Today was our last day of this Mantle of the Expert project. We spent the morning filming using our you-tube story board. We were then lucky to have a couple of senior digi kids come and work with us for an hour to turn our footage into a you-tube that we could watch. We were able to choose some background music and see how the digi kids put the scenes together using special scene joining techniques. It was really exciting watching it at the end of the day, seeing our story board come to life! While we could have spent several more days on this, editing it and trying out some different things (the wind was a bit of a problem and covers up the voices sometimes), it was the process that was important and we enjoyed getting a product at the end.
We ended the day with a celebration shared lunch and some reflection on learning through Mantle of the Expert. Being 'in role' and learning some new team building games, such as Ah Soh Gi, were highlights for this group. It is amazing how much this group has learnt over only 8 sessions, I was particularly impressed by how much tikanga Maori the children took on board so quickly given the meaningful context of our camp organisation. The images and moving statue that the children came up with was very impressive and showed a good understanding of ideas that were completely new to them only two weeks ago. Writing in role was also impressive with some fabulous language being adopted both spontaneously in role work and in brochure and diary writing. Listening to the children, and reading what they wrote, was at times very convincing - you would think you were really in a room of adults who worked as camp organisers!
We hope to get a copy of our you-tube uploaded here soon, so keep watching this space!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Day Seven
MAKING A MOVING STATUE FOR OUR CAMP
Today started with a team meeting and a new commission from management:
“I have been in a meeting with the camp management team and they would like a statue to go out the front of our camp, by our welcome sign, to represent what our camp is about. They particularly want us to show our new understandings of kaupapa Maori and how our camp can meet those needs. Something like this might help us win the job of hosting school camps for kura kaupapa schools as well as other mainstream schools…”
We had a go at creating drawn images last week to show our learning, this week we had a go at making a statue to show those same ideas. We decided to create a moving statue where one person at a time moved into a space to make a shape and speak aloud what they were representing. As each person joined the space they built on the statue, ending with a frozen statue/freeze frame. We decided to make a statue using the idea of a tree, which was an image we had come up with last week.
This is a photo of our finished statue and what each person said as they moved into the space.
Lucy: “I am whenua, we are connected to the land”
Charlotte: “I am tangata, the people – working together”
Zoe: “I am Ora – health and wellbeing. I have four sides”
Luca: “I am Tinana – healthy body”
Alexander and Pablo: “Our soccer game helps make friends and healthy body”
Daniel: “I am wairua – spirituality and connection to the land”
Noah: “This is really fun sliding down the sand dunes”
Macey: “I am hinengaro – happy and positive mind and feelings”
Evie: “Diary writing helps you reflect back on your day”.
Hugo: “I am whanau – belonging to groups, family and friends”
Helena and Alice: “music and singing with friends”
After we had created our moving statue we decided to make a promotional you-tube to advertise our camp. Using all our written material from the topic so far, including our brochure writing, drawn maps, slogans we had written, and photos of freeze frames, we set to work designing a story board that could be used to film a you tube.
MAKING A STORY BOARD FOR A YOU TUBE
Lucy: “Hi I’m Lucy and welcome to Lake Adventure Challenge. This camp is all about stepping out of your comfort zone, pushing your limits, and making new friends. Come and check out the activities and our awesome environment!”
Our Story Board
As part of our you tube story board some of us wrote interviews with some of the camp leaders, wrote scripts to use for an introduction, used the brochure writing to come up with a talk about the camp environment, and came up with scripts for children describing camp highlights. Here is some of the script writing we did for children talking about their experiences at Lake Adventure Challenge.
Alex and Pablo – playing soccer - Alex talking “Well, we really like Lake Adventure Challenge because its helped us make new friends and have a healthy body like in this soccer game….GOAL!”
Evie and Charlotte – mud sliding – Evie talking “Wow! I just went down the mud slide. It was so scary and fun but I am so glad I did it. This is the best camp I have ever been to. I had to step out of my comfort zone loads but I still really enjoyed it! I really want to do everything again, this has been such a great experience. I love Lake Adventure Challenge!”
