Day #1 - Part 2

"Time goes by really fast here!"

"I could stay here for 3 months!"

"My SPIDER ISLAND clas got rid of my fear of spiders!"

"I wanna play that game. IT LOOKS SO FUN!"

These are some of the things I've overheard from our fifth graders today - YES, NC is awesome!

It's been a very busy first day. As I write, everyone is in the LEOJ ("Joel" spelled backwards) participating in Quest Night activities. There are a number of "challenge" stations to which they rotate.

Each challenge requires a different level of cooperation; the kids are working with their field groups, so they're getting used to being a team to accomplish goals together. My favorite was the one on the outdoor well-lit stage (in the balmy autumn night air) where they were instructed not to speak at all and to create one large "masterpiece" using only the stones they found on the stage. They were not to use any of the leaves or twigs that were scattered about. Their use of sign language, body language, and facial expression was impresive as they worked on their creation.

This afternoon, everyone chose a 1 1/2 hour class to attend: Building a survival shelter, Treasure hunt/orienteering with a compass, Float your boat (building cardboard boats and testing the designs by seeing if they sink or float in Serpent Pond),Endangered eggs (activities to teach about endangered species), Burma Bridge (creating a rope bridge strong enough for each group member to walk across, while all others act as spotters),Spider Island (cool investigations about the characteristics and behaviors of arachnids), Rainbow connection (art project), or...the ever-popular shark dissection.

Dinner was make-your-own meat or veggie taco in soft roll-up tortilla, yellow rice with black beans, and brownie with whipped cream. (Always, salad and sunflower butter and jelly are available, too) . No one is going to bed hungry!

It's almost time for me to rejoin the group for evening sing-along and the walk back to the bunks foir our first night here at Nature's Classroom.

I'll add some more photos from our first fabulous day!