I finally have something up for sell on etsy.com I have been planning on getting something up for a while but for one reason or another I haven't been able to until today. If you have time take a look.
Student at a Great Books college and living in a dorm brings about interesting experiences.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
A Week at Sam Camp
Sam Camp? What the heck is that? Well S stands for Science, A for Art, and M for Math(But I like thinking it stands for music because I like music more). It is pretty much a week long summer camp that takes place at a school that is mostly closed. I say mostly because school it self is not going on but daycare is still there(it is there pretty much all year around). Sam Camp is for going into 1st grade all the way to high school. What the junior high school kids and the high school kids do are a complete mystery to me because this was my first year working with Sam Camp and I was with the going into first graders. So what the younger kids get to do is...
Science- during this class they got to do some awesome and fun experiments without the boring writing down what you observed part that you have to do in normal school. This week they made a small car out of cardboard, straws, tape, and foam wheels. Paper airplanes, paper helicopter, slim, and something you look through and you see a rainbow(I forgot what it is called, if you know please comment and tell me). My first graders loved this class but had a hard time keeping their little hands off of the stuff placed in front of them. But who can blame them? I can't, I wanted to join them on some of the projects and make them.
Art- This class was absolutely not what I thought it would be. This class seemed to be a mixture of art, music, and story time. The kids drew, decorated, made rattles out of plastic bottles and rice, danced, marched, sang, and watched the teachers do puppet shows or tell stories. They did so many things that there never seemed to be a moment to breath. My kids had lots of fun, especially when they got to use paints.
Math- Being that I was with first graders I must say this was kept rather simple but at the same time they had creative ways of making the kids do math. Like having a board game where they had to add and subtract. My kids had fun but had a couple of kids who would finish something really fast and bring it to us as if we had ten things for them to do when we only had one or two.
Music- One of my favorite classes this week. But then who wouldn't like a class where there is a teacher who is absolutely awesome. (Not to say the other teachers weren't great but just hang in with me and you will find out why this teacher was great) The young man in charge of music was great with my first graders. Out of no where he would start playing and singing a sad song about a balloon popping or a monster attack or whatever other "sad" thing my kids told him to sing about. By the time he would finish the song all the kids (and myself) would be laughing our heads off and asking for another one. I really wish I had a recording of at least one of those songs. I don't care how short they were. They were fantastic and priceless.
PE- "I know what PE means" said one of my little girls today. "What" I asked. "It means we get to play outside." Although that may not ring true in real school that is what it was this week. It was time the kids spent outside running around and enjoying the sun. My kids had a blast having an adult male chasing after them in a game of tag. For several of them I am sure it is rare for the dad's to play with them as hard as the guys in charge of PE did this week and they loved every moment of it.
Story time- I thought it was awesome how there was a lady reading a story and a man playing a guitar as background music. I mean how often do you see someone making background music right in front of you. Anyways, this time was spent listening to stories be read to them and talking about the different things that happened in the stories. Like one day they read a book that took place in the rain forest and so they talked about the rain forest. Another day it was farm. My kids had a bit of a hard time sitting still for as long as the teacher expected them to but it all turned out well.
So that gives you an idea of what goes on at Sam Camp. Well at least for what went on with the first graders. But as I look back at this week I can't say it is the classes that are the first things to come to my mind. What come to my mind is the time I spent holding a tiny hand that seemed so precious I wish I got to hold it everyday. And how those hands would gently find their way to mine as if it was strange to not be there. I remember the tiny but strong arms that would get wrapped around my legs. The moments I spent trying to break up an argument over who would get to be next to me. The time spent with more then one child in my lap and more trying to get there. The feeling of having my arms wrapped around a child in my lap and the feeling that they fit perfectly there. The time spent playing duck-duck-goose and all the kids who followed me to the mush-pot when I got put there. The time I spent unable to move because of a pile of kids who were on top of me because they were either fighting over my lap or too many of them had followed me to the mush-pot. What I would give to be able to be able to hit replay on all of those moments like one can a movie.
I started out the week expecting to give the kids all I got. And at first I thought I was. I gave them so much that at the end of the day I found myself falling into bed the moment I got home. But by the end of the week I found that I was receiving more from those kids then I could ever give back to them. How could I have ever expected that my chipped cupped with all its holes which starting out the week by steadily pouring out could ever stay full to the point that it was over flowing everyday. There is a song that is called Hallelujah, that was sung by Alexandra Burke on 2008 X Factor, that says....
"Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah"
Science- during this class they got to do some awesome and fun experiments without the boring writing down what you observed part that you have to do in normal school. This week they made a small car out of cardboard, straws, tape, and foam wheels. Paper airplanes, paper helicopter, slim, and something you look through and you see a rainbow(I forgot what it is called, if you know please comment and tell me). My first graders loved this class but had a hard time keeping their little hands off of the stuff placed in front of them. But who can blame them? I can't, I wanted to join them on some of the projects and make them.
Art- This class was absolutely not what I thought it would be. This class seemed to be a mixture of art, music, and story time. The kids drew, decorated, made rattles out of plastic bottles and rice, danced, marched, sang, and watched the teachers do puppet shows or tell stories. They did so many things that there never seemed to be a moment to breath. My kids had lots of fun, especially when they got to use paints.
Math- Being that I was with first graders I must say this was kept rather simple but at the same time they had creative ways of making the kids do math. Like having a board game where they had to add and subtract. My kids had fun but had a couple of kids who would finish something really fast and bring it to us as if we had ten things for them to do when we only had one or two.
Music- One of my favorite classes this week. But then who wouldn't like a class where there is a teacher who is absolutely awesome. (Not to say the other teachers weren't great but just hang in with me and you will find out why this teacher was great) The young man in charge of music was great with my first graders. Out of no where he would start playing and singing a sad song about a balloon popping or a monster attack or whatever other "sad" thing my kids told him to sing about. By the time he would finish the song all the kids (and myself) would be laughing our heads off and asking for another one. I really wish I had a recording of at least one of those songs. I don't care how short they were. They were fantastic and priceless.
PE- "I know what PE means" said one of my little girls today. "What" I asked. "It means we get to play outside." Although that may not ring true in real school that is what it was this week. It was time the kids spent outside running around and enjoying the sun. My kids had a blast having an adult male chasing after them in a game of tag. For several of them I am sure it is rare for the dad's to play with them as hard as the guys in charge of PE did this week and they loved every moment of it.
Story time- I thought it was awesome how there was a lady reading a story and a man playing a guitar as background music. I mean how often do you see someone making background music right in front of you. Anyways, this time was spent listening to stories be read to them and talking about the different things that happened in the stories. Like one day they read a book that took place in the rain forest and so they talked about the rain forest. Another day it was farm. My kids had a bit of a hard time sitting still for as long as the teacher expected them to but it all turned out well.
So that gives you an idea of what goes on at Sam Camp. Well at least for what went on with the first graders. But as I look back at this week I can't say it is the classes that are the first things to come to my mind. What come to my mind is the time I spent holding a tiny hand that seemed so precious I wish I got to hold it everyday. And how those hands would gently find their way to mine as if it was strange to not be there. I remember the tiny but strong arms that would get wrapped around my legs. The moments I spent trying to break up an argument over who would get to be next to me. The time spent with more then one child in my lap and more trying to get there. The feeling of having my arms wrapped around a child in my lap and the feeling that they fit perfectly there. The time spent playing duck-duck-goose and all the kids who followed me to the mush-pot when I got put there. The time I spent unable to move because of a pile of kids who were on top of me because they were either fighting over my lap or too many of them had followed me to the mush-pot. What I would give to be able to be able to hit replay on all of those moments like one can a movie.
I started out the week expecting to give the kids all I got. And at first I thought I was. I gave them so much that at the end of the day I found myself falling into bed the moment I got home. But by the end of the week I found that I was receiving more from those kids then I could ever give back to them. How could I have ever expected that my chipped cupped with all its holes which starting out the week by steadily pouring out could ever stay full to the point that it was over flowing everyday. There is a song that is called Hallelujah, that was sung by Alexandra Burke on 2008 X Factor, that says....
"Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah"
Those last words,"and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah". Some how those words seem to ring true for me this week. From the act of being pined to the floor to the point that I could not move an inch by a bunch of first graders to the act of praising God for every moment I spent pined and all the time I spent with multiply children on my lap even when it hurt so much I wasn't sure if I would make it.
I want to encourage anyone who is reading this. If you ever get a chance to give part of yourself to a child, do it. You just might be amazed by just what come from it.
For those of you who want to find out more about Sam Camp, here is their website.
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