ARRIVAL

On Monday, May 2 when we arrived, we all enjoyed the scenic view of the lake and of the whole camp mixed in with the forest. Although the bus ride was very long and boring, it was worth the whole bus ride to be here. As soon as we got there we had to unload the truck and get the boy’s luggage and put it in our dorms that were complete with one bathroom and eight bunk beds. Then we went and ate lunch.

TEAM BUILDING

When we were done with putting our luggage away, we went to the big field where we played a couple of games and one where it was like tackle football and all the boys dog piled at the end of it for the ball. We also learned a lesson with the fingers that went like pinky: safety, ring finger: commitment, pointer finger: don’t blame, and thumb: leadership We then played a couple of games where we had to work as a team effort which there was a game where we had to jump through a rope in pairs or in pyramid form and it got harder and harder. Then we played a game where we had to then to guess the sticks order and what number they made. We then learned to think outside of the box when we learned that the sticks were jibberish and the real answer relied on their hands because that was the real number. We also learned to help others by going through a spider web without touching the web and if you did, then you lost that body part and couldn’t use it. We had to learn trust when we had to be blindfolded and trust your partner to lead you the right way only vocally. We then had to learn another lesson on teamwork and had to jump on spots without leaving one without a person on them.

DINNER

As soon as we were done with the teambuilding activities we had fifteen minutes ‘til dinner and we wrote in our journal at that time. When it was time to eat, it was spaghetti and it was so good. We then discovered the hot chocolate and it taste so good. I then fell in love with the hot chocolate there and so did everybody at our table.

DORM TIME

For one hour it was total mayhem in the Engebretson (the boys dorm house) we played card games and just sat down and wrote in our journals for some of us but for others just played around in the whole dorm.

RELAY RACES

After dorm time, we had relay races that involved very weird things to do and boy were they hard to accomplish. Our activity group got first place and the whole grade won a huge rice krispie bar that we all ate in our dorms afterwards.

DORM TIME

When we got back from the relay races we had so much fun playing card games and even playing poker with one of the teachers. We just hung around and some kids took evening showers and at 10:15 we were still awake and loud and had to get told by a teacher to be quiet even though I was already. We then went to sleep because of the silence.

Day 2, May 3rd

WAKING UP AND BREAKFAST

When I woke up the next morning at 5:30 because everybody else woke up, we all just played card games ‘til 6:15 where we all took showers and some of us did.  We then went to breakfast where we all helped ourselves to eggs, bacon, and hot chocolate. It was so delicious and I wish I could have the chef as my home cook.

ENTOMOLOGY

­­ When we got to our first class, mine was entomology along with the whole group. We learned a lot of things about insects and an interesting fact that I learned is that all insects have 6 legs. That is kind of interesting, we also had to play a game where you put a picture of an insect and have to guess what insect it was. After that it was delicious because we got to make our very own bug made out of candy and I made mine as cool as I could make it. I tried to make a bug with 6 pair of toothpicks for legs but that didn’t work out. Overall, entomology was fun and I liked learning about the bugs and what makes them unique from the other types of species.

ORIENTEERING

When we were done with Entomology, we had to go to orienteering and found out it all had to deal with compasses. It was a lot of fun because we had to place a coin on the ground and had to follow a set of directions that should land us back to the coin on the ground. It was easy for me but I don’t about everybody else. While we were learning about the compasses we learned to turn degrees, and had to say a catch phrase, “get red Fred in the shed”. That should have led us in the right direction and it did for me but again, I don’t know about everybody else. We then had to go in the forest and start at a certain point and follow a set of directions that should lead us to some letters that            I thought was challenging and got confused and then gave up because we couldn’t figure it out.

SURVIVAL

Next class we learned was survival that I loved, because we talked about how to make clean water with supplies that you might have and where to put your shelter and how to build your shelter. We then got to make our own shelter, this was fun and our group decided to build it off of a tree so we had support off of. This made it easier and the goal was to make it a stable shelter that would hold our whole group. We succeeded but the most fun part of it all was destroying at the end. We then sat down at the ending and discussed about how to make a fire safely and how to survive off of things without nearly killing yourself.

