OK - 5 days w/ 8 10-11year olds in a cabin

[alittlelark]

Starting tommorrow. I volunteered (they were about to have to cancel). It is my daughter's class. We are in a charter that does things uniquely. The kids (all 5-6th graders) spend a week at a nature conservancy in N CA. They go to Washington DC in the spring (I will almost certainly join that one).

I am a 'den mother' who will be in charge of (22 hrs a day) 8 girls.


I AM SOOOO SCARED!!! Well, not really, but does anyone have suggestions for activities, stories.... I have a few, but I was hoping for some DU advice.

PS - no cell service, no internet - 1 pay phone

[PSU84]

1. Monopoly.

And card games.

[alittlelark]

3. I'm bringing cards

but it seems that there are too many for Monopoly. I was thinking about Scrabble teams (they're all waaay smart)

[PSU84]

12. Scrabble is good.

But don't give up on Monopoly. You could take several boards (they're cheap) and the games can take hours....

[alittlelark]

20. I'm leaving at 8am

no more time for shopping.:-(

[Swede]

2. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

Short and sweet.

What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

http://www.writepage.com/velvet.htm

[alittlelark]

5. That is a good idea -

most of them read it last year in school.... perhaps a play...?

[slinkerwink]

4. bring lots of board games, especially twister

And have them do a fun treasure hunt game around the cabin.

[alittlelark]

7. Treasure Hunt.....good idea!

[slinkerwink]

9. make sure to have the treasure hunt with chocolates

Divide your girls into two teams, and leave a prize for them to find in a very tough spot. Whichever team finds that prize first, gets to have it.

[alittlelark]

17. I'm SUPPOSED to bring no food

but chocotate is not a food - it is a gift from the Goddess! I can argue that point if caught.

[yardwork]

6. You need a planned schedule

Plan every minute, from the time they get up to the time they go to bed.

Also, ahead of time, make sure that all kids bring all needed medications, supplies, etc. Get signed forms from the parents with the dosage of all meds clearly spelled out. Have adults keep all meds and give them out to the kids at set times of day (put it in your schedule).

Bring a first aid kit and know where the urgent care center, hospital emergency department, emergency dental office, etc. is - you may well need them! Bring phone numbers for contacting all parents 24/7.

I've chaperoned on field trips like this, and if the schedule is clear and you are firm about keeping to the general rules the kids tend to behave very well. The main thing to look out for is giddiness late at night - be firm about lights out and quiet time. I accompanied a team of 9-10 year old boys to their Pop Warner football playoffs and their Super Bowl in Orlando, Florida last year. It was exhausting but wonderful!

[alittlelark]

10. The nature consevancy has my schedule for me

all is provided for - hikes w/ guides, lectures, animal obsevation..... I just have to worry about 4 hrs a day and getting them to sleep (still sounds scary)

[punpirate]

8. Wear 'em out...

... with hikes through the conservancy, bring lots of paper and colored pencils and tell them to draw what they see. Later, discuss and compare and ask them if they recognized what they saw on hikes.

Books. If you can find a copy of Silent Spring, bring that and read a bit in the evening and ask them how it relates to what they saw during the day. If they're smart, make them think a lot.

And, good luck. :)

edit for typo.

[proud patriot]

11. Puzzles , Yahtzee

also Books , Binoculars , A fishing pole if you'll
be near fish . Hard candy . Ghost stories , Coloring
books and colored pencils with a sharpener.

Have fun it sounds like a blast :D

[alittlelark]

18. no fishing allowed, but I'm bringing 2 sets of

binoculars. Ghost Stories are a specialty of mine, problem is that I'm too good and they may not sleep!

[politicat]

13. Take a Chumbawamba CD or tape and teach the girls the songs.

They're fun and subversive and easy to sing... and not necessarily easily identifiable as "bad"... (you can download the songs from iTunes or similar...) Tubthumper, barring the title track, is good for that.

Ixnay the ghost stories before they get started until the last night. Let their parents deal with the nightmares. Else, you'll be up all night dealing with them.

Take a book and read to them - Phillip Pullman's the Golden Compass is an easy one to do in a week if you do a chapter a night and read in the afternoon. I used to use The Borrowers and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but I stopped being a camp counsellor before the Renaissance in Children's literature started. (90s). Another good book I read to the girls at camp was Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and it's still in print at every big book store (it was a Newberry).

Dig up girl scout songs... This site has a bajillion of them.... http://www.macscouter.com/Songs/

Wear them OUT during the day! If they're tired at sundown, they'll sleep! (Okay, this was more practical for me when I was 19 and the girls were 11 and I could run 2 days without sleep so I could keep up with them during the daylight and meet up with my friends from the other camps in the area at the lake at night.... )

Get them making up short stories - not scary - about common items. Natalie: give me a story about a girl who finds a special rock hidden in her grandmother's cupboard. Erica: tell me about the little girl who discovered she could walk on the bottom of the lake....


Good luck!!

Pcat

[alittlelark]

19. No electronics allowed

BUT The Golden Compass - GREAT IDEA!!! My daughter read it last year (she will not be among the 8) I read it years ago along with the 2nd - Amber Spyglass and the 3rd (?). Will I have enough time to do it right?

I'll bring the books along!

Thanks!

The short story ideas sound good too!

[politicat]

21. 2nd is The Subtle Knife, 3rd is Amber Spyglass. Yes, you have time to read

it.

I read it over the phone to my nephew in a week, 45 minutes a night and 20 minutes in the afternoon.

He was 2.5, but his daddy had just gone off to Iraq, and his mom (my sister) was having a hell of a time with him. Since I'm 1000 miles away, we decided that reading a book would work best. He'll sit on the phone and listen if it's someone he knows their voice. (Mom read him Harry Potter I, doing the morning shift over about 3 weeks.)

We believe in starting kids off early with subversion.... but anyway....

Have fun!

Pcat

[acmavm]

14. Oh man, I hope it goes better than my camping trip last weekend with

12 kids.

I have never taken a thorazine in my life, nor did I ever feel like I needed something like that until last weekend. I could have used a handful.

Good luck, and I sincerely wish you the best. Have fun.

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

15. I just want to say good luck.

Elementary school kids scare me. Even if I was one no less than 5 years ago.

[Gyre]

16. Don't forget your

PROZAC!!! Glad it's not me.

Gyre

[MAlibdem]

22. sounds awesome...

do american idol...

run around outside

make them make up games