Noah - playing drums with Macey and Daniel in band behind and others listening and singing along “we will we will rock you”. Noah talking - “This is my first day at Lake Adventure Challenge and I have learnt so much already about how music can bring people together to have a good time”.
Hugo: driving a boat on the lake. - “I never thought I would be driving my own boat. This is awesome!”
Charlotte and Evie – kayaking – Charlotte talking “Wow, I love kayaking. It’s scary but at least I’m pushing my comfort zone. It’s so good I love Lake Adventure Challenge, it’s the best camp and I have made heaps of friends.”
Zoe – team rowing with Helena, Lucy, Alice, and Pablo – Zoe talking “I’ve only been here for 5 days and I’ve already learned to work in a team like team rowing – you have to row at the same time as the others or it doesn’t work!”
Daniel – on flying fox – Daniel talking “I know this will be fun….wooooh. I like it. This is fun. This is cool, I’m going to do it again!”.
Today started with a team meeting and a new commission from management:
“I have been in a meeting with the camp management team and they would like a statue to go out the front of our camp, by our welcome sign, to represent what our camp is about. They particularly want us to show our new understandings of kaupapa Maori and how our camp can meet those needs. Something like this might help us win the job of hosting school camps for kura kaupapa schools as well as other mainstream schools…”
We had a go at creating drawn images last week to show our learning, this week we had a go at making a statue to show those same ideas. We decided to create a moving statue where one person at a time moved into a space to make a shape and speak aloud what they were representing. As each person joined the space they built on the statue, ending with a frozen statue/freeze frame. We decided to make a statue using the idea of a tree, which was an image we had come up with last week.
This is a photo of our finished statue and what each person said as they moved into the space.
Lucy: “I am whenua, we are connected to the land”
Charlotte: “I am tangata, the people – working together”
Zoe: “I am Ora – health and wellbeing. I have four sides”
Luca: “I am Tinana – healthy body”
Alexander and Pablo: “Our soccer game helps make friends and healthy body”
Daniel: “I am wairua – spirituality and connection to the land”
Noah: “This is really fun sliding down the sand dunes”
Macey: “I am hinengaro – happy and positive mind and feelings”
Evie: “Diary writing helps you reflect back on your day”.
Hugo: “I am whanau – belonging to groups, family and friends”
Helena and Alice: “music and singing with friends”
After we had created our moving statue we decided to make a promotional you-tube to advertise our camp. Using all our written material from the topic so far, including our brochure writing, drawn maps, slogans we had written, and photos of freeze frames, we set to work designing a story board that could be used to film a you tube.
MAKING A STORY BOARD FOR A YOU TUBE
Lucy: “Hi I’m Lucy and welcome to Lake Adventure Challenge. This camp is all about stepping out of your comfort zone, pushing your limits, and making new friends. Come and check out the activities and our awesome environment!”
Our Story Board
As part of our you tube story board some of us wrote interviews with some of the camp leaders, wrote scripts to use for an introduction, used the brochure writing to come up with a talk about the camp environment, and came up with scripts for children describing camp highlights. Here is some of the script writing we did for children talking about their experiences at Lake Adventure Challenge.
Alex and Pablo – playing soccer - Alex talking “Well, we really like Lake Adventure Challenge because its helped us make new friends and have a healthy body like in this soccer game….GOAL!”
Evie and Charlotte – mud sliding – Evie talking “Wow! I just went down the mud slide. It was so scary and fun but I am so glad I did it. This is the best camp I have ever been to. I had to step out of my comfort zone loads but I still really enjoyed it! I really want to do everything again, this has been such a great experience. I love Lake Adventure Challenge!”
Noah - playing drums with Macey and Daniel in band behind and others listening and singing along “we will we will rock you”. Noah talking - “This is my first day at Lake Adventure Challenge and I have learnt so much already about how music can bring people together to have a good time”.
