Coleman's Camp WINTER 2013 - Outside Adventures in Nature

When the weather allows for outside learning we head out to create imaginative sandbox activities that build upon our interests, utilize our creativity, and transform the library and surrounding grounds.  We transform plowed snow into miniature ski slopes, reenactment movie themes, investigate empty automatic car washes, and plan jailbreaks!

 

Coleman's Camp Fall 2013 Montage

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: 4/8/2013

Week of 4-8: With the library room unavailable at Corinth, the Thursday group met in my classroom this week.  We started by learning about my new classroom pet, Lightning Bolt, a baby bearded dragon.  Kids learned how to properly hold a bearded dragon and passed him around the group.  We then created a voice-overdub project where we selected a Disney video with a number of characters.  We watched the video several times, the volume muted, and created a new narrative to match the images.  Kids selected characters, worked up voices, and practiced improvisational skills while the video segment played.  The challenge was to create a (somewhat) coherent narrative with a beginning, middle, and end that we filmed.  The Saturday group was back at the Corinth Library for a LEGO themed challenge.  Some of the session time was spent in cooperative play, imagining and building various LEGO creations.  The second part of the session involved a challenge where kids were put into two member teams.  Team members were then separated from each other while one member created a LEGO build with 5 or 6 pieces.  The team members would then rejoin and would have to guide their partners through selecting pieces, assembling, and trying to duplicate the original piece as closely as possible.

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!