Winter Camp

Hi guys~ I realize it’s been forever since I last updated my blog. I’ve been pretty active on instagram, so I hope you’re checking it out at the bottom of my page! Follow me here @allison_banghyang. Anyway, I’m going to break this up into three posts so you’re not overwhelmed by the updates. So first I’m going to cover Winter Camp (this was Monday January 11th-Thursday January 28th). Feel free to skip over the technicalities, but I’m going into more detail for the sake of incoming teachers!

Winter Camp Schedule

So I was assigned 14 days of Winter Camps (which is almost three full work weeks). I was able to choose to split up the camp (7 days for 3rd/4th Grade and 7 days for 5th/6th Grade). As an inexperienced teacher I was very ambitious and chose to do two different camps themes, I don’t recommend this. Pick one theme and just make it a little bit more difficult for your older students. I had a week of desk warming before camp so I had plenty of time to prep materials, which took forever. Here’s what my Camp Schedule looked like:

3rd/4th Graders were super enthusiastic during the camp. On the first day I had them fill out passport templates, they answered questions about their favorite foods, colors, and music. They then drew a pick of themselves and attached the empty stamp template. My sister had made this template already so I was super grateful. I rewarded them with stamps and once they received a certain amount gave them a sticker or candy. This was used throughout the camp and the kids went crazy over the stamps. After teaching them some vocabularly, each day I warmed up with PPT Flashcards and gave out stamps for each correct answer (this was really sucessful). I also prepared a workbook with a daily journal template for each day, and word searches and puzzles to practice the new words we learned.

On Italian Day we made Chicken Parmesan. I used a hot plate a pan, spatula, and a cover. I brought the chicken, bread crumbs, eggs, mozarella cheese, and tomato sauce. I had a student bring canola oil. Watch the kids carefully, I set out newspaper and made sure they didn’t get too close to the oil. The cover works well to melt the cheese. The kids called it “pizza tonkatsu” tonkatsu is a Japanese fried pork cutlet, and Korean style breadcrumbs are like panko, so I understood the comparison. Either way, this was a huge success. Time management is important, I had only 14 students and it took 40 minutes.

I had the kids playing games in the classroom and the hallway. They loved Red Light Green Light and Duck, Duck, Goose. We also did a slam game (I purchased fly swatters and called out words, the kids slapped the corresponding photos). For the India Day I did a game show (based on Slumdog Millionaire) and they enjoyed playing the games. The most successful was probably Market Day. At the end of the week I printed out fake money and explained to them that each stamp they earned equaled $1 and the stickers were $2. They traded in stamps for money and I priced out a number of prizes I purchased. (Notebooks, pencils, pencil cases, different types of candy, and snacks). I taught the kids English Phrases so they could purchase items. We also had a Treasure Hunt (I hid clues in various rooms through the school). Message me if you guys want any of the materials! I created PPTs for each day and the kids were fascinated by the videos, music, and food.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Around the World Camp. I loved teaching students about other cultures, so they’re aware from a young age, and curious about the world. The only bad thing that happened during camp was…one co-worker was supposed to be around, but she told me she wouldn’t come unless there was an emergency. So I taught camp by myself. As long as you demonstrate and make the directions clear, you won’t have any difficulty (I have taught by myself a number of times already). However, one day one of my students got so sick he started throwing up in class. The nurse wasn’t there and only a handful of staff members were in the Main Office downstairs, so I had to leave a student in charge. I took the boy to the bathroom and cleaned him up, then had him lay down on a couch. And then…I had to get the pink rubber gloves and mop and clean up the room myself. My kids called me “ahjumma” older woman/auntie, in this case it basically meant “cleaning lady”. I freaked out and had to call the kids mother in my somewhat passable Korean. Sometimes I don’t understand the education system, in the States a teacher wouldn’t be alone with students in a building.

 

Most of the 6th Graders did not sign up for camp because they wanted to relax during Winter Break and spend time with friends before graduating. So only 6 kids signed up. Only 4 came. Usually only 3 actually showed up. So Music Camp became…Music/Movie Camp. After showing High School Musical I did teach the students vocabulary and they also learned the lyrics to Breaking Free, but after that I scratched the Music Video idea. They had already been working on one with their 6th Grade Homeroom Classes, and I basically only had 3 students. So we watched movies. 1st period we watched a movie, and 2nd period we did an activity. Such as a game, worksheet, or craft. I couldn’t tell if the kids actually enjoyed it or not, some did their work from private academy, another just stared blankly. Older kids are hard to please. They did enjoy the Kpop Mashup Activity I did (I found the videos on youtube) they combined all of the popular songs from each year, and I had the kids write down as many song titles as they could.

In conclusion, have a ton of backup plans. Crossword puzzles, activities. And try to stick to one theme.