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| CA poppies on one of the hikes |
I recently had the opportunity to go with my daughter, as a chaperone, on her 5th grade overnight field trip. The trip reminded me of my 5th grade field trip I took so many years ago. It was fascinating to me how some things haven't changed over the last 37 years and how different other things are .
The Same old thing
First, the camp focus and location. My daughters camp was at Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco. It was housed at an old Cold War missile base. It was a very cool location, right next to the beach. There are miles of hiking trails, places to see and wildlife everywhere. My 5th grade camp was in the Sierra Nevada mountains, just south of Yosemite National Park. If I remember my camp, from almost 40 years ago, we talked about nature, ecology, and environmentalism. Things have not changed. They still teach the same things, but they sure made them more fun than I remembered, and gave them new names. Like Garbology.
Garbology
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| Ice Plant on one the hikes. |
That is right, the study of garbage. Specifically the amount of garbage the kids produced while at camp. This was brilliant! They assigned kids to sort the garbage after each meal. Liquid, edible, and non-edible. They weighed it and then kept track. This taught the kids great scientific methods, and gave them a goal to achieve after each meal. In the evenings they would look at the results. Great lesson on so many levels.
Hiking
Hiking seems to be one of those things that all 5th grade camps seem to have. I totally understand the philosophy around this. It gets the kids out in nature, they get to see the beautiful world that we live in and most of all they are dead tired at night. :) As a chaperone I appreciated the exhausted kids at night. We really did not have to tell the kids to be quiet very often. Lights out at 9:15pm and by 9:30pm most of the kids were already asleep. Maybe we should do that with my kids at home. Hike them around the neighborhood for 6 hours and then tell them to go to bed.
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| Suspension bridge to St. Bonita Light House |
The hikes at Marin Headlands are incredible. With ocean views and beaches all around, every hike had beautiful views and great learning experiences for the kids. Because Marin Headlands was an old missile base there are lots of old bunkers and batteries for the kids to explore and learn about. Most fascinating was and old gun turret hole that had been filled up with water and wildlife had taken it over. 'Newt Nation" as it is called by the camp. The kids got to see an ecosystem of newts, frogs, snakes, and insects and how they have overtaken something in a short 30 years since it was last used.
One thing that one of the camp "Educators" mentioned, is that kids today are not as in shape as they have been in the last 15-20 years, the length they had been working at these camps. Too much screen time. The "Educators" are pretty good about pushing the kids and not listening to the complaining. And really only the first hike was the only time I heard complaining. But by the third day the complaining was back, but mostly by the parent chaperones. One of those may or may not have been me.
Home Sickness
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| Hawk Cove near Camp |
One thing that has not changed is kids and home sickness. For many of these kids this was the first time staying away from their parents. And those are typically the ones that were having the hardest time. Luckily all of the kids made it through the first night with only a couple calls home, but no one leaving. I remember the same thing from my 5th grade trip.
For many of the kids at the camp this was also the first time the kids have lived in a dormitory. One thing they learn quickly is they have no privacy. There was some difference from when I went to camp. The showers when I went were just an open bathroom with shower heads. Everyone was scared to take a shower. I only remember one or two kids taking showers in the three days of camp. I was not one of them. The showers for these kids were isolated stalls with shower curtains. So we had more than half the kids take showers each day and about 75% took them at least once.
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| Madeline and a WW II gun |
Bunk beds
Bunk beds have always been part of 5th grade camp and this was no different. The only difference this time is as an adult, I had to share a room with 2 bunk beds and 3 fully grown men. Being 6 feet tall I would have thought that I would get the bottom bunk. But the other two guys I was with were taller. And because the bottom bunk did not have a foot-board or headboard I ended up on the top bunk. It has been years. I think my mission was the last time I was on the top bunk.
Luggage and Hair products
I have never seen so much luggage for 3 days and 2 nights in my life. I think there should be a rule that you must carry your own luggage. No roller boards. You have to carry your own stuff. Kids were coming with enough clothes to survive for weeks. I blame roller-board luggage for this. The problem with roller-board luggage is they do not work well in the grass or dirt. So we had several kids not able to get their luggage where it needed to be.
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| Madeline on the beach |
Another thing I do not remember from my 5th grade days was the amount of hair products the boys had. Hair Gel, Gorilla Snot, Hair spray, etc. No wonder the kid's suitcases where so large, they had to bring everything from the bathroom with them. Some of the boys were actually late to breakfast because they were doing their hair. Can you believe that? What is happening to our children :)
Right of Passage
In the end it was great to get to know these kids in an unfamiliar environment. Watch some of them conquer their fears and work together to solve problems. I especially enjoyed the time I got to spend with my daughter Madeline and watch her face challenges and overcome them.
DWP
