having a blast with the flying violet turtles

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This camp session has been very different than last, and I feel like I have so many things to share! Which is a good thing, it's because I'm so pleased and excited with how things are going. Not sure how to fit it all in but here are some camper moments of the past few days as we continue to explore water, science, and interacting with nature and each other in kind and mindful ways

thought-provoking camper quotes:
why does people fighting to make the world better?
sometimes i cry when my daddy goes hunting bc it makes me sad that the animals have to die
did you know that someone is dying right now? and someone is being born? and someone has covid? and someone is getting married?

silliness:
they have lots of conspiracy theories about frump the fairy, who made a walkie talkie call to us the other day !!
we hypothesize that the goats figured out how to pick the lock which is why they keep escaping
they like to observe dingleberries (poop stuck to poophole)
trying to save all the sea snails from the octopus mother by moving them (gently) to other little tidepools and then giving them seaweed
finding treasure at the beach, hiding it and doing lots of x marks the spot and then asking me to dig for it

interesting reactions:
the giving tree - it makes us all a little sad. why is the tree happy after she gives her apples to the boy? bc the boy came back?
in response to game about rising sea levels where i shrunk the island -its not my fault, lets grow the island again!
scared of the naked necks
wanting to make a map of the pines secret trails

sweet moments:
picking up litter without being prompted
giving care when someone gets hurt, getting each others belongings when they forget
sharing gratitudes in the morning "grateful that nobody in my family has covid"
tree hugging after the giving tree
they LOVE holding pebble plum and are very kind to her


successful teaching moments (i think):
using "chicken detective and missions" game to get us to be very quiet in our observation and to answer specific questions
more honorable harvest in the garden!! they are awesome at it, give lovely compliments to the plants
learning about cheesemaking as the process of taking out water, new vocab of curds and whey
learning dont yuck my yum and dont yum my yuck for cheese: we all have different opinions and preferences and that is ok!

teaching thoughts for me:
how to talk about climate change and oil spills/deeper topics when they barely have the vocab for it? right now we are in raising awareness stage, trying to get us to taking responsibility/action stage later in session
be mindful of partner groups and dynamics, make sure they are not getting clique-y, managing everyone wanting to be close at once



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