Hugo: driving a boat on the lake. - “I never thought I would be driving my own boat. This is awesome!”
Charlotte and Evie – kayaking – Charlotte talking “Wow, I love kayaking. It’s scary but at least I’m pushing my comfort zone. It’s so good I love Lake Adventure Challenge, it’s the best camp and I have made heaps of friends.”
Zoe – team rowing with Helena, Lucy, Alice, and Pablo – Zoe talking “I’ve only been here for 5 days and I’ve already learned to work in a team like team rowing – you have to row at the same time as the others or it doesn’t work!”
Daniel – on flying fox – Daniel talking “I know this will be fun….wooooh. I like it. This is fun. This is cool, I’m going to do it again!”.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Day Six
MORNING TEAM MEETING - IN ROLE
“Good morning team. We have some mail to look at this morning. I have just received this letter, which has some potentially exciting business in it for us, but we are going to have to think hard about whether we would be up to doing a job like this, whether we have the right skills and knowledge…..”
Friday 25th of March 2011,
Dear Team at Lake Adventure Challenge Confidence Camp,
I am writing to you, and a number of other camps in New Zealand, to do some research for my Maori school, Moana Kura Kaupapa. We are a bilingual school that teaches our students in English and Maori from year 0 to year 8. We are keen for our children, of all ages, to attend a camp as part of their outdoor education programme.
I am doing some research to see which camps will best meet our needs as a Maori school, which has strong Maori values and beliefs. We are looking for a camp that provides more than just outdoor education. We want our children to come to a camp that makes links with Maori values such as the important connection between people and the environment. We are hoping that the camp can provide the children not only with good outdoor learning experiences but also share a knowledge of the history of the land of the camp. We are also looking to find a team of people at the camp who understand Maori ways of learning and teaching so that our students feel comfortable and empowered. We also hope that the camp we attend has a team of people who understand Maori ideas about health and wellbeing.
We hope you can help us. If you think your team at Lake Adventure Challenge can meet our needs we would love to hear from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Paratene
Moana Kura Kaupapa
RESEARCHING
We decided that we would need to do some research – this was all new territory for the team! We divided into research teams to learn about different aspects of Te Ao Maori before coming together to apply all the new knowledge to our outdoor education camp. The three areas of research were:
1. Whenua, Whakapapa, and Whanau (Land, connection between people and land and family)
2. Ora and the Whare Tapa Wha (Health and wellbeing and the four sides to Maori views of health/wellbeing)
3. Ako, Tuakana-Teina, and Co-operative Learning Groups (Maori ways of teaching and learning).
We had a busy morning researching these different areas and answering a number of different research questions. We then used jigsaw discussion groups to come back and share our knowledge with each other, everyone being experts on the different areas they had been researching. It was amazing how quickly, through applying all this new knowledge to our outdoor education camp situation, we became familiar with these new Maori terms, values, and ideas.
Next we had a go at incorporating this new knowledge into visual images, bringing together the new knowledge of Te Ao Maori and our current camp programme, values, and philosophy.
Our Tree Diagram
This is one image the team came up with: presenting the information on a tree, with the roots representing a connection to whenua, (the land), the trunk being the tangata (the people), and four big branches being the 4 sides of ora (wellbeing): whanau (family, friends, relationships, and groups), hinengaro (minds and feelings), tinana (body), wairua (spirituality/connection to the land). Examples of camp activities from our programme were used to illustrate the different Maori ideas of health and wellbeing for example:
Taha Hinengaro:
Having leaders who are encouraging and help the children reach their goals,
Having leaders who are friendly and supportive and nurturing
Not letting children feel stressed by having leaders that you can trust and who talk to you kindly.
Having a Home Group – a small group who comes together with a leader to discuss any problems or fears – a support group.
Having reflecting time – eg. diary writing.
