Coleman's Camp FALL 2013 - Hodgepodge of Photo Memories

Coleman's Camp FALL 2013 - Imaginative Play and Illusions

A School for Students Who Need Each Other

Illusions

Coleman's Camp - SUMMER 2013

Coleman's Camp, 4th week: TUESDAY AND THURSDAY

• Group bonding and sharing time
• Watching several versions of videos set to the same music to explore how images affect the music
• Selecting and listening to several popular songs and student favorites to identify songs with a narrative
• Reading and analyzing lyrics of song we will use for our video
• Creating script for the song, including characters, actions, plot, perspective, and story arc of beginning, middle and end
• Filming scenes of the story, including changes in performances and improvisation

Coleman's Camp Studio, 4th week: SATURDAY

• Continuing work on group projects
• Learning to have times of reevaluating projects to determine if our work is making progress but also being okay with changing all or part of project we feel have lost momentum
• Collaborating and recording a video on Toontastic
• Creating 3D paper projects

NOTE - This is a raw video, the final will have many other scenes edited in to the music from "Snoopy versus the Red Baron" (cartoon version here) 

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 3/18/2013

Week of 3-18: This week we were able to have an extra session of Coleman's Camp on Monday.  This group of kids was able to take advantage of the beautiful weather to have a completely environmental / green Coleman's Camp.  On the grounds of the Library, we first collected natural materials such as leaves, bark, cherries, sticks, rocks, etc.  We then shaped mounds of earth and grass and created small mound homes or hovels that a creature might live within.  Our goal was to make a small magical or fantastical living space that one might happen by in the woods during an imaginary story.  The kids did an amazing job and we photographed the homes they made with the idea to later use some photo-editing software to copy in creatures we will create in our next session.  We also walked the perimeter of the library to examine the parts of the building they had never seen, including fossils in the exterior stone walls, drainage pipes, and the recessed areas of the building.  The Thursday group had a special meeting at the Central Resource Library and went on a book hunt through the stacks until each kid had dozens of books.  The Thursday and Saturday groups created flip mouth cards for skits, with the Saturday group finishing with enough time to record several skits that they brainstormed, each of which involved monsters!  They were exceptional at their improvisation skills and even invited a little sister and mom to join in!

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 3/11/2013

Week of 3-11: The Thursday group worked with me to create a scavenger hunt based upon descriptive hints, the ability to blend into crowds, and decision making/problem solving skills.  Students would write messages on thick pieces of paper and assign point values to the lips based on how hard they would be to find.  Then they spread throughout the library, pretending to be an average patron, while they hid the paper somewhere.  Back in the room with me, they had to write riddles or clues on a different piece of paper.  We revised clues and worked to be helpful but neither too difficult nor too easy.  Once everyone had their clues finished, we would flip them over on the table and the kids would have to scan the clues, decide which ones were solvable, and then set out to find the pieces of paper.  The Saturday group investigated creating facial expressions on flip cards that allowed them to change their expressions instantaneously.  They then wrote several skits around a central idea, allowing fun improvisation of a bus ride that picked up monsters!

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 3/4/2013

Week of 3-4: This week it was time for the Thursday group to revisit and re-explore a previous Coleman's Camp session, dry ice!  They took their previous investigations of dry ice and were able to replicate experiments and manipulate the variables they now understand.  They could vary the temperature of the water, use the liquid dish soap more sparingly, and knew how to get the empty 35mm film canisters to explode with maximum force!  Everyone had certain attributes of dry ice they wanted to focus on, and we took many photographs of their results.  The Saturday group created bases, lairs, jet backpacks, and other buildings from basic cardboard boxes.  We learned how to utilize our creativity and imagination to take boxes and transform them into accessories for the types of toys each kid plays with at home.  Some wanted a car bay for storing Hot Wheels; others wanted a Batman type base for action figures.  We worked to primarily use the boxes and any pieces cut from them to make doors, windows, ceiling pieces, walls, walkways, etc.  We then used a glue gun and paint to finish off the boxes.  My son Beckett brought in toys from our van and kids were able to test out their creations in imaginative play.

Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 1/21/2013

Week of 1-21: the Thursday group tested their critical thinking and problem solving skills by working through a few classic survival scenarios such as trapped at sea and lost in the wilderness.  Students read a scenario describing an emergency situation and then had to make choices about what to do and what supplies to take or prioritize.  Students then worked the same scenarios again in competing groups to see how group decisions and the decision making process compared to their individual choices.  We then looked at the suggested choices and explanations as given by the US Coast Guard and wilderness survival experts (http://www.wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/SurvivalScenarios.html).  

Students learned if they would have survived or not and why certain obvious choices were dangerous and how outside-the-box thinking is invaluable.  The Saturday group created fantasy worlds based on fabric and paper cutouts of their hands and feet.  The kids thought of how creatures would live in these words and they made a background world for them.