Pictures: June 17th - June 21st

COSTUME MAKING with BRIDGET

TREASURE HUNT with MILENA/SHAWN/TERESA

KICKBALL with GRIFFIN

FLOAT YOUR BOAT with KERRY

SPOON BALANCE with CAIT

WATER EXPLORERS with JILLIAN

CAMP OUT SONGS with LISA

Camps: June 17 - June 21st

• COSTUME MAKING with BRIDGET
• TREASURE HUNT with MILENA/SHAWN/TERESA
• KICKBALL with GRIFFIN
• FLOAT YOUR BOAT with KERRY
• SPOON BALANCE with CAIT
• WATER EXPLORERS with JILLIAN
• CAMP OUT SONGS with LISA

In  COSTUME MAKING with BRIDGET

This week our costume making summer camp was very popular filling up almost every day. We had various materials available to us like fabric, yarn, tape, and paper. Before each session we would discuss our materials and what a costume might include like a mask, hat, or cape as well as smaller accessories like jewelry. Fingerless gloves and wrist bands were very popular and one student added cardboard to create "robot hands." It was a lot of fun this week assisting in the creation of princesses, superheros and a few lions.

TREASURE HUNT with MILENA/SHAWN/TERESA
Children were transformed into pirates and treasure hunters this week, as we transformed a map of our school into a treasure map. Each day the map was different and led us through different classrooms and a variety of obstacles to arrive at the treasure. Tuesday friends had to decifer clues along the way to find out where to look next, and on Thursday and Friday friends were in charge of using the map to lead the group to the treasure. A large X marked the spot on a box of snowballs to dig through to discover our box of treasure. Each day we divided up the treasure amongst ourselves, found somewhere safe to hide it (typically pockets and extra-clothes bags), and make it back to our classroom safely with our treasure.

KICKBALL with GRIFFIN
Kickball was a dynamic summer camp activity this week. We learned the basic elements of a kickball game. We first went over the bases; 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Home. Then we reviewed the pitcher mound roll and location. We did not have enough players to have teams, but rather each person took a turn kicking the ball. After kicking, players took off around the bases and most often got a HOME RUN! After we reached home base, some of us enjoyed jumping up and down and doing a "home run dance", while friends clapped and cheered. We began to explore the idea of tagging a person. Some players tried throwing the ball at friends, and we redirected to a practice of tagging them with the ball while in our hands rather than throwing it at them. We tried various types of bases including frisbees. Chalk drawn bases turned out to be the most effective, because they avoided tripping friends and could be drawn a lot bigger, which helped friends in making sure they touch a base before running to the next one. By the end of the week, we were able to introduce the advanced concept of being "safe" while on a base. We began to understand that if a person was on base ahead of us, that we could not run until they ran. The last concept we introduced included the idea that in order to run home and score a run, we needed someone else to come and kick the kickball so that we could advance to the next base. It turns out that kickball can be a complicated and very fun game to learn!

FLOAT YOUR BOAT with KERRY
In Float Your Boat we are using materials like wood, plastic, clay, and tinfoil to test for buoyancy. We then use these materials to build some fantastic boats and see if they float. We also tested our creations by adding weights to see which designs would hold up with passengers or cargo. Friends were very excited to create their own boats using the materials in whatever way their imaginations led them.

SPOON BALANCE with CAIT
Balancing musical shaker eggs on an assortment of different types of spoons, we explored different ways of getting the egg safely across the classroom.  Since walking seemed fairly simple, some preschoolers tried hopping or jumping, or different ways of holding their spoons.  Others created complex obstacle courses that would be tricky to maneuver through without trying to hold an egg on a spoon as well.  Blocks became paths, stepping stones, and skis, and we crawled under tables and climbed over benches.  Most days, the creation of the path became a main focus for the summer camp, incorporating an entire classroom and utilizing several complex structures with a specific purpose. 

WATER EXPLORERS with JILLIAN
Excited squeals of joy came ringing through the yard as friends explored water using a variety of materials. Everything from funnels and paintbrushes to squirt bottles and sponges were available for open use. We also got out sidewalk chalk to give extra purpose to our play; some friends focused on creating art to wash away, while others experimented with drawing with already wet chalk. Many ended up wet, as sponges were squeezed out onto heads and toes; we worked hard to ask first to make sure it's okay before getting a friend wet.

CAMP OUT SONGS with LISA
We have been having a great time learning about Campfire traditions and learning new songs. We have been building a "campfire," with sticks and colored tissue paper flames in the back upper corner of the big playground. I have shared a songbook from my childhood Summer camp, "Camp Namanu," with the children and the children have found songs they are familiar with and are excited to learn more. We have had the chance to talk a little about fire safety and have also picked our camp nicknames which we wrote on necklaces to take home. One of my favorite camp traditions!

