Week 5 of Garden Camp Has Begun!

Can you believe we have been at Garden Camp for 4 weeks already? With just 2 weeks of camp left, we are as busy as ever learning and having fun!

Chores on a farm need to be done every day and today is no exception. We worked in the garden and took care of the animals, making sure they have the food and water they need to grow. Speaking of the animals, our chickens are very close to producing eggs! They used to be little chicks but now they are growing up. In addition to the little chicks, Ms. Pat brought 3 chickens that were already able to lay eggs over. We are getting a few eggs now, but in a couple of weeks, we will have a lot more!

We also played a really neat board game that Mr. Johnson created. It was about the business of farming. It was a lot of fun. In the afternoon, Mr. Johnson taught us about profit with a really cool lesson. Some of us were buyers and some were sellers. After that, we worked together to figure out how much it cost to make our pickles last week. We also decided how much to sell them for at the farmers market.

Student Blog Entries July 9, 2009

Well, more than just July 9. Since we were at the zoo yesterday, here are entries from the past couple of days. We are talking about habitats this week.

Carmela:

7-7-09: If I was a frog I'd would live in a muddy area were I can look like mud.Snakes would never expect me! I'd also like to live in a habitat were there are insects,ponds and mud. It would be like if I was part of nature.

7-9-09: My favorite animal at the zoo was the zebras. I really like its habitat. Because it was BIG! It was so big that there was other animals. There was a pond that was covered up with algae. I really enjoy going to the zoo.

Brian:

7-7-09 If I were a deer my habitat would be in the woods with water and food thats right for a deer.

7-8-09 My favorite animal from the zoo was a monkey.A habitat is a home like place for animals to live.Food and water and the things the animals needs for it to look like home.

Student Blog Entries July 2, 2009

It's a cold day at Garden Camp today. Highs will be in the mid-60's with scattered rain. But the cold weather isn't dampening spirits here! We have an exciting day planned, including going fishing! We will post pictures taken by students once we have them.

Here's what one student blogger had to say this morning.

Carmela:

7-2-09: What is pollution? Where does it come from? How can it help you? Pollution is like when a chemical from a factory goes through a pipe into like a body of water like a lake or ocean. Then it becomes dirty. We can help by being organic and we shouldn't use chemicals.

Catching up on the blog

It has been a busy week at Garden Camp! The Internet connection has been slow too, so we have been a little bit behind getting blog entries posted. But never fear, our sharp students have been working offline and saving their entries for you. We have been keeping our Flickr stream updated. In fact, between Carmela, Brian, Elexus, and Mr. Gettig, we have taken over 500 pictures this week alone!

Here's what Carmela had to say this week:

6-29- 09 : I really enjoy videotaping others. Because you can make a story without writing. There will always be a beginning,middle and end. Videotaping is harder then its looks. Its faster then making a book.

6-30-09: do you think it was cold this morning? I do. Today I and everybody went on a hike. I got to take pictures of a decomposing tree and a decomposer which is something that eats dead things . I go to take a lot of pictures of nature. Don't you you think nature is pretty ? If you do leave a comment. Tell all about it. I'll read it.

7-1-09: Yesterday I really had fun. I can't stop talking about it. I hardly see marshes,wetlands and swamps. I had to out watch out for poison ivy. I discover a diving beetle.Also Zack found a beach which is a beetle and a leach together. I also saw an american toad. Well, there is so much to talk about in one day. Bye! :)!

From Elexus:

7-1-09:yesterday I really had fun.I can not stop thinking about it I am going to tell you about some of the things we caught but not yet I am going to a lot about this gray tree I saw and I think it disolves so that it keeps ants or bug of it so that it could live. now I am going to tell you about what we caught salomns and tadpoles and diving beatle and a soloman with gils the end .

Look for a video about the chickens and the wetlands field study later today!

Student Blog Entries June 24, 2009

Yesterday, we wrote the old fashioned way...on paper! It is a good way to practice handwriting so we are balancing writing in journals with blogging throughout the camp. Today we have blog posts from Brian and Elexus as they answer the question, "Would you like to be a strawberry grower?"

Brian:

No because all that time in the sun would be really annoying and you could get sunburn.

Elexus:

No because it is horrible out in the sun and it is kind of disgusting when you touch parts that have been bit out of.

Today, we are making strawberry jam from the strawberries we picked yesterday. We will have video of this interesting and yummy process when it is done.

Student Blog Entries June 22, 2009

Carmela didn't make it Garden Camp today, so the responsibility for blogging falls on Brian's shoulders! Here's what he has to say as we start week #2 of Garden Camp.

From Brian:

Where did your juice come from?Its called mixed berry so it must be from berries.I expect to see a lot of strawberries and a lot of boating.I have a new friend here at garden camp and his name is Zack.

Student Blog Entries June 18, 2009

From Brian:

Yesterday we picked weeds and I thought I had a allergic reaction to one of the weeds,but i didn't.We did some farm chores and I met Ms.Pat's husband,son, her son's wife,and Ms.Christy who had plants to give us.These are three reasons I like garden camp so far.(1)I am apart of the vj/video journalists,(2)Everybody gets to have a fun time with Mr.Johnson,Mr.Gettig,and Ms.Butter Fingers.(3)Everybody's so nice.

From Carmela:

Q: What do stems do?
A: Stems support plants like making them stand, helping water and nutrients get inside the plant which help it grow. We also did an experiment with celery. We put the stems in regular water and blue colored water and today the stem and plant were greenish blue. I was really surprised by the results I think it will also surprise you too! :) !

Student Blog Entries June 17, 2009

Two of the students attending Garden Camp are learning to shoot video and use Internet tools like blogging. They are the documentary filmmakers and student video journalists (VJ's) for our camp.

One component of Garden Camp is daily journaling. The VJ's will be periodically making blog entries for themselves and for the younger students at camp. Here are blog entries from each.

From Brian:

I learned how to use a tripod and I got to record kids in the garden picking weeds and putting benches in the garden to look at the garden without standing you can relax and see our wonder garden.Don't be afraid of our wonderful garden,and garden club out at pretty lake vacation camp.I have been at garden camp for 2 years and why stop there I could work with garden camp when I get older.S please don't keep me away from garden camp.

From Carmela:

Yesterday I went swimming at Pretty Lake with Mr.Johnson, Ms.Smith, Ms.Pat.and Mr.Gettig . We also went fishing. At least three (3) of the boys caught a fish. Mr. Gettig took a picture of the fisher boys and their fish. We also took a swimming test. There was also a lifeguard . His name is Zack. He'll save you if you drown. Then free swam and change and left to Edison.