Taha Whanau:
Doing team rowing – waka ama
Sharing kai (food) – hangi, toasting marshmallows around the fire
Sharing tents/camping
Taha Wairua:
Making connections to the land through activities like hangi, birdwatching, bushwalking, lake activities, beach walking…
Taha Tinana:
Rock climbing
Running
Kayaking
Tree Jumping….and all the other physical activities you can do at the camp.
Cooking healthy food
Our Image of Whare Tapa Wha: The Four Walls of Wellbeing
MYTHS AND LEGENDS – CREATING A HISTORY FOR OUR LAND
We then shared a number of Maori myths and legends, such as the creation myth of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Kupe’s Voyage, and The Two Taniwha of Wellington Harbour. Then some of us had a go at writing our own myths and legends for our fictional camp grounds. Here are some of the beginnings of our legend writing…
"The lake at Lake Adventure Challenge was made when the world was young and no humans were alive. The lake was not there, It was in lands far away…..” Zoe
"Before the sea was made there was a lake that was 10 metres long. 2 taniwha lived there. One was lazy and sunbathed all day. The other one swam all day….." Alexander
"Once upon a time there were 3 taniwha. They lived in the lake at Lake Adventure Challenge Camp. One was very lazy, his name was Poterkeyna. One was kind, her name was Matermater, and one was a worrying thing, his name was Muritai. Muritai wanted to get out of that tiny lake…" Orla.
"How the rivers were created…
A long time ago before the sea and rivers were made, and before peple and dinosaurs, when gods were alive, there lived a god called Tangaroa. Tangaroa lived with his mother Papatuanuku and his brother Tane. One afternoon Tangaroa decied to visit land. Tangaroa packed some kai and his power necklace. His power necklace was very special to him because that used to be his father’s who died a month before his birth. That was the only thing his father left for him, but it was very special and gave him powers that he needed…." Macey
"How the lake, at Lake Adventure Challenge, was created:
Once upon a time Tangaroa had a fight with his brother Tu to see who was strongest. To they stood in a clearing and began to fight. Tu struck but missed and made a huge dent in the land. Tangaroa, the god of the sea, was angered so fought back but Tu, the god of war, was more used to this type of thing and hit Tangaroa in the calf. He screamed in pain and from him wound water flowed and filled the dent with it. Then he slunk back to the sea." Pablo
"Once the two brother, Ruamoko and Tangaroa, wanted to fight because they had both had bad days. Ruamoko made a huge earthquake and there was a huge dent in Papatuanuku. Then Tangaroa was very angry so he made a huge flood and all the water went into the dent. That was how the lake was made." Evie.
“Good morning team. We have some mail to look at this morning. I have just received this letter, which has some potentially exciting business in it for us, but we are going to have to think hard about whether we would be up to doing a job like this, whether we have the right skills and knowledge…..”
Friday 25th of March 2011,
Dear Team at Lake Adventure Challenge Confidence Camp,
I am writing to you, and a number of other camps in New Zealand, to do some research for my Maori school, Moana Kura Kaupapa. We are a bilingual school that teaches our students in English and Maori from year 0 to year 8. We are keen for our children, of all ages, to attend a camp as part of their outdoor education programme.
I am doing some research to see which camps will best meet our needs as a Maori school, which has strong Maori values and beliefs. We are looking for a camp that provides more than just outdoor education. We want our children to come to a camp that makes links with Maori values such as the important connection between people and the environment. We are hoping that the camp can provide the children not only with good outdoor learning experiences but also share a knowledge of the history of the land of the camp. We are also looking to find a team of people at the camp who understand Maori ways of learning and teaching so that our students feel comfortable and empowered. We also hope that the camp we attend has a team of people who understand Maori ideas about health and wellbeing.
