The beach!

SMORES!

Nature's Classroom

A couple weeks ago, I boarded a bus full of teary-eyed first graders, and headed off to Long Island for the week! Is it crazy to snatch six year olds away from their parents for a week to frolic in the wilderness? Probably! But my co teacher, Elodie, and I were determined to get these kiddos out to discover nature. Being Manahattanites, they aren't exposed to much nature besides rats and pigeons. So, we coerced all of them to sign up and headed out for a week of learning and experience in the great outdoors!

Our camp was on the North Shore of Long Island next to the beach. The program has camp counselors that do all the classes, so the teachers just chaperon and hang out with the kiddos between activities. It was great! My friends and I took walks on the beach and enjoyed watching the kids in a new environment. I felt like I was on a mini vacation! The kids loved getting dirty, making rockets, doing shark dissections, searching in the woods for bambi, and experiencing Smores! They learned so much! We had a dance party the last night and all the girls dressed up. It was so cute.

It was a great week and made me thankful for all of my camp experiences growing up at Girl Scout camp and Ceta Canyon Methodist Church Camp! You can't ever replace that special time!

correct 7th grade dancing with Michael! full arm extension please!

box turtle-so cute!