Displaying items by tag: Sleepaway Camp
The Sierra Club, through its volunteer John Muir Education Committee, operates the John Muir Youth Award in the U.S.A. Interested schools, nature centers, youth camps, or individuals are welcome to participate! The first John Muir Youth Award recipients in the USA were 19 students from the John Muir School in Portage, Wisconsin, located near Muir's boyhood home, and was awarded in June, 1997. Read on to learn how to enter!
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The Five Challenges
To obtain the John Muir Youth Award, you must successfully complete five challenges:
1. Discover A Wild Place
Following Muir's maxim that "None of Nature's landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild," look for a wild place naear you. A "Wild Place" could be any relatively natural area from the back-yard garden, to the local park or a nature reserve. Young children may well start close to home and progress to more adventurous and remote sites as their knowledge and abilities grow. Older children will want to find true wilderness nearby.
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| The Wisconsin No Child Left Inside Coalition is working to develop an Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin that will address the environmental education needs of Wisconsin's pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade schools and will pay special attention to creating more opportunities to get kids outside. The Plan will recommend a comprehensive strategy to ensure every child graduates with the environmental skills and knowledge needed to contribute to a sustainable future.
Wisconsin has a strong environmental education foundation already established, with active schools, supporting organizations, and abundant opportunities to get outside in rural and urban settings. The Environmental Literacy Plan will build upon these strengths, and suggest priorities for present and future attention. It will lay out the next steps towards fulfilling on our State's commitment to ensure all people in Wisconsin are environmentally literate. Currently, the Wisconsin NCLI Coalition is made up of representatives from: the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, Wisconsin Environmental Education Foundation, Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Environmental Science Teachers Network, Milwaukee Public Schools, the Green Charter School Network, and the Environmental Education and Training Partnership. State Superintendent Evers has formally asked the Coalition to develop the Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s Environmental Literacy Plan will be compliant with the pending national No Child Left Inside (NCLI) legislation. The No Child Left Inside Act requires States develop, implement, and evaluate a State Environmental Literacy Plan in order to be eligible to receive funding associated with the Act. Currently, the bill suggests an appropriation of $100 million to support the State Environmental Literacy Plans. You can learn more about the |
National KIND Kid Contest
Complete Details
| Students in grades K-6 are invited to apply for the Humane Society of the United States' KIND Kid Award. One winner will be selected to win $100 and two runners-up will each receive $50.
Applicants should submit a detailed description of how they have helped animals, including photos. Enter by January 15, 2011. |
Resource Types: Contest/Award
Audience Served: Families, General Public, Home Schools, Non-formal Educators, Private Schools, Public Schools, Scouts/Youth Groups, Teachers
Age Groups: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Adults
Environmental Focus: Animals/Wildlife, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environmental Health, Habitats/Ecosystems, Marine Education, Nature Awareness, Outdoor Skills/Recreation, Place-based Education, Sustainability
Academic Focus: Character Education, Interdisciplinary, Science
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The problem, of course, is that wandering birds can’t tend their nests. So the buffalo birds decided to leave their young in the care of other birds, an arrangement that seemed to work, at least from the buffalo birds’ perspective.
Then, during the 1800s, the prairies and buffalo disappeared, replaced by pasture and cattle. But the birds remained and started keeping company with cows instead of buffalo, eating insects in the grass, ticks on the livestock, and seeds and grain. The buffalo bird eventually became known as the cowbird.
Today there are two native cowbird species in North America, the Bronzed Cowbird of the Southwest and the Brown-headed Cowbird common in most of the United States and Canada. Both species still lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, which is to say that both maintain the parasitic tradition of their ancestors, much to the dismay of bird lovers and conservationists.
The main reason people find the cowbirds’ behavior objectionable is that it threatens biodiversity.
Cowbirds as a whole lay their eggs in the nests of more than 200 other species of birds. And in most cases, because these birds tend to be smaller species, the young cowbirds come to dominate the nests, pushing out the other young or hoarding the food. The result is that the two cowbird species thrive at the expense of hundreds of others.