We hope you can help us. If you think your team at Lake Adventure Challenge can meet our needs we would love to hear from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Paratene
Moana Kura Kaupapa
RESEARCHING
We decided that we would need to do some research – this was all new territory for the team! We divided into research teams to learn about different aspects of Te Ao Maori before coming together to apply all the new knowledge to our outdoor education camp. The three areas of research were:
1. Whenua, Whakapapa, and Whanau (Land, connection between people and land and family)
2. Ora and the Whare Tapa Wha (Health and wellbeing and the four sides to Maori views of health/wellbeing)
3. Ako, Tuakana-Teina, and Co-operative Learning Groups (Maori ways of teaching and learning).
We had a busy morning researching these different areas and answering a number of different research questions. We then used jigsaw discussion groups to come back and share our knowledge with each other, everyone being experts on the different areas they had been researching. It was amazing how quickly, through applying all this new knowledge to our outdoor education camp situation, we became familiar with these new Maori terms, values, and ideas.
Next we had a go at incorporating this new knowledge into visual images, bringing together the new knowledge of Te Ao Maori and our current camp programme, values, and philosophy.
Our Tree Diagram
This is one image the team came up with: presenting the information on a tree, with the roots representing a connection to whenua, (the land), the trunk being the tangata (the people), and four big branches being the 4 sides of ora (wellbeing): whanau (family, friends, relationships, and groups), hinengaro (minds and feelings), tinana (body), wairua (spirituality/connection to the land). Examples of camp activities from our programme were used to illustrate the different Maori ideas of health and wellbeing for example:
Taha Hinengaro:
Having leaders who are encouraging and help the children reach their goals,
Having leaders who are friendly and supportive and nurturing
Not letting children feel stressed by having leaders that you can trust and who talk to you kindly.
Having a Home Group – a small group who comes together with a leader to discuss any problems or fears – a support group.
Having reflecting time – eg. diary writing.
Taha Whanau:
Doing team rowing – waka ama
Sharing kai (food) – hangi, toasting marshmallows around the fire
Sharing tents/camping
Taha Wairua:
Making connections to the land through activities like hangi, birdwatching, bushwalking, lake activities, beach walking…
Taha Tinana:
Rock climbing
Running
Kayaking
Tree Jumping….and all the other physical activities you can do at the camp.
Cooking healthy food
Our Image of Whare Tapa Wha: The Four Walls of Wellbeing
MYTHS AND LEGENDS – CREATING A HISTORY FOR OUR LAND
We then shared a number of Maori myths and legends, such as the creation myth of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Kupe’s Voyage, and The Two Taniwha of Wellington Harbour. Then some of us had a go at writing our own myths and legends for our fictional camp grounds. Here are some of the beginnings of our legend writing…
"The lake at Lake Adventure Challenge was made when the world was young and no humans were alive. The lake was not there, It was in lands far away…..” Zoe
"Before the sea was made there was a lake that was 10 metres long. 2 taniwha lived there. One was lazy and sunbathed all day. The other one swam all day….." Alexander
"Once upon a time there were 3 taniwha. They lived in the lake at Lake Adventure Challenge Camp. One was very lazy, his name was Poterkeyna. One was kind, her name was Matermater, and one was a worrying thing, his name was Muritai. Muritai wanted to get out of that tiny lake…" Orla.
"How the rivers were created…
A long time ago before the sea and rivers were made, and before peple and dinosaurs, when gods were alive, there lived a god called Tangaroa. Tangaroa lived with his mother Papatuanuku and his brother Tane. One afternoon Tangaroa decied to visit land. Tangaroa packed some kai and his power necklace. His power necklace was very special to him because that used to be his father’s who died a month before his birth. That was the only thing his father left for him, but it was very special and gave him powers that he needed…." Macey
"How the lake, at Lake Adventure Challenge, was created:
Once upon a time Tangaroa had a fight with his brother Tu to see who was strongest. To they stood in a clearing and began to fight. Tu struck but missed and made a huge dent in the land. Tangaroa, the god of the sea, was angered so fought back but Tu, the god of war, was more used to this type of thing and hit Tangaroa in the calf. He screamed in pain and from him wound water flowed and filled the dent with it. Then he slunk back to the sea." Pablo
"Once the two brother, Ruamoko and Tangaroa, wanted to fight because they had both had bad days. Ruamoko made a huge earthquake and there was a huge dent in Papatuanuku. Then Tangaroa was very angry so he made a huge flood and all the water went into the dent. That was how the lake was made." Evie.
