Today the Roly Polys Forest K group joined up with the Woolly Bears! Our morning circle in Little Field felt HUGE, everyone was so full of energy, we sang a resonating Good Morning Song, we shared things we were grateful for and a movement to go along with it that everyone could do together, and we played a stellar game of Blob Tag!
One of our students began as “The Blob” and each person tagged had to link hands and continue trying to “eat” other players. The Blob became many smaller blobs until all players were caught! We plopped down in a sudden spurt of sunshine and enjoyed our snack.
At camp, both groups were given some time for free play as preparations were made for a fire; everyone immediately went for the Owl Village platform, and very consciously and carefully managed themselves in crossing the bridge section, before splitting off into mini games until it was time for crafts. When we did have a more directed craft time, Woolly Bears gathered around the fire for theirs, while Roly Polys went off to make plans for a new addition to our campsite: The Theater!
This was an ongoing, run-with-it gamut of ideas, as each child offered up something they thought would work. The act itself of creating this new feature of our campsite proceeded quite like rehearsals for a play, with a Director (Matthew) attempting somewhat in vain to organize the chaos into what would ultimately turn out to be a really awesome space.
Very quickly, students were helping each other carry and drag big beams of wood to our chosen space, mark out a “stage” (with the announced hope that we would eventually raise one up, but for now, leave the space simply marked), decide that our stage would be surrounded by seats instead of just facing one direction (theatre in the round!), set up those seats, make a space for “washing hands,” make a “popcorn station,” make a “spotlight,” tie up a string to “turn on/off the spotlight,” set up elevated beams for “balcony seating,” and carry over so many white pine boughs to surround the whole theater in beautiful green “walls.” We finally invited the Woolly Bears over to see, just in time to take a break for lunch!
After refreshing ourselves with food and hearing a good old story about the Makers of Dreams, way up there in the mountains of some far-off island crafting dreams out of deer-milk butter and wildflowers and rainbow water, we all spread out to our sit spots, and honestly with the help of two groups consciously spaced out we’ve never had a better group sit spot experience. We had a closing circle, shared our favorite thing from the day (“everything” became an infectious declaration), and said goodbye to some fellow students leaving prior to aftercare.
Aftercare started with a trip to Grandmother Maple and a student-initiated game of Hawk and Flock, before heading back to camp for second snack. From there to the end of the day was entirely devoted to staged performances on the theatrical stage. One of the most heartwarming moments: a student had brought his harmonica from home; another had stepped on stage only to be confronted with stage fright; our spotlight attendant proceeded to guide them from “offstage” through an impromptu dance routine (“just follow me! copy me!”) while the harmonica played a catchy melody. Everybody took a turn performing a dance!
Thank you all for letting us share such a day with these cherished and wonderful students.
In Connection,
Matthew, Christopher, Jodi, and Raei
April 6, 2023