This week, Aaron went to Zoo Camp and Naim went to NWCT drama camp. Nik took them in the morning and they had early care until camp started. Then I picked up Naim at 1:00 and we did stuff until 4:00 when I picked up Aaron. Avery only had two days of Goddard this week, and I took him out of both due to not being able to get him and get Naim at the same time.
Here is the description for Aaron’s Giraffe Camp: (The camps are separated by age, designated by a different animal. Last year, Aaron was in Tiger Camp, which focused on habitats. This camp focused on Adaptations.)
Long arms for swinging, spots
and stripes for hiding and sharp teeth for eating. Learn how
every animal has adaptations
to help it survive. Compare the adaptations of the forest cougar to the cheetah that live on the grassy plains. Learn why some animals can live in the cold oceans and others are suited for warm places. Watch our birds soar above you in the Wild Life Live show, and discover some of the many special adaptations that help animals survive all around the world!
Naim’s camp description was this:
Shipwrecks and Treasure Maps Ages 7-10 Ready for a theater adventure? If, Yar! then, it’s time to sail the seven seas with that scoundrel, Pirate Sam, and find that lost treasure!
So a highlights breakdown:
Monday:
Aaron had an incident at Zoo Camp that I got talked to about. The same issue, something doesn’t go his way and he melts into a tragedy. Oh! This time was because he got in trouble for licking another kid. I think he was pretending to be an animal, it was spontaneous, and he was so surprised he got in trouble that he shut down. I did talk about the innapropriateness of licking someone to him, and he seemed embarrassed and “never wanted to talk about it again!” I’m never sure what I am supposed to say or do in these talks. I sympathize, but unless he is hitting or hurting someone or causing such a disturbance that other kid’s experiences are interrupted, I am not taking him out of camp. I pay them to deal with it. The only way he is going to get over this is by having opportunites to get over it. If I shut him away, he will not ever learn to deal with things and work in groups.
Naim graduated out of the Little First Stage Theater and found out he gets to do his play in the big, main theater.
Naim, Avery and I went to the Children’s Museum. They spent a lot of time in the We Build Workshop.
Tuesday:
No problems with Aaron. I think he said they went to the African Savannah and petted a hedgehog that day?
Naim, Avery and I went to the children’s museum again, where Naim proceeded to lose ONE soccer shoe. I took his soccer stuff with me so he could change there. They played a lot in the theater and the water. Then, about dead, we went to soccer. Oh, Naim got his part of Wrongway Wally in his play, which I was very relieved to find out only had two lines. Another thing that helped was that we got the script beforehand because I told them I could not help him with his lines without an electronic script. So we had the script a good two weeks in advance. We went over the whole script a few times and talked about the storyline.
Wednesday:
Despite practicing and totally having his two lines memorized, Naim forgot them in class, because he had to remember so much other stuff he said. There was a lot of blocking and physical comedy in this play.
Aaron seemed to do ok and petted a bearded dragon and saw the bird show.
Naim, Avery and I played at Couch Park.
Thursday:
Aaron rode the zoo train and visited the Arctic exhibits and petted a duck, he said.
Naim did well with his lines.
Naim, Avery and I went to the World Forestry Center. Then we left soccer stuff at D’s in the morning, retreived it and went to Soccer practice.
Friday:
They called me in the morning about Aaron having a meltdown again, but I never got the message. So they complained to me after school. This time it was because he was “out” in some sort of game. Again, just shook my head and sympathized, but it isn’t like he hasn’t been talked to about these things, so it seems like it is something we need to ride out. He had on a paper vest and they played “Adaptation Bingo.”
Naim did well in his play, we took Ruoda with us so that was fun. the pictures I took did not turn out well because of the lighting. I got a little bit of video with the same problem. There is a photographer that takes professional pics of the plays, so when he posts the pics, I will see if there is any good ones to purchase. Afterwards, we went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe and just hung around the steam train where Naim and Ruoda did a lot of races and I followed Avery around.
Naim’s Play Program. I think that NWCT as usual did a great job getting a play together in really, 4 days. The costumes were done by a costuming class. The props were impressive. He had a lot of fun and we continue to love that place.
Despite Aaron’s troubles, he absolutely, certainly wants to go back to zoo camp next year. Naim is up for more acting, and I would put him in for the fall if we didn’t already choose soccer. Maybe in spring. It was very tiring and I think next year I will put Naim in something for the afternoon so we don’t have to kill ourselves for 3 hours and it won’t take all day just to pick them up. Well, they have fun, it only kills me to take 5 hours to pick them up.
Pictures for the week:
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- Children’s Museum
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- Aaron in his Giraffe Camp Shirt.
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- At Zany Maze.
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- Soccer practice.
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- This is at the World Forestry Center where you do a simulated logging mission using machinery and on screen virtual forests.
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- You can get into this boat and it uses a virtual screen to show you white water rafting while the raft actually moves. Avery is afraid to get in the boat.
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- A log tunnel with ants in there.
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- A huge tree stands in the middle of the building. You can pan all around it with a remote control camera.
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- A jeep going through a simulated savannah that Avery was just inthralled with and would not leave.
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- Simulated train car.
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- A display of items made from wood. Puppets, xylophones, etc.
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- A cherry picker basket thingy that pretends to go up into the forest branches. Avery was more interested in the doors.
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- A small balcony at the top of the World Forestry Center building.
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- Simulated parachuting gear where the objective is to steer the parachute to the landing target.
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- Big books, but check out that slice of tree behind him. It was born in around the 13th century and lived over 650 years.
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- Planting trees, or just throwing stuff around. Whichever.
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- Naim’s play. I was far back, and the spot light made the lighting really bad on my camera. I can’t even tell you where Naim is in these pictures.
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- A Naim close-up after the play. Because he was Wrongway, he had his clothes on backwards.
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- With Ruoda after the play.
Video:
Filed under: Art, Drama, Fieldtrips, Music, Physical Education, Science, Social Skills, Uncategorized | Tagged: Children's Museum, NWCT, Oregon Zoo, World Forestry Center | Leave a comment »
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