Day Five
This morning we began IN ROLE in a team meeting.
“We have a bit of a dilemma here at Lake Adventure Challenge today. Last night’s huge rainstorm has hit us pretty hard. We are going to need all hands on deck to re-set everything up and check the safety of our camp before our new group of kids arrive, which is only a couple of days away. We are going to need to split up into small groups and check everything is okay and fix anything that is broken….”
Everyone jumped into action straight away. There was a lot of talk as people reported back damage that they had discovered. Plans were quickly made on what repair jobs needed to be done and what supplies were needed. Gear lists were made as a stocktake of the equipment shed was completed eg. “10 rafts, 18 kayaks, 18 oars, 18 balls….”. Some went off to check food supplies and made lists of what was there and what was needed. Some went off to check the tracks on the island and to look for any fallen trees. Some went off to make a new welcome sign, which turned out to be badly damaged. Some went off to check the cabins, sweep them out and make the beds. Rope courses and tree jumping activities were checked and repaired as necessary – it was a hive of activity at Lake Adventure Challenge Confidence Camp!
Some overheard conversations:
“Lets hop into the boat and head out to the island”
“I brought my toolkit”
“there is quite a lot of damage to some of the gymnasium equipment”
“I’ll check trade me to see if I can find some cheaper metal bars and springs…”
“we just had two calls, one from Zoe’s friend who can come and fix our springs. We also won the placed bid on trade me”
“it is going to cost $50 for the new metal stands”
“there’s some spare carpet in the gear shed left over from when we carpeted our office, we can use that to replace the carpet on the beam”
We stayed in role right up until morning tea (most of an hour), everyone was really engaged and busy as they improvised conversations, phonecalls, made stocktake checklists, gearlists, lists, diagrams, and signs…
There was also a lot of spontaneous maths as people worked out the costs of things and multiplied them as necessary. Some worked out how many supplies would be needed for 24 kids and 9 adult helpers, others worked out what size groups they would have for the different activities etc. One team sorted out the raft building supplies that would be needed. They decided they would do this activity in 6 groups of 4 requiring a gear list of:
12 tyres, 78 nails, 42 wooden boards, 6 anchors, 6 ladders, 6 ropes, 6 saws, and 8 chains…
Team members then reported back to each other on what they had found and how they had responded:
“There was loads of mud and leaves in the cabins that we had to clear”
“we chopped down the tree that had fallen down and we made a new table seat by the wharf on the island”
“we have cleared all the tracks and repaired some signs”
“We found some hinges in the gear cupboard and fixed the doors that had blown open”
“some of the light bulbs in the cabins aren’t working. I have ordered the lightbulbs but they can’t get them till tomorrow, they said they can come in the morning at 11”
“we got some donations, $365, we have used $165 to replace the broken and worn gym equipment so there is still $200 for other people to use….”
A Safety Sign
Diagram for Raft Building Materials
Map Showing Damage on the Island
A Stocktake List of Food Supplies
As the team reported back what they had found the discussion took an interesting turn towards other things that were discovered in the big cleaup…
“I noticed that there is chewing gum on the underside of the beds and seats”
“I noticed a lot of lolly wrappers in the toilets…”
“some of the kids in the last group brought cellphones and they were using them at night…”
“we should have signs in the cabins and toilets saying ‘no lollies, gum, or cellphones allowed’”
“we have activities like toasted marshmallows, so they will have some treats here, they don’t need to bring any lollies etc”
“we should have bag checks when the kids arrive to make sure they are not sneaking in any lollies or gum”
After some discussion we decided we need to come up with a gear list for the children coming to our camp and strict guidelines about what children were not allowed to bring!