Summer Camp Requests

Happy Summer!

Summer Camps are under way and off to an amazing start. Each week features a different set of camps to introduce new adventures and expand on possible previous experiences. These ever changing activities bring excitement and joy to the explorations of the day. Many friends look forward to summer camps, and have a favorite teacher or area of focus.

While we work hard to supply all of the necessary materials for each camp, some supplies are still needed. If you are willing to donate or lend any of the materials listed below, please let Teresa know.

• During the week of June 24th we will need white cloth for tie-dying. This can be anything from shirts and socks to pillowcases or handkerchiefs.
• A variety of preschool-aged board games would be helpful the week of August 12th.
• Outdoor yard game sets the week of July 17th and August 5th, we were hoping to introduce the children to lacrosse and badminton, but are open to other options.
• We are always looking for small items to be used in a variety of summer camps. Beads, buttons, stones, and foreign coins make for great treasure hunt finds, scavenger hunt finds, and additions to fairy houses and gnome homes. 

We also welcome parents to come as a summer camp expert. If you have a talent you would like to share with us for a day, please let Teresa know! It is always exciting for the children to share the joy of learning with others, and see it in a variety of adults!

Schedule: June 24 - June 28

Arts n Crafts Art Room	Tie Dye Shawn
Adventure Room 8	Fairy Houses Lisa
Sport Parking Lot	Jump Rope Jillian
Science Parking Lot	Bubbles Bridget
Field Games Room 6	Potato Sack Race Kerry
Nature Yard/Science Room	Leaf Prints Cait
Indoor Games Yard	Camping Griffin

Pictures: June 10 - 14

CERAMICS with MEGHAN

FORT BUILDING with KERRY

FRISBEE with GRIFFIN

ASTRONOMY with SHAWN

RELAY RACE with BRIDGET

NAVIGATION with LISA

PAPER CRAFTS with CAIT

Camps: June 10 - June 14

• CERAMICS with MEGHAN
• FORT BUILDING with KERRY
• FRISBEE with GRIFFIN
• ASTRONOMY with SHAWN
• RELAY RACE with BRIDGET
• NAVIGATION with LISA
• PAPER CRAFTS with CAIT

In CERAMICS with MEGHAN friends worked with an air dry clay to create a one-of-a-kind sculpture. Each day was a little different in what we added to the experience. Some days friends went on a nature walk to find materials to incorporate into their ceramics, while other days painting the pieces was of more interest. Most of the children has something specific in mind when creating their ceramics, everything from bowls and vases to plants and animals. Each day was wonderful, and we noticed many parents getting talked into taking home moist clay, because the sense of pride in their creations was so wonderful!

FORT BUILDING with KERRY - Many adventures were had this week in fort building. We utilized a wide variety of materials available to us in Room 6, and everything from benches, tables, chairs, silks, and nap mats were transformed into something new. Some days friends were more interested in creating tunnels, and other days they wanted tents and houses. Each day the children led as a group while they move, manipulated, and created structures to climb on, crawl under, get into, and play in.

FRISBEE with GRIFFIN - Each day was new and exciting for friends working with frisbees this week. We worked hard to discover a new and interesting way to use the frisbee and everything from tossing it back and forth with a peer, seeing who can throw it the longest, or trying to shoot it through our hula hoops. For some this was the first experience with throwing a frisbee, which helped those who had done it before has an opportunity to show them how it's done. Maki and Lucy were thrilled to show some of our younger friends easy ways to hold the frisbee, and how to throw it really far!

ASTRONOMY with SHAWN - This week in Astronomy, we explored our universe and the mysteries within it! We started everyday with a brief introduction into the concepts of planets, solar systems, stars, the big bang, and the idea of nothing. We then moved on to looking at each planet in our solar system, noting fun facts about each along the process. We did an activity where we got to experience the orbit of the earth around the sun, by playing a game where each student was challenged to spin clock-wise while making revolutions around a yellow ball in the center of the room (The Sun). We looked at a few images of nebulae and talked about how stars come into being. We finished our time together with a painting project where we created our own planets based on information learned during the week and any previous learning we came into the camp with.

RELAY RACE with BRIDGET - This week we were off and running in the relay summer camp. We explored different ways of moving across our space as well as how to use the materials we had. Many students were just interested in running, but we also tried jumping, skipping, and even bike riding. Wednesday we got rained on, but it didn't slow down the fun we had.

