YIS Camping Club

Today is the second-last meeting before our first camp-out of this semester. Students worked in tent groups to plan menus for snack, supper, breakfast and lunch. THE groups were made up of a mixture of returning and first time campers and students learned from and with each other. They recorded their plans on Google docs which they shared with the rest of the group.

After the trip, the students will add their reflections to these docs, which will help them when the time comes to plan meals for the next trip.

Today, we had our first meeting for this session of camping club. We began by coming together in a circle and sharing, one by one, why we joined camping club.

• I have been camping before but I don’t know how to put up a tent and I wanted to learn how to do that.
• I joined camping club last time and I really liked it. This time I have set these challenges, like build a shelter with sticks.
• I have never been camping before but I wanted to do it and my mom and dad told me I should join the camping club to get the experience to see if I like it
• I have been in camping club before in 4th Grade. I just wanted to camp at least once more. There are some things I dont like doing when I’m camping, like putting tents down because its complicated and hard but the rest is fun and that’s why I came again.
• I have never slept in a tent before and I want to see what it’s like.
• I went camping before with my grandpa and we got some fish.
• I like that when you sleep you hear noises around you and you know that you are not alone.

Next we talked briefly about what to bring. A few of the more experienced campers shared a few tips and then students broke into small groups to brainstorm together to come up with a packing list.

At our camping session today, the students planned what they would need for the camping trip at the end of this week. Several groups made changes to their menus based on their experiences during the last trip. We discussed how the weather is becoming colder and the days are becoming shorter, and thought about how that would impact packing lists. It is evident from the small group and whole group discussions that the students have become considerably more knowledgeable since the beginning of the session.

During our reflection session on our last over-night camp, several tent groups thought of things they would like to improve with their meal planning. In today’s camping session, Clair demonstrated a handy cooking technique that is particularly useful for eggs. Each student had a go at cooking their own egg.

Several groups decided to include eggs on our next camping trip.

Today was the first session of the Elementary School Camping Club. We began the session by sharing our camping experiences.

• I remember the last, last time, the big tree. It’s a cool tree that’s easy to climb.
• My favorite thing about camping is the marshmallows!
• There’s usually a lot of rain!
• I went camping in Alaska and we saw some salmon laying eggs.
• When I went camping I remember it was a little bit boring because we couldn’t move around.
• I like cooking.
• When I went camping we went to one water fall and I jump in the water.
• My favorite thing is when you sleep in this bag for sleeping, a sleeping bag. It’s so comfy.
• I went camping with my family once and I liked it when were trying to find the sticks for camping.

Then the students checked out the camping club blog which contains all the information they will need for the next ten weeks of camping club.

In good camping club tradition, the rain started just as we were doing our pre-departure kit check. This posed no problem to our happy campers who had learned from previous trips and were properly kitted out in waterproofs. An hour into our hike, the sun came out and we had great weather for the rest of the trip.

On top of the obvious learning that takes place through pitching tents, cooking meals etc, there was enormous ‘social’ learning. The children played together without adult interference for hours. They played games passed down through generations such as “cops and robbers” and created their own new ones. They collaborated, problem-solved, negotiated, compromised, cooperated and supported. We adults were reminded, yet again, of the importance of giving children opportunities to experience the freedom of unstructured play in the great outdoors.

Click here for an article on why it’s so important for your children to get outside and engage with nature.

Students spent sessions 3 and 4 learning how to assemble and use the tangia cooking equipment safely. They began with cooking easy things like noodles and boiled eggs. It will be interesting to see how the menus develop over the coming weeks!

For our second session, the students learned how to put up the tents. We have two different kinds of tents (two-man and three-man) which are pitched slightly differently. The campers have been divided into tent groups, with two or three students to a tent. Children will remain in the same group for the duration of the semester 3 camping club. Adults are assigned to each tent group. Each tent group has at least one returning camper who was able to guide the new-comers in pitching the tents.

Today was the first session of our Spring season Elementary School camping club. We were delighted to welcome back some returning campers from previous sessions and to welcome some new campers.  The returning campers introduced the new campers to the ES Camping Club blog.  It is important that campers and their parents get to know their way around the blog as this is where we post all information regarding our weekly training sessions and our over-night camping trips.

Returning Students shared some of their experiences from previous trips and reflected on what they would like to achieve this season.

Students in the Elementary School Camping Club had their final camp-out of the fall session this weekend. The huge development in students’ level of confidence and competence was evident throughout the expedition. Students were better prepared: There was more collaborative planning amongst tent groups including more adventurous meal planning; students reflected on and improved their packing lists; at our pre-departure kit inspection, it was clear that students had a better understanding of the importance of packing for bad weather and managing packaging and rubbish.

Camping Club Campout – Nov 18-19 on PhotoPeach

As on our previous trip, the students worked together, supporting each other to pitch tents, cook meals and solve a myriad of problems along the way. They took the wet weather in the stride and tramped cheerfully home in the rain. Good times in the great outdoors!