TAKING ON A DIFFERENT ROLE – As students in Sophie’s class who have been visiting the camp.
Next we fast forwarded a week and went into role as students in Sophie’s class (From our work earlier with Dick King Smith’s book ‘The Adventures of Sophe’). We imagined that we had just had three days at Lake Adventure Challenge Camp and that we were packing our bags on our last night before leaving for home in the morning. We mimed packing our bags and when we were shoulder tapped by Ms Gain we spoke aloud a thought/reflection that might be going through our heads as we packed. We followed this activity with some diary writing in role as these characters also. Here are some examples from our diary entries:
‘Today we climbed a big climbing wall. I have never had to do this but I did! I jumped, cooked, baked, and rained myself with water bombs…SPLASH!’ Helena
‘After French Toast for brekkie and doing my hair (ponytail), we went straight to raft building. My group was Andrew, Duncan, and me. After we had finished our raft we had to try it out….’ Macey
‘Today I made friends with Dawn when we were making rafts. The most challenging thing was the team bulding and the easiest thing was the rock climbing…’ Zoe
‘It’s the end of the day and I’m wishing that I didn’t have to leave Lake Adventure Challenge. It felt like heaven here biking, playing soccer, kayaking and many more activities. I wish I could live here forever….’ Alexander.
‘I liked today best out of all of the days. We did team rowing and we did raft building….’ Hugo.
‘Today I am quite sad because I have packed my bags […]I am surprised that I am sad because I had to share a cabin with Sophie and Duncan. Today we did the flying fox. I was really scared when I first saw it but once I did it I wasn’t that scared and after I had done it a second time I wasn’t scared at all. We also did raft building. IT was quite hard but I managed to do it, I was in a team with three other people. I got better at team work…..’Evie
‘Today I pushed my limits but kayaking to the island and back again…’ Alice.
Diary Writing in Role
PUBLISHING ON KEYNOTE
The rest of the day was spent publishing writing for our Lake Adventure Camp brochures. We worked on laptops using the programme Keynote. We learnt how to save our files to the desktop for printing. The layout and designs that have been created are starting to look pretty professional!
“We have a bit of a dilemma here at Lake Adventure Challenge today. Last night’s huge rainstorm has hit us pretty hard. We are going to need all hands on deck to re-set everything up and check the safety of our camp before our new group of kids arrive, which is only a couple of days away. We are going to need to split up into small groups and check everything is okay and fix anything that is broken….”
Everyone jumped into action straight away. There was a lot of talk as people reported back damage that they had discovered. Plans were quickly made on what repair jobs needed to be done and what supplies were needed. Gear lists were made as a stocktake of the equipment shed was completed eg. “10 rafts, 18 kayaks, 18 oars, 18 balls….”. Some went off to check food supplies and made lists of what was there and what was needed. Some went off to check the tracks on the island and to look for any fallen trees. Some went off to make a new welcome sign, which turned out to be badly damaged. Some went off to check the cabins, sweep them out and make the beds. Rope courses and tree jumping activities were checked and repaired as necessary – it was a hive of activity at Lake Adventure Challenge Confidence Camp!
