New Experiences, New Faces

Just about everything I had thought SuperKids Camp would be about prior to coming aboard was completely incorrect. I wasn’t really clear on the reason why it was necessary nor what it hoped to accomplish. Following orientation and my week of training I was cleared of all uncertainty and questions. Regardless of what would be going on I automatically knew that it would take all of me to make it a memorable and meaningful experience for the children attending.

The first day of camp was one of the best days that I had the first week. I was able to learn all the names of the campers in my classroom, even if that meant accidentally mixing up identical twins that were dressed exactly alike. I was instantly able to distinguish the quiet children from the ones that always wanted their name to be called when I posed a question. Behavior was not a huge issue in my class. I had a great group of respectful and well-rounded individuals so that played a huge part in my first week going more smoothly than I had thought. My “Class Rules” was a great addition because whenever there was even the slightest issue I would point to the board and read out the rule that someone had forgotten to follow.

Time management was one the biggest issues that I had throughout my first week. My class didn’t have a clock so I constantly found myself running out of time while doing the last activity of the day. One thing that I did begin in order to avoid running out of time, however, was using the “Super Day Agenda” method. Each day following breakfast or an enrichment I designated a student to read off what activities we had for the day. I can remember one student misreading agenda and was under the impression that the “Playground” was next when it was actually “Playworks”. She was disappointed until she found out that I had Animal Kingdom planned for the day.

I am really looking forward to my new group of campers and their enthusiasm throughout the rest of the camp when I say “time to read!” Over the weekend I have tried to come up with ways to run my classroom or teach my material to where the children won’t feel as if they are in Summer School (with order, of course). I don’t want that sort of connotation to come to mind when these children hear “SuperKids Camp”. So that is my most important goal for the weeks to come; to encourage students that reading doesn’t have to be boring.