Zoe Girl
7-15-16, 10:44pm
I just finished week five and wanted to share. I know some people have shown an interest in my work, I think it is really fun (yeah stressful too).
So we have had a new collaboration this summer, a district summer tutoring program did the morning part of the day and we took over for the afternoon of more traditional camp for the first 4 weeks. We just transitioned into doing the program full day on our own. The benefit is that families get 7 weeks of full day (7:30-4) without any fees. The summer tutoring was required and our program optional but we averaged 70-80 kids a day, now with tutoring done we are averaging in the 50's. Still good since I know families put off vacations until after tutoring and may come some days but not all now. Instead of collecting money I focus on attendance since it is grant funded. I have 10 staff, and am training a new hire for the department the next 2 weeks.
The whole camp is focused on eco-friendly practices. That was the theme I set for the staff and they really took it on. So any plastics are from recycled materials, we use cardboard and paper instead of foam craft sheets. All kids have water bottles we refill instead of paper cups at snack. Parents bring us TP tubes and egg cartons so we are not running out. My science teachers are awesome, lots of hands on, open ended projects. They made s'mores in solar ovens yesterday using pizza boxes from the lunch program. I did a training for staff on running a more eco-friendly program, I didn't get much attendance because i was competing with the diabetes training but there was interest. There are so many ways to make and use more natural materials and reduce waste at camps.
One 'club' (we have 4 clubs the kids have choices between) is based on the summer book all youth in Denver read over the summer (called YOBOD if you are super interested). The book this summer is Book Scavenger, on the bestseller list!! I recommend it to anyone but the reading level is 4th grade and up. The book has a lot of codes and ciphers in it as part of the plot, so we have codes written up all over. The kids ask what snack is every day so I write it in the code of the week and they have code notebooks to solve it in. I put up other little notes as well in code. It has helped with motivation since we are asking our kids to read a 350 page book on summer break.
The last week of camp the district superintendent will be visiting us and one other camp. A little nervous but it is good. I am in a very large district but grant based programs get visited more by big-wigs. Hopefully I won't be as awkward and geeky as the other time I met him, that is another story. I really want to promote the eco-focus when he comes as well.
So we have had a new collaboration this summer, a district summer tutoring program did the morning part of the day and we took over for the afternoon of more traditional camp for the first 4 weeks. We just transitioned into doing the program full day on our own. The benefit is that families get 7 weeks of full day (7:30-4) without any fees. The summer tutoring was required and our program optional but we averaged 70-80 kids a day, now with tutoring done we are averaging in the 50's. Still good since I know families put off vacations until after tutoring and may come some days but not all now. Instead of collecting money I focus on attendance since it is grant funded. I have 10 staff, and am training a new hire for the department the next 2 weeks.
The whole camp is focused on eco-friendly practices. That was the theme I set for the staff and they really took it on. So any plastics are from recycled materials, we use cardboard and paper instead of foam craft sheets. All kids have water bottles we refill instead of paper cups at snack. Parents bring us TP tubes and egg cartons so we are not running out. My science teachers are awesome, lots of hands on, open ended projects. They made s'mores in solar ovens yesterday using pizza boxes from the lunch program. I did a training for staff on running a more eco-friendly program, I didn't get much attendance because i was competing with the diabetes training but there was interest. There are so many ways to make and use more natural materials and reduce waste at camps.
One 'club' (we have 4 clubs the kids have choices between) is based on the summer book all youth in Denver read over the summer (called YOBOD if you are super interested). The book this summer is Book Scavenger, on the bestseller list!! I recommend it to anyone but the reading level is 4th grade and up. The book has a lot of codes and ciphers in it as part of the plot, so we have codes written up all over. The kids ask what snack is every day so I write it in the code of the week and they have code notebooks to solve it in. I put up other little notes as well in code. It has helped with motivation since we are asking our kids to read a 350 page book on summer break.
The last week of camp the district superintendent will be visiting us and one other camp. A little nervous but it is good. I am in a very large district but grant based programs get visited more by big-wigs. Hopefully I won't be as awkward and geeky as the other time I met him, that is another story. I really want to promote the eco-focus when he comes as well.