Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 4/15/2013

Week of 4/15: The Thursday group started this week talking about Open House, which would be just an hour after the end of our session.  Kids shared some of the things they have been working on in their classrooms.  The Thursday group did a "pass-along story."  This setup was a unique way to challenge kids' writing and narrative skills.  Each kid started with their own piece of paper, writing a character introduction.  Next, we all folded our papers back to hide what we had just written, except for the last sentence, which was left visible.  We then passed our papers clockwise to the person next to us.  That kid then had to read the little bit of information left available and write about the setting of the story.  The paper was folded back again, hiding all but the last sentence.  Kids passed papers again.  We continued this process through different aspects of crafting a narrative, including introducing another character, creating a conflict, and finally having the story reach some type of resolution.  In the end we unfolded the accordion-like piece of paper and read the stories aloud.  The final product was exactly as bizarre and humorous as you might imagine, especially considering the surreal, unique, and sharp sense of humor this group exhibits.  The Thursday and Saturday groups both reviewed a packet of information received from the Omaha Zoo about the endangered animals we selected for a symbolic adoption.  The zoo had sent photographs of the actual animals we adopted, informational cards on each of the animals, a letter from the zoo about the program, and adoption certificates.  The Saturday group finished their session with game playing, allowing for some practice in sportsmanship and dealing with the frustrations of losing in games.

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 4/1/2013

Week of 4-1: The Thursday and Saturday group watched several short video segments on Endangered animals from National Geographic as we planned to work with Violet and Hazel's grandfather to "adopt" four of the animals through an impressive program with the Omaha Zoo.  The kids in each session read about the animals and made choices based primarily on cuteness and familiarity with the animals.  The Thursday group again enjoyed the outside weather and played their second game of psychiatrist with a few new students who had not experienced the problem-solving and high abstract reasoning process before as they were absent.  The Saturday set off on an outdoors adventure, exploring well past the Corinth Library parking lot they knew well.  They were able to find spring blooms, interesting drainage areas, fossils in the rocks, landscaping structures, and even (thanks to Violet's keen eye) discovering a secret passage between seemingly solid bushes and a security wall!