The Summer Learning Institute Camp officially started the week of June 9^th! The camp is separated into three age groups, 5- and 6-year-olds, 7- to 9-year-olds, and 10- to 13-year-olds. Each group has a designated teacher, but unfortunately, the last group’s teacher had to quit on the first day of camp. So, two of my supervisors in the education department had to oversee the class. The last-minute change was unexpected, but they both handled it with grace. And as a silver lining, I was able to shadow them and help out with watching the older kids. 

Each week of camp has a theme, for the 10- to 13-year-olds, the first week is “Time Travel.” So as an improvised lesson plan, we jumped around to various randomized time periods. We first started out by teaching the difference between B.C.E. and C.E. and put focus on prehistoric and evolutionary themes for a bit. Eventually, we touched on some prominent historical events, like the Renaissance and Pompeii. To help the lessons resonate with the kids, they created and decorated journals out of cardstock paper to write down specific facts or questions.

One cool activity that we did was a demonstration of the weight of the destruction that Mt. Vesuvius caused in Pompeii. The kids split into groups and created small towns with people out of Legos in bins and afterwards they destroyed the towns by shaking vinegar and baking soda into the bins. I was a bit mean and asked the kids to name the Lego people to give more gravity to the lesson, but they all still had a good time. 

Also, here’s a random picture of petrified wood!