Adorable 4th graders

This past week we had 156 adorable 4th graders here. They were pretty cute, and very typical 4th graders. They came with every question imaginable, and didn't always want to listen to the answer. However, they were excited about everything, and they never had to be convinced that something was cool. As usual, my field group was into looking for frogs and animals. They also got to learn about shelters, and how to build a fire. They all love it here.

One of my favorite conversations from this week was with a student at dinner. This is how it went:

Student: "When did you have your first crush?"
Me: "When I was younger"
Student: *list of all of her crushes shes had* "See that boy over there, I like him, I am going to ask him out."
Boy at Table: "I thought the boy was supposed to ask the girl out?"
Student: "Whatever, they take to long!"

I noticed also with this group there was a lot of gender stereotyping. They boys thought they were stronger, the girls thought the boys were annoying. They also clearly did not want to interact with each other. I had to have many talks with kids this week about the issue. I think in schools they are perpetuating the stereotype.

As a staff this week, we all participated in chop stick challenge. How it worked was everyone was given a pair of chopsticks. Any solid foods that you ate during the week had to be eaten with the chop sticks. We all played until there was one person standing. I made it until Wednesday night. I accidentally ate some food that I was using to teach a class :(. It was still fun though.

This weekend I spent some time with the staff, since this is going to be our last week together. I also, did a lot of cleaning and packing.

For our last week we have 2 schools coming. Both are coming for 3 days, and both are 5th graders. I am teaching jellybellyology, shark dissection, inside out kid, camouflage and staking, megastructures, soccer ball digestion, and shelter building. Its going to be a very busy week.

Then on Saturday I will be moving into camp. Our staff training begins on Monday morning. I am really excited and looking forward to the new adventures camp will bring.

Here are some pictures from the week: