Thursdays are meadow days in my life. Meadow days are usually a blast but the last two have been very different.
An ideal meadow day would begin with looking at different maps. We teach kids how to use a map legend and then draw contour lines over their knuckles to help them understand topography.
On our hike we stop at the Wishing Maple, a huge Big-leaf Maple, and have snack. I usually tell a story while they eat.
When we get close to the meadow we usually see a rabbit or two. We eat lunch when we get to the meadow and then get going with our big activities for the day.
First is orienteering--learning how to use a compass. I love teaching this and seeing it come together in the kids' heads. After doing a compass-guided scavenger hunt we move into the tall grass and play games.
The favorite is always camoflage. All of the campers hide in the tal grass except one. The camper who is it and didn't hide has to call out the names of the hiders if they see them. They all learn about the best ways not to be seen and we talk about why animals use camoflage. They love it.
We also play a game called predator-prey. It's sort of complicated but essentially involves campers being either mice, weasels or hawks and running around "eating" each other. We play a few rounds with different amounts of each animal. They can see the ways that a food web can easily fall out of balance and they begin to understand carrying capacity.
After a few more fun, run-around games we hike back to camp, do a craft project, and talk about where we would go if we could go anywhere in the world and why we would go there.
Two weeks ago on meadow day I came home in a foul mood. My blood-stained shirt was just one indicator of how my day had unfolded. I had an awful group of boys in my den. They did not listen to a single thing I said, they would not keep their hands and feet to themselves, they could not follow directions to save their lives and they didn't care at all. They were 6 and 7 years old and calling each other assholes for fun. I had tried every trick up my sleeve but it was to no avail.
Orienteering was a wreck. They couldn't even listen long enough to learn how to find north. Camoflage was sort of fun until boys started going outside the boundaries and crying when they were found. It was hot out, they were dumping out their water botles instead of drinking them, it was awful. At long last it was time to hike back to camp. I arranged them in a line to start going back but Luca didn't like where he was in the line so he pushed poor Wyatt, who fell face first into the concrete. I immediately ran over and lifted Wyatt up off the ground and pulled him toward me. His nose started gushing blood and his lip began to swell. I had my first aid kit, but without a sink and a box of tissues we were struggling. Eventually the bleeding stopped and I was confident that Wyatt's nose wasn't broken. I marched all five boys over to a tree, sat them down and was seriously not nice. Back at camp I got Wyatt an ice pack. After the kids left I tidied up my classroom and went home to wash the blood, sweat and tears off of my body. Worst camp day ever.
This past week was so much better. My group had some pretty young kids in it but they were pretty great. They had good attitudes. They loved for me to tell them stories constantly on every hike and during every snack and lunch time. All was well until later in the day. We were playing a final round of camoflage in the grass when "the incident" took place. Sometimes I play camoflage with the kids and hide in the grass. I secretly enjoy it because I can just lay there and close my eyes and rest for a few minutes. I was supervising this time so I wasn't hiding. About 3 of the kids had already been found and the rest of them, including my two teenage jr. naturalists, were hiding near one another. All of the sudden I see heads start popping up out of the grass, then every single one of them comes running toward me screaming "snake!". If you know me at all you know that I do not deal well with snakes. I couldn't help but laugh at the kids though; it was a hilarious site to see them all running and screaming. On that note I said "time to go" and we hiked back to camp.
I guess I'll have to wait and see what adventure or travisty this Thursday will bring.
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