PMSS Reading Camp 2010 Saturday

Saturday
10:13 am

Well, the last two days have been incredibly busy...sorry I've been gone since Wednesday, I'll catch you up. The campers have all been picked up now and Reading Camp 2010 is just about cleaned from Pine Mountain Settlement School. Though we're exhausted the staff are all close to tears--we'll miss these kids!

Last night we just barely got a campfire started on a very damp fire pit but to everyone's delight we all had marshmallowy, chocolatey fingers by the end of the evening (you can't have camp without 'smores!)

By the end of the week all of the campers had investigated creek life and learned about what Pine mountain was like hundreds of years ago when the Native Americans and the first settlers lived here. They visited Pine Mountain's sandstone caves and learned about the forest's medicinal plants. Of course, they also did a lot of reading. The mornings were all spent with our wonderful teachers in the learning center in stations like Comprehension, Free Reading, Strategies, and Writing.

On Thursday the kids heard stories and folk music from Appalachia.

This morning, the last morning of camp, the campers woke early to get luggage ready and have breakfast. Several kids told me that they felt like I always do at the end of camp: half of me is ready to stay another week and half of me is very ready to sleep in my own bed again! The morning went surprisingly smoothly. By about 9:45 (after a few teary goodbyes) all of the campers were off the mountain and on their way home.

Before I end my last Pine Mountain 2010 blog, I'll give you one more edition of Radio WRCR Camper Report:

By Matt
(on visiting the creek)
The toad was a brown frog. The toad it was a female. The female does not sing. The frog was on the grass. We also saw a red-dotted salamander. We also tasted leaves. The leaves tasted like lemon. I spit the leaf out. The beavers chewed a hole in the dam. I also saw a crawdad, water pennies which are little bugs, minnows and salamanders of different colors. Gazillions of butterflies.

By Dylan
When we made the flowers [in Environmental Education] we had a metal wire for the stem, 7 or 8 corn husk petals, and string. We wrapped the string 3 to 5 times. I enjoyed doing it and it took a lot of concentration.

By Dalton
I like my friends, they play with me all the time. The teachers like teaching me because they want me to have good health. There were cave crickets in the cave yesterday!

By Troy:
Reading Camp is fun! My best friends are Devin and Matthew P. Chris, my counselor, is cool. He lets us do anything as long as we don't get hurt or mess up our rooms. The food's good--I like the pancakes.

By Emily
Being here has been fun. I made a new friend, Dakota. She is my BFF. I love Reading Camp so much I wish I could come back every year! We got to read and play.

By Cammie
I like camp because my counselor is nice. She braids my hair. And my roommates are nice. Cecilia [a teacher] is very, very nice to me. We talk about Indians and last night read Domitila... and that's all.

By Katie
I love Ms. Sarah's class! We do the most funnest things! We wrote poems, did puzzles and cards that helped us with our vocabulary. And at E.E. [Environmental Education] I hope there's gonna be snakes and frogs. I love being here at night now and I have lots of friends.

There are many more wonderful camper reports, I wish I had time to share them all!

When they went home this morning the kids took with them a thousand great memories, new skills in reading and writing, a whole lot of TLC, and a big stack of books chosen from our Reading Camp library.

Pine Mountain 2010 has been wonderful for everyone involved. Among the campers, counselors, staff, and teachers there were at least four generations of people from nine states at camp this week, everyone of us bringing unique gifts and perspectives. We are ALL excited to come back. See you next year!

Clare
Reading Camp Support Staff

PMSS Reading Camp 2010 Wednesday

Reading Camp Day 3
1:00pm

No rain today! It is clear and cool on Pine Mountain today. Because today is Bastille Day (French Independence Day) we are all saying "Bonjour!" Every morning the staff chooses a new word that means hello. Monday's word was Guten Tag (German) and yesterday's was "Konnichiwa" (Japanese). Our snacks are Mexico themed today: in the morning, tortilla chips and salsa. In one learning center the campers practiced reading a recipe and made quesadillas which they will eat for snack this evening. And now for the most recent camper news stories from Reading Camp Radio WRCR...

By Mathew:

I like making the flower and the God's Eye and a birdhouse. It was really fun. And I have made new friends here.

By Dawson:
My name is Dawson and I like Reading Camp. And I made new friends. And they make good food!

By Paige:
I like camp so far. It's fun. We had a balloon war. And we made a birdhouse and a flower and a God's Eye. My God's Eye was brown and blue. At my home, I really do miss my animals, mostly my horse, Comanche.

By Dalton:
I like Reading Camp because all the teachers are fun and nice. The counselors are our friends when we don't have anybody like the first year when I come to Reading Camp.

This afternoon the campers will play some Korean games and learn Origami paper art. Tonight is movie night! After dinner we will watch the Disney cartoon Mulan, about the legendary Chinese girl hero. Then, bedtime stories and sleep!

In line for lunch today one of the girls said to me, "Oh, no! We only have three days left!" It's amazing that we are already halfway through Reading Camp Pine Mountain 2010, a very successful week so far!

Clare,
Reading Camp Support Staff

Tuesday PMSS 2010

Tuesday
10:23 am

Reading Camp Pine Mountain day 2 began as a beautiful misty day but by 10:15 we had torrential rain again. Luckily, the campers were already at their Reading Centers by the time the rain hit. Morning snack—Italian themed ham-wrapped melon—will be inside again today.

By yesterday evening the rain had stopped so the campers were able to play water games…a lot of balloons, a lot of giggling, a lot of wet clothes, and early showers. In the early evening, the teachers put on a show for the kids. This was a new idea this year. In previous years staff members have interviewed campers for newspaper stories that would be read at dinnertime. This year, to save paper, we turned it into a radio show. Radio WRCR, AM 42.9, was a huge success--complete with exciting news flashes, sound effects and news reports written by the campers:

Welcome listeners, Reading Camp on Pine Mountain is proud to introduce our fist radio broadcast, sponsored by Pine Mountain biscuits baked by our wonderful kitchen staff. We are giving you all the news that is the news as it breaks (and bakes).

NEWSFLASH!
Have you heard that yesterday was Skylar’s ninth birthday? Listening audience, please join us at home as we sing Happy Birthday!


Here’s a sampling of the camper reports:

Nametags
By Dylan

Everybody made a nametag so that people would know their names. They would put trees, flowers, and cars on the nametags. There were two kinds of yarn--orange and green.

Reading Camp
By Lauren

I came to Reading Camp in a van. And I was so happy that I was coming to Reading Camp. I saw my best friend Emily. Then I saw things that would amaze me.

By Zach:
At bedtime we read a story, Cinderella. Not the Cinderella that we know. It’s a different story than the cartoon. I’m having fun. My counselor is Matt.

By Randi:
Well, today was the first whole day of camp. So far, I’ve had lots of fun. Last year, I came and had lots of fun too. Last night we loved Cinderella stories called Alligator’s Gift. The pizza is awesome…tastes like my school pizza. I enjoying these woods!

By Brian:
When I got here my first time, it was alright. At the end of the day I got a little homesick, but when it was time to go to bed I was feeling alright. At breakfast today, I ate some good pancakes!

By Skylar:
When I got here I met a lot of new friends: Lauren, Sunnie, and Haley. And I was excited that I was coming to Reading Camp. The teachers here are so nice, I hope six days don’t go by fast, I do not want to leave…but the teachers are real nice.

By Kendra:
I love Reading Camp because I love reading and music. I’m a songwriter and a singer. It’s my best thing to do.

Editor’s note…Kendra told one of her teachers later that her favorite part of the day was the radio show: “My dad has a lot of radios. I bet he heard it!”

This evening the kids will go on a hike and we’ll hear another radio show. Come back tomorrow to hear about it!

Clare
Reading Camp Support Staff

News from Pine Mountain!

Monday

Reading camp day 1! The teachers, counselors, and staff have been waiting a long time for Reading Camp 2010 to happen—Sunday afternoon when the campers arrive is always an exciting and satisfying day. This year at Pine Mountain Settlement School we have nine states represented among the staff: Kentucky, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, South Carolina, Illinois, and Florida. What an exciting expansion from that first experimental year at the Cathedral Domain when we had little more than twenty campers. The national Episcopal Church has taken notice of the exciting work we do—Reading Camp now takes place in several states and even in other countries!

Arrival day went very smoothly yesterday and for the most part exactly as planned…check in, see the nurse, reading evaluation, make a name tag, playtime...42 campers. That means that every camper who registered showed up. Unlike last year, Sunday was a beautiful day. Not too hot and not too wet. We weren’t so lucky this morning—sleepy campers woke to a very misty morning and by ten o’clock we were under a downpour. That’s not completely unexpected; after all we are in the mountains.

The campers woke up at 7:30 this morning and got to breakfast right on time at 8:15 (that’s a good omen for the week!). After breakfast they headed to the learning centers where they will work with our teachers on reading and writing skills. On the first morning that doesn’t always sound so fun to the kids but they’ll find out soon that what we do is nothing like the school they are used to. Our student to staff ratio is excellent this year so every child has a good chance of receiving one-on-one time with a teacher every day.

Our camp theme this year at Pine Mountain is “Around the World.” Every day the morning snack will be based on the food of a different country. From Morocco we’ll have couscous. From Britain we’ll have cucumber sandwiches. From Italy we’ll have melon wrapped in “prosciutto” ham. From Mexico it will be black bean salsa and tortilla chips and from the Mediterranean it will be hummus and vegetables.

After learning center time the kids will have lunch and then head to Environmental Education. They’ll spend the afternoon learning about the plants and animals of Kentucky and Appalachia and how to take care of the beautiful world around us. Throughout the week they might visit the Pine Mountain garden, go on hikes, and investigate our creek.

Every afternoon and evening we’ll simply play. This afternoon (assuming the rain stops) we’ll play water games. In keeping with our international theme, on other days the kids will do Origami paper art and Irish Dance with camp directors Leslie and Allison. We will also play games, tell stories, watch an international movie, and Friday night, make s’mores (you can’t have camp without s’mores).

Every night at bedtime a teacher will visit each room to read a bedtime story. This year the kids will hear different versions of the Cinderella story from all over the world. By midweek the campers will be exhausted and fall asleep pretty quickly after lights out.

We are all very excited about the busy week ahead of us. Come back tomorrow for a camp update and some quotes from the kids!