Science Matters at Camp Howdy 2008

This past week was day camp at Camp Howdy and, boy, did we have a great week! It was hot and the programs were great. Each day we started with a flag ceremony and announcements, had
a program and craft activity, and did a lot of hiking. On Monday, the Chemistry Road Show came and Dr. Pennington showed us all sorts of neat chemistry experiments. Tuesday brought Dr. Yasskin from the Math Department at Texas A&M and his group engaging in some interesting hands on math activities. The Brazos Valley Natural History Museum came to visit on Wednesday. They brought some little critters like a hedgehog, a king snake, and some turtles to visit. Friday brought the A&M Consolidated High School robotics club. They talked about the engineering process and we made paper air planes. Let's not forget, Friday was water day! The girls had a blast getting wet playing water games.

I had a great assistant leader, Sissy, again this year. We had a great group of girls. We tried something different for the 5th grade units this year. Each day we did some extra outdoor cooking. Monday, we made s'mores in a solar oven made from a pizza box. Tuesday, we made ice cream in a bag. Wednesday, we talked about how to pack dry foods to take on a backpacking trip. We mixed instant potatoes with some seasoning, then added water to see how it tasted. We also used made scrambled eggs in a bag. Thursday was our big cook day. We made tacos/burritos with all the fixings, dirt bottom pie, and cheesy biscuits. We used a cardboard box oven to make the biscuits. Everything tastes better out at camp so needless to say we were all stuffed and there were hardly any leftovers.

5/30/2008

Nicole graduated 4th grade today. What an exciting day for her! She will be going to a new school next year and is looking forward to it in great anticipation. I was somewhat disappointed in the "graduation ceremony". I realize it is just the 4th grade, but if you are going to go through the trouble to celebrate the occasion, you should do it well. They did not even give them a certificate or anything as they called their names. The kids just walked out and shook hands with the principal and assistant principal. The 4th graders finished the day by doing the "Panther Walk", where they walked up and down the halls of the whole school one last time. It was neat. The younger kids were all lining the halls wishing them well as they moved on.