Some overheard conversations:
“Lets hop into the boat and head out to the island”
“I brought my toolkit”
“there is quite a lot of damage to some of the gymnasium equipment”
“I’ll check trade me to see if I can find some cheaper metal bars and springs…”
“we just had two calls, one from Zoe’s friend who can come and fix our springs. We also won the placed bid on trade me”
“it is going to cost $50 for the new metal stands”
“there’s some spare carpet in the gear shed left over from when we carpeted our office, we can use that to replace the carpet on the beam”
We stayed in role right up until morning tea (most of an hour), everyone was really engaged and busy as they improvised conversations, phonecalls, made stocktake checklists, gearlists, lists, diagrams, and signs…
There was also a lot of spontaneous maths as people worked out the costs of things and multiplied them as necessary. Some worked out how many supplies would be needed for 24 kids and 9 adult helpers, others worked out what size groups they would have for the different activities etc. One team sorted out the raft building supplies that would be needed. They decided they would do this activity in 6 groups of 4 requiring a gear list of:
12 tyres, 78 nails, 42 wooden boards, 6 anchors, 6 ladders, 6 ropes, 6 saws, and 8 chains…
Team members then reported back to each other on what they had found and how they had responded:
“There was loads of mud and leaves in the cabins that we had to clear”
“we chopped down the tree that had fallen down and we made a new table seat by the wharf on the island”
“we have cleared all the tracks and repaired some signs”
“We found some hinges in the gear cupboard and fixed the doors that had blown open”
“some of the light bulbs in the cabins aren’t working. I have ordered the lightbulbs but they can’t get them till tomorrow, they said they can come in the morning at 11”
“we got some donations, $365, we have used $165 to replace the broken and worn gym equipment so there is still $200 for other people to use….”
A Safety Sign
Diagram for Raft Building Materials
Map Showing Damage on the Island
A Stocktake List of Food Supplies
As the team reported back what they had found the discussion took an interesting turn towards other things that were discovered in the big cleaup…
“I noticed that there is chewing gum on the underside of the beds and seats”
“I noticed a lot of lolly wrappers in the toilets…”
“some of the kids in the last group brought cellphones and they were using them at night…”
“we should have signs in the cabins and toilets saying ‘no lollies, gum, or cellphones allowed’”
“we have activities like toasted marshmallows, so they will have some treats here, they don’t need to bring any lollies etc”
“we should have bag checks when the kids arrive to make sure they are not sneaking in any lollies or gum”
After some discussion we decided we need to come up with a gear list for the children coming to our camp and strict guidelines about what children were not allowed to bring!
TAKING ON A DIFFERENT ROLE – As students in Sophie’s class who have been visiting the camp.
Next we fast forwarded a week and went into role as students in Sophie’s class (From our work earlier with Dick King Smith’s book ‘The Adventures of Sophe’). We imagined that we had just had three days at Lake Adventure Challenge Camp and that we were packing our bags on our last night before leaving for home in the morning. We mimed packing our bags and when we were shoulder tapped by Ms Gain we spoke aloud a thought/reflection that might be going through our heads as we packed. We followed this activity with some diary writing in role as these characters also. Here are some examples from our diary entries:
‘Today we climbed a big climbing wall. I have never had to do this but I did! I jumped, cooked, baked, and rained myself with water bombs…SPLASH!’ Helena
‘After French Toast for brekkie and doing my hair (ponytail), we went straight to raft building. My group was Andrew, Duncan, and me. After we had finished our raft we had to try it out….’ Macey
‘Today I made friends with Dawn when we were making rafts. The most challenging thing was the team bulding and the easiest thing was the rock climbing…’ Zoe
‘It’s the end of the day and I’m wishing that I didn’t have to leave Lake Adventure Challenge. It felt like heaven here biking, playing soccer, kayaking and many more activities. I wish I could live here forever….’ Alexander.
‘I liked today best out of all of the days. We did team rowing and we did raft building….’ Hugo.
‘Today I am quite sad because I have packed my bags […]I am surprised that I am sad because I had to share a cabin with Sophie and Duncan. Today we did the flying fox. I was really scared when I first saw it but once I did it I wasn’t that scared and after I had done it a second time I wasn’t scared at all. We also did raft building. IT was quite hard but I managed to do it, I was in a team with three other people. I got better at team work…..’Evie
‘Today I pushed my limits but kayaking to the island and back again…’ Alice.
Diary Writing in Role
PUBLISHING ON KEYNOTE
The rest of the day was spent publishing writing for our Lake Adventure Camp brochures. We worked on laptops using the programme Keynote. We learnt how to save our files to the desktop for printing. The layout and designs that have been created are starting to look pretty professional!
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