Back from camp

A week at Camp Classen...
great hiking weather, beautiful fall foliage, 100 excited kids and...skunks. Yes, it was a wonderful week at fifth-grade camp. We hiked Turner Falls and roasted hotdogs and marshmellows on fires we made there on the top of the mountain...in the dark. Very fun. The next three days were filled with hiking trails, archery, boating, orienteering, challenge courses, and field games. I was on the "lake trail" for the week, an almost 2-mile hike around Lake Classen. We stopped along the way to teach such things as the water cycle, erosion, water purification and biodiversity. Later in the week, I took a group hiking to a waterfall near the lake. The kids loved climbing on the rocks, and of course, many came back pretty wet. Inevitably one or two students fall in the water. We boated on the lake in rowboats and canoes. A few times I was just the passenger in the middle, trying to keep the canoe from overturning! Most of the time I just got splashed by the inexperienced paddlers. We did have a moment when some dads had to go out and rescue some boaters. It was windy on the lake and the girls weren't strong enough to compensate. Their rowboats ended up clear across the other side of the lake in the marshy grasses. The snake man, Mr. Martz from Briarhill Middle School, was there again with his collection of BIG snakes. I still didn't touch one. But it was alot of fun to see the fearless kids with the snakes. One night was Bingo and lanyard-making. There really was not much "down" time at all. We went from breakfast to hiking, from lunch to activities, from dinner to more activities. This year, again, I was responsible for dispensing the medications. Every morning and every night. I have to say that I'm feeling very good that I now know the names of all the fifth-graders, save two or three girls that I'm still not completely sure of their names. For the most part, it was a good group of kids and parents. We did alot of hiking that required the help of some of the dads. Some slick, vertical, rock-climbing where we needed strong, steady hands. We had one student in a wheel-chair and another severely-disabled. It was great to see their attempt at participating in all the activities, but better yet, to see the support they got from their classmates. The teachers at camp were the same from last March, with the exception of our assistant principal who came this time. But this week was even better. The teachers seemed closer, and we had more fun as a group. We stayed up way too late talking after bed checks. By Friday morning, I had to drag myself out of bed at 6:30. Sleep was not something we got much of this week. But it was a great experience. Oh, but did I mention skunks? Yeah, the camp had alot of critters coming out at night. I got harassed most of the week because I didn't want to get sprayed by the skunks. Imagine that. I really did run in the opposite direction. It made cabin checks at night very interesting. We had 15 cabins to check, spread out all over the camp. Skunk-sightings were numerous. Despite that excitement, it was a week of wonderful memories. I loved on some kids, and they loved on me. I was in my element. Being outside, campfires, s'mores, camp songs, canoeing on a lake, stars at night... and kids having alot of fun. And the school district is ending this opportunity. The teachers were sad. The parents were sad. But most of all, the kids were sad. Future fifth-graders are being cheated out of a tremendously fun opportunity to see science in nature. Oh how I want to scream "Are you kidding me? Can you not see how great this is? Do you even know what this is all about??"So this is the last fifth-grade class to make these camp memories. Well...we'll just have to think up another way.