NAVIGATION with LISA - It has been so wonderful to have a new adventure everyday and to share this with the Children. The children have amazingly picked up navigation skills so quickly. We have been using compasses to follow a map with directions through the school and playground. We make silly, fun stops along the way and have a good time taking tiny steps, dancing steps, leaps and making up our own navigation songs along the way. At the end of our trek the children find a surprise basket filled with journals, markers and a new book each day that we read together. The children practice writing direction dials and the letters "N, S, W, E." They also have filled the journals with their own maps, drawings of compasses and I can't wait to look through them with the children! My favorite part of the Navigation Summer Camp is our camaraderie when we wear bandannas with the letter "N" on them. We are quite the team!

PAPER CRAFTS with CAIT - From intricate origami to large-scale construction projects, each preschooler had their own ideas of what to do with paper during summer camp time. Origami creations included different boats - some of which sailed across the table with lung powered wind, as well as cubes and  a variety of shapes that tumbled and twirled when dropped. Other friends chose to cut, glue, draw, and fold paper into an assortment of free forms. Creating and drawing cards was popular as well as creating rocket ships, and animals. Using several sheets of cardstock, Issac L. glued together a floor, four walls, and a slanted roof with a window and an "emergency exit." It was exciting to see all the different ways of making things with paper.

Schedule: June 17 - 21

Arts n Crafts Art Room	Costume Making Bridget
Adventure Room 6	Treasure Hunt Shawn
Sport Parking Lot	Kickball Griffin
Science Science Room	Float Your Boat Kerry
Field Games Room 8	Spoon Balance Cait
Nature Yard	Water Explorers Jillian
Indoor Games Yard	Camp Out Songs Lisa

Pictures: June 3 - 7

MURALS with LISA
OBSTACLE COURSE with SHAWN
SOCCER with MEGHAN
GOOP with KERRY
BEAN BAG TOSS with GRIFFIN
BIRD FEEDERS with MILENA
CARD GAMES with BRIDGET

Camps: June 3 - June 7

• MURALS with Lisa in the Yard
• OBSTACLE COURSE with Shawn in Room 6
• SOCCER with Meghan in the Parking Lot
• GOOP with Kerry in the Science Room
• BEAN BAG TOSS with Griffin in the Yard
• BIRD FEEDERS with Milena in Room 8
• CARD GAMES with Bridget in Room 8

In MURALS with LISA everyone joined in the yard on the concrete and got down to do some fun paintings. On large canvas sheets spread out on the ground, friends used many colors to create their own fantastic mural. Some friends simply enjoyed the task of painting, while others had a plan in mind for their murals. We saw many rainbows and family members represented in the paintings. After we were finished painting our canvas, we hung it up to dry on the fence. Many friends enjoyed painting murals so much they went multiple days; especially Hanix and Momo who went everyday!

In OBSTACLE COURSE with SHAWN friends worked as a group to decide who will set up the obstacle course and how. We created new solutions for the sharing of space between those in our summer camp, and those in younger classrooms. Max was excited to share ideas to ensure the safety of all children at ChildRoots NW. The next day, we moved our Summer Camp into Room 6 to take advantage of a larger space. We spent time discussing the uses of each of our materials as well as developed strategies to be inclusive of everyone's ideas for creating an obstacle course. Thanks to Teacher Bridget, we were able to add the use of a trampoline into our course. We also utilized the loft in Room 6, sometimes creating tunnels with hula-hoops and silks to crawl through. We ended the week by adding world music to our time spent together.

In SOCCER with MEGHAN active afternoons were had by all. Each day friends focused on a new task related to playing soccer. Monday was spent working on using just our feet to move the ball, focusing on keeping our hands behind our backs as we kick the ball back and forth. We got a chance to practice big kicks on Tuesday; after placing our soccer balls on a small cone friends got to kick the ball as hard as they wanted towards the fence. Our adventures took us to passing back and forth with friends on Wednesday. We had to say who we were passing to, and try to kick it hard enough to get it to them! Friends got excited to practice being the referee on Thursday as the others focused on making goals between our partner's legs. Blowing the whistle when a "goal" was scored was a highlight for many. We tied all of these ideas together on Friday when we tried our hands at a game of soccer, 3 on 3.

In GOOP with KERRY glue, cornstarch, detergent, water, and food color were used in so many ways to create a new "goop" for friends to experience each day. Some goops were slimy and slippery, while others seemed to be more "pinchy" and "like putty." Neva and Zooey discovered that they could drop their goop on the ground and it would bounce! Getting messy in the middle of the day was fun, and many friends laughed as they enjoyed the variety of colors and textures the goop had to offer.