NEW GAMES

After lunch (which was delicious like all the meals there) we went to Mr. Henley who taught us a new game called Ultimate Nerf, in it we learned how to play and you played by as soon as you got the ball you couldn’t move and you have to pass the ball to your teammates getting it to the end zone without any interferences from the opposite team. After that we played capture the flag and won the game, we had a vote and played kickball too. It was a lot of fun to do.

ARCHERY

When we got to archery there was a lot to learn but it was fun to do, we had to learn the style to hold the arrow and then learned to safely retrieve your arrows and the proper (and funny way to bring it back.)  We then started shooting the arrows and that entertained us and then the challenge came along, we had to hit the balloons with the arrows. That was hard and only my friend Ryan hit the balloon out of all of us. It was fun but a challenge at the same time.

NATURE AWARENESS

Our last lesson was nature awareness and how to deal without one of our senses. One activity is that we had to keep our eyes closed and feel an object and then you have pass it back in and then find your object based off of your senses minus sight. We also had to see how an animal survives with no opposable thumbs like humans and monkeys have. The challenge was to collect the candy without using our thumbs but the hard part was that your thumbs were taped to your hands so you couldn’t cheat. The final activity we did was going outside again with no sense of sight and feel a tree and then take the blindfold off and find the tree. It was hard but I just remembered what my surroundings were and got the first tree I guessed right!! Overall nature awareness was fun and you learned a lesson on how animals use there only senses or fingers.

DINNER AND AFTERWARDS

After we were done with the lessons, we got a little time to work on our journals then have dinner. For the last time, dinner was delicious like always and then we went to the gym and had an open gym until 8:00. We then went to the campfire and made smores that were delicious and had a good time the whole night. We watched the fire and enjoyed it. We then went back to the cabin afterwards and we all hung around in the dorm for the remainder of the night until 10:15. When it was, we all went to sleep.

Day 3, May 4^th

WAKING UP AND BREAKFAST

When we woke up the next morning, we went to breakfast that was like heaven and I went for my hot chocolate that woke me up that morning.

HIGH ROPES COURSE AND AFTERWARDS

Afterwards, we all waited until we could pack our bags in the truck, when we were done with that, we went to the high ropes course where we learned how the equipment is used. We then to the tire course and I got a little nervous and jumped to the third tire which was pretty fun to do because it involved a strong leap. We hung around and had to wait until this teamwork thing opened up and to help you and your partner up to the top of the ladder that had steps like 4 ft apart from each other. You had to do it before 4 minutes and 32 seconds passed, it was more challenging as higher as you got. My group then got sent to the climbing tower where I jumped for joy because I was so excited. When I got there I grabbed a harness and waited for my turn. When it was I tried my hardest to get to the top and I did and it was very frightening. When I got to the top, they pulled me in and I attached myself to the tower so I wouldn’t fall and learned that the zip line was so strong that it could send a truck down the zip line, that fact was pretty interesting to me so I remembered it. When it was my turn for the zip line, it felt weird just letting myself drop and feel like I am falling so when I got up there to the zip line I let myself fall for a second and then I went straight and felt like I was flying the air. I loved that memory. When we were done with that we got to the buses and drove home where I went home and was exhausted and fell asleep right when I got home for 3 hours.

As a concluding activity for our study of the Scientific Method, students worked through a variety of bacteria investigations. Students were provided a lab template which provided them with a six-step outline of the scientific method for problem solving. Using those steps and sterile nutrient agar plates, students collected bacteria in an attempt to answer their original question. Bacterial growth was documented through qualitative and quantitative observations as well as digital photographs. The following lab report is this student’s attempt at a bacterial investigation.   (Mr. Peter Ogden: Sixth Grade Science Teacher)

Please click the link below to view this student’s bacteria lab investigation.

Spice Inhibitor Lab

As a concluding activity for our study of the Scientific Method, students worked through a variety of bacteria investigations. Students were provided a lab template which provided them with a six-step outline of the scientific method for problem solving. Using those steps and sterile nutrient agar plates, students collected bacteria in an attempt to answer their original question. Bacterial growth was documented through qualitative and quantitative observations as well as digital photographs. The following lab report is this student’s attempt at a bacterial investigation.   (Mr. Peter Ogden: Sixth Grade Science Teacher)

Please click the link below to view this student’s bacteria lab investigation.

Spice Inhibitor Lab