern assistants next week. She was a camp facilitator last year. There are so many details to manage that the help of camp facilitators and intern assistants is critical.

· The field trip to Roanoke was perfect. We took 50 children to see Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business at the Children’s Theatre and that was followed by a short tour of the Taubman Museum. We then walked the children about two blocks to Century Square where we ate our sack lunches. The children were very well behaved – not a single problem. This is a testament to the work of the interns. It was a great sight to see the kids walking two-by-two through the market area in their Good Neighbors T-shirts. They represented SML Good Neighbors very well. And – they loved it!

· The Roanoke Children’s Theatre came to camp on Friday afternoon to work with the kids. Their theme this year is The Peaceable Child. Friday’s program was impressive. As an observer I was struck by the fact that this program was bringing to life the vision the early planners had for programs that would help children learn the sources of violence and ways of living differently. The three staff members, with the help of interns and an intern assistant, filled two hours with activities that kept the kids engaged and having fun as they used drama to learn about peace.

· Friday evening we had Family Night. It was a success. About 50 adults and children attended. It was informal and we all had fun. The six interns led the program. When Hannah started the program one of the fathers yelled, “you guys rock.” That was followed by applause. What a testament to the work our interns are doing! I can think of no better evaluation. After the interns talked about the program and Shearer made a few comments, the kids, along with the interns, led the group in camp songs. It was a sight to see the parents singing the songs and using the hand gestures that go with them. It was clear that many of them had been taught the songs at home. Parent after parent told us how much they love this program and how much they appreciate it.

These are some of the highlights. All the components of Reading Buddies, Reading with Dogs, Art, recreation, Writers Workshop went as planned. And, the school is an excellent site for the camp. I had the pleasure of being an intern assistant all week as well as assisting Shearer with some of the administrative tasks. This kind of immersion in the program is the only way to fully understand what we do and to get a sense of how important we are to some of the children.

Russ Baskett