This week was chaotic for me, as it was also the week that I was volunteering at my church for Vacation Bible School. I expected craziness, and knew that extra caffeine was going to be necessary to help me power through. Fortunately, the camp chaos was also mixed with a sort of calmness, as my fellow counselors and I began to fall into a routine. Though, we did have some roadblocks. Some unforeseen challenges that we encountered included a returning camper who caused some tension, three rambunctious toddlers, and a torrential downpour. All of these we met head on and were able to resolve with some great teamwork. I am hopeful in our strength as both leaders and counselors, and know that next week we will only continue to get better at resolving such issues! What activities worked well this week?: I made another observation about the crafts, which I partially touched on last week. The kids are more responsive to crafts that are extensive and have many parts (such as, do one part in the morning, finish the craft in the afternoon before going home). I also saw that the kids enjoy natural crafts, or crafts that include elements of nature. This week, we made natural sun-catchers, that the kids really enjoyed. Some other activities that worked well were temporary tattoos, Grandma's Footsteps, Freeze Dance, and Streets and Alleys. Additionally, we started providing word searches and "find the hidden picture" activity pages for the kids to work on in the morning before camp starts. All of these activities are been taken extremely well by the campers. Any room for improvement?: Last week we decided that we wanted to make scavenger hunts a weekly event. This week, we found that we needed to add a twist to the scavenger hunts. We met as counselors and decided to revamp this activity for next week. We also want to improve our opening activity for the upcoming week. Each morning, we begin with a type of name game. We saw that when we combine the whole group for this game, some of the the three year old boys are distracted by the older boys. We suggested making two circles for the name game next week. What did I do right, in terms of leadership? How can I further develop this?: One thing that I have gotten better at this week, is knowing when to step in and fix a conflict between campers. I am often pleasantly surprised to see the campers fix problems in a matter of seconds without me intervening. It was also good for me to trust that the kids are able to work out their problems. I think this is a great skill to use, and carries over to my leadership. Sometimes, as a leader, it is important to know when to take a step back from a situation and see if the people can work it out themselves. I will continue to mold this and work on it in the upcoming weeks of camp, and also in other leadership roles I have during the fall semester. Any applications for student teaching?: How quickly children learn! It was amazing for me to watch kids who wouldn't leave the steps of the shallow end last week, putting their face in the water and swimming to the deep end this week. Whenever you feel discouraged or think that kids aren't grasping a certain concept, they surprise you and demonstrate the knowledge or skill they've learned! My favorite example of this was watching one of our five year olds go off the diving board for the first time, by himself! Biggest takeaway from the week: If a camper says they put on sunscreen, make them put on more (because they probably didn't). Pictures: These are two examples of our Father's Day craft from this week! We had each kid do a handprint and footprint, which we then made into a superhero. We refrained from putting "father's day" on the physical canvas, because we had a few kids who did not have a father but rather a father figure instead. |
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AuthorAn early childhood major blogging about how both her education and leadership skills play out in her role as a summer camp counselor. Archives
August 2015
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