Pine Mountain Reading Camp is off to a great start. Check-in day was plagued by gray skies and rain, but the staff responded in undaunted and enthusiastic fashion, and the campers were all checked in without any problems. The children this year are a wonderful group; they are all polite, happy, and already seem well-adjusted to camp.
Last night the campers got to meet their counselors and bunkmates before dinner time (delicious ham, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and a chocolate chip cookie for desert), and after dinner the counselors entertained us all with funny skits about the "Rules of Camp." After skits, the kids went back to the West Wind dormitory for showers and snacks, and our adult teachers and support staff volunteers read Chapters 1-4 of Roald Dahl's "The Twits" to the children as a bedtime story. Everyone was sound asleep by 10:00pm, and some children were up at the crack of dawn this morning - ready to go!
Right now the campers are in the Learning Centers getting one-on-one instruction from our dedicated staff of teachers. We have five learning centers this year: Writing, Reading Strategies, Phonics and Encoding/Decoding, Reading Comprehension, and Pleasure Reading. The children work in groups of two's or three's with the teachers, rotating through each center ever 35 minutes. They have a break mid-morning for a snack, and then they continue working until lunchtime. After lunch, they'll spend the afternoon with their counselors doing activities with the Environmental Education staff here at Pine Mountain. Throughout the week, they'll be learning about Native Americans, Early Settlers, Stream Ecology (they'll go searching for crawdads and minnows!), Amphibians and Reptiles, and much more.
We're having a great time so far and we'll update you with stories and pictures as they come in!
-Allison Asay is a volunteer camp director for the Pine Mountain Settlement School Reading Camp from Lexington, Kentucky who is a member of Christ Church Cathedral and also serves in many ministries throughout the Diocese of Lexington.
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