Week Six

Maryland Science Center- As part of the culminating event for the end of camp, and the energy study, a field trip to the Maryland Science Center was arranged. Two hours of time was set aside to explore the museum in small groups. The museum is broken down into many small exhibits including Dinosaurs, The Body, Blue Crabs, Electricity, Newtons Alley, and Main Street. Because energy is everywhere, every exhibit had something to offer the campers that would connect to the study. The dinosaur exhibit was a favorite for a lot of children with models of life size dinosaurs, a dinosaur nest, and a chance to brush sand off a fossil casting to mimic a paleontologists activities. In the middle of the visit the Blue Room congregated in the "Kids Room". This room had a replica of a ship, a huge water table, animal themed dress-ups, and a giant 3D pin art activity center.

Children moved, rotated, pushed, and manipulated numerous displays and had a fun and exciting day.

Answering Our Questions - During the first week of camp children wrote questions on the topic of energy. Many questions were simply, "what is energy" and "why is energy so important"? These questions were easy to answer after six weeks of energy focus. One child said, "I'll bet they will repeat this study again at the CYC because it was such a good study" and everyone agreed, because "Energy is everywhere."

Music Class Show- Parents were invited to a music show based on what campers had learned during music class with Ms. Ojukwu. Ms Ojukwu told a story about a girl and her ukulele that involved every study in all of the rooms at the CYC. Children also sang songs that she had taught them during the summer including, "Music has a Steady Beat." Ms Ojukwu is an Education student at the UMD.

It was a beautiful performance by all. Ms. O, as the children call her, had been teaching the children about music measures and beats with fun activities including bean bags and musical instruments. Children used tee tee's and ta's to describe beats.

Culmination To show their parents all they had learned during the summer, children combined their ideas into creating an "Energy Museum". Preparations began the beginning of the week and continued up until the time of the show. Some children wrote books, others made posters, and some constructed models. Some children worked independently, and others in small groups. The museum was set up with all of their work and also it displayed some books and items used during the study. Two groups set up a circuit with the circuit blocks to make a piano and a spinning motor for the museum. Parents came after the music performance and admired the class displays.

Picnic- For lunch one day the Blue Room walked over to a nearby area, referred to as LaPlata Beach. Children enjoyed their food and had a chance to play soccer, volley ball, do gymnastics, and fly a kite. Ms. Johnson impressed everyone by doing eight back flips in a row! She used to be a cheerleaderin high school and belonged to Gymkana when she was a UMD student.

Swimming-The Blue Room went to the UMD outdoor pool every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning. Parents took turns chaperoning and playing with the children in the pool. The children had many different levels of swimming skills and although there were no formal lessons, by the end of the summer the non-swimmers had improved significantly.