A Camping We Will Go...

This is the best week ever in Library Media. This week with each class I got to do some of my favorite units. With grades 2-5th we participated in Readers Theater. We talked about whom a play write is and what a script looks like. In doing these Readers Theaters scripts we compared them to drama scripts and what acting is like. We noted the similarities and differences between Readers Theater and acting in a play or drama.

With DLC, Kinder and 1st graders we did our annual camping trip. I hope you heard from your child about our camping experience. This is one of my most favorite activities to do all year with the students. It is truly one they will remember for many years to come! My upper grade students will attest to this as they see the tent in the Library and say that they remember when I did this activity with them, and ohh can they please do it again!

We began by reading the book Bailey Goes Camping by Kevin Henkes in their classroom. I came with my camping backpack as I read this delightful story to the children. I then told them I really wanted to go camping. Who wants to go with I ask? Of course I got all hands! This year though I had one little boy tell me he needed to check with his mom first! We then headed down the trail (hall) watching for signs of wild life (teachers, parents and fellow students in the upper grades) We passed a folks on the trail and often times heard water falls shortly after a bend in the tail (it’s really the bathroom the kids tell me) we passed a field of flowers where we spotted other human tracks (art on the wall) We found our camp spot in the Library complete with a campfire and tent. Once in our tent (yes, all at once. we did fit and had up to almost 30 kids in the tent at once!) and having removed the skunk the children were read the story P.J. Funny Bunny Goes Camping by Marilyn Sadler. We then went on a bear hunt in which we cut through a field of tall grass, crossed a muddy swamp, climbed a tall tree, swam a wide river and jumped a deep, deep ravine. This was followed by a brief lesson on fire safety as we then moved to our Library campfire for roasting marshmallows. It was such fun. I hope your students told you about this activity.