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Hon. Chellie Pingree of Maine
In the House of Representatives
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Ms. Pingree of Maine. Mr. Speaker, this summer marked the one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of organized camp in the United States. Summer camps throughout the nation provide valuable educational experiences and offer the chance for youth from many different backgrounds to connect to the outdoors, enhance their mental, physical, spiritual, and social development; make new friends; and learn life-long skills. In the summer of 1861, William Frederick Gunn and his wife Abigail organized the first summer camp in America by taking a group of kids into the wilderness along the Long Island Sound for two weeks. Since then, thousands of camps have been founded, and 150 years later there are over 12,000 summer camps nationwide. While times have changed, the purpose of summer camp has remained the same – to provide our youth with havens in which to grow and learn in nature.
In the state of Maine, we have nearly 200 camps — most of which are accredited by the American Camp Association — including sleep-away camps, day camps, co-ed camps, boys–only and girls-only camps, and specialty camps. More than 18 of those have been operating for more than 100 years. In 1902, Wyonegonic Camps in Denmark, Maine opened its doors to girls and, today, remains the oldest continuously operating camp for girls in the nation. Girls’ camps have and continue to play a pivotal role in young women’s lives — providing settings in which they can grow confidence and develop can-do attitudes. In the same year, Pine Island Camp for boys opened in Belgrade Lakes, Maine and remains the oldest continuously operating camp for boys in the state. In 1908, two camps were opened by non-profit agencies in Maine: West End House Camp in East Parsonfield and Camp Jordan YMCA in Ellsworth.
Camps in Maine and throughout the nation reflect a unique American attitude towards the outdoors and towards the value of natural settings in the education of our youth. Camps are special places where kids get a chance to re-create themselves, develop independence, be physically active, and learn new skills outside of the traditional school setting. And, through exposure to new experiences, friendships with kids from other states and around the globe, campers gain perspectives on their own lives that augment their education during the school year. Camps are also a place to build lasting friendships — a home away from home where the camp community becomes a second family. In a fast changing world, summer camps continue to be a mainstay of American society — providing youth a time for quiet reflection away from the pace of day-to-day modernity. As millions of summer campers head back to start another year of school, let’s remember the valuable role that summer camps play in the year-round education of children.
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• Be sure that you feel comfortable in the camp you have selected. Call the director a few times with in the first week to make sure your child is doing well. Now that you have no safety reason to worry it time to try and move on.
• Enroll in a special interest class. While your kid is away learning something new during the break, you too could see this as an opportunity to also address your personal interests. You could try enrolling in cooking classes or yoga courses. Whatever your preference might be, there is an available adult summer class for you.
• Date Night ! I once had a parent tell me”Now that the kids are not home me and the misses are going to be home all night in our undies” I don’t know if you need to do this but you can go out for a nice dinner and see a movie.
• Learn a hobby. You could learn how to do cross-stitching, baking, photography, or other things that interests you. This is the perfect time because your children won’t be around in a few days so nobody could disturb you. So take a class at the park or Jr. College.
• Finish or start reading your piles of books and finish watching your tons of DVDs . Nothing beats days of lazily doing nothing in the house and just being a couch potato. It would feel like you are back to being a teenager again because there are no kids to tend to.
• Pamper yourself for a day in the spa and a stroll in the mall to shop. Surely, you won’t really be depressed if you experience the things you love, right?
Remember camp is a growing experience for our children but at the same time its getting us ready for the day they move out to college.
Grab your child's hand and head in to Nature! Any adult who has a personal relationship with nature was once a child, hungry for knowledge and FUN...
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Grab your child's hand and head in to Nature! Any adult who has a personal relationship with nature was once a child, hungry for knowledge and FUN new experiences outdoors. It is not only a parents desire but their responsibility to foster a love of the outdoors at a young age. This effort, and for some it will be, not only will you be get the two of you to do some physical exercise, but you will also be introducing them to an endless amount of new information about the world around them. Hikes are a wonderful activity at any time of year. Spring offers the first flowers of the season. They may be wild or carefully planted in someone’s back yard. Either way, children enjoy the hunt for new buds and examining the different types of blooms that the season brings. At spring we also see an influx of birds. Younger kids are content to merely watch a bird fly, yet older children can find enjoyment in noting the different characteristics and identifying the breed of the bird they've discovered or even smearing some peanut butter on a pine cone and hanging it from a tree.
In summer, animals of all varieties are most active and easier to spot. Even in the city you can find a few squirrels in the trees. Carry your flower and