In BEAN BAG TOSS with GRIFFIN we used a real cornhole set to to create many different approaches to the classic lawn game. On Monday and Tuesday we were in the yard, on the deck, and scoring was very organized. Friends named our teams the “Golden Team” and the “Sunshine Team”. Avalaine, Jesse and Sebastian were excited about getting lots of points. Sebastian was especially excited to have a high score. When he realized that Jesse was the high scorer of the afternoon, getting two three-point shots in the hole, he wanted to switch from the “Sunshine Team” to the “Golden Team”. At that time we simply decided that keeping score could be done at each round, but that we were not going to add them up to 21 to determine a single winner. On Tuesday, Henry N joined us with previous experience playing Corn Hole at his uncle’s house. Elijah and Max enjoyed taking turns and switching team. Lucus joined us after his nap on Tuesday and had a turn with a couple rounds. We followed the traditional Corn Hole rules, three points if the corn filled bean bag makes it into the hole and one point for every bean bag that makes it somewhere on the board. On Wednesday, Coda, Dylan, and Jackson went to play Bean Bag Toss in the front, tricycle area of the parking lot, so we shared the space with the soccer group. We made up our own rules, and spent a lot of time running to grab our bean bags and giggling and giggling. It was a lot easier to run up to the target and drop it in directly, and we were so excited with tossing the bean bags, we had no use in keeping a score. We had more space on Wednesday and came up with different versions of tossing, including one where we sat down in a row next to one another and tossed the bean bags at the same time. Will took a turn and taught us some of his tossing techniques. He was able to get a bean bag in the hole from a very far distance. We were all impressed. Thursday we took a different approach. Because the sun was so hot, Carson, Henry D., Dori and Maki all wait for their turn in the shade. One person runs up, toss their two bean bags behind the white line and then run back to the shade. We used the one closest to us as the practice target and the one farther by the cones as the official game target. After each person had a turn, we ran to collect our two bags each and counted our points. Then we ran back and did it over and over until we were too exhausted. Maki was still wanting to play so his excitement led to everyone trying "long shots" ...standing really far away and throwing as far as they could. Friday, Dylan, Carson and Koda joined out bean bag toss for a second time this week!! We talked a lot about parking lot safety. Matea joined our group for the first time and practiced throwing with both under-hand and over-hand techniques. After we played bean bag toss with traditional Cornhole rules, Teresa came up with the idea of putting the wooden target up on the fence and throwing it up higher. This provided us a new challenge. We then tied helmets to the fences and tried to make baskets in the helmets. Overall, we seemed to all really enjoy our Corn Hole experiences.

In BIRD FEEDERS with MILENA nature was all around. We covered pine-cones in sticky soynut butter  before rolling them in birdseed. There were many different kinds of birdseed to use to attract different types of birds. We substituted sunflower seed butter on Friday, and everyone noticed the difference in the taste (which was evident in the frequent licking of our spreading sticks). After attaching a string our bird feeders were ready to be hung on the trees and fences in our yard.

CARD GAMES with BRIDGET was a blast this week. It was often a small group, which made it easy to choose a game and focus on the game we chose. We played several games this week like Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy 8s, Uno, and Slap jack. While playing we practiced the skills of matching, sorting, number identification, counting, and taking turns. Before we started each day we would choose a game and go over how to play, sometimes altering the rules to fit the group. Slap Jack was a favorite game and it was easier for little hands who had trouble holding a lot of cards. Some kids this week had played cards at home with families and for some it was a brand new experience. It was neat to see some of them take on the teacher role and show others how to play.

Schedule: June 10 - 14

Arts n Crafts Art Room	Ceramics Meghan
Adventure Room 6	Fort Building Kerry
Sport Parking Lot	Frisbee Griffin
Science Science Room	Astronomy Shawn
Field Games Parking Lot	Relay Race Bridget
Nature Yard	Navigation Lisa
Indoor Games Room 8	Paper Crafts Cait

Schedule: June 3 - 7

Arts n Crafts Art Room	Murals Lisa
Adventure Yard	Obstacle Course Shawn
Sport Parking Lot	Soccer Meghan
Science Science Room	Goop Kerry
Field Games Room 6	Bean Bag Toss Griffin
Nature Room 8	Bird Feeders Milena
Indoor Games Room 8	Card Games Bridget

Summer Camp Logistics

Program Logistics
There will be seven camps daily, one in each of the following categories:
ART
SCIENCE
INDOOR GAMES
ADVENTURE
SPORTS
FIELD GAMES and
NATURE.

The specific topic within each category will change each week. You can check back here each Monday for weekly schedule updates and camp location information.



Preschoolers elect their camp every morning, some choosing to stay with a camp all week, others opting for something new each day. If you plan to pick up during camps please refer to the entrance bulletin board for a list of which camp your child has elected that day along with any updated info on where camps can be found.

CAMP HOURS: 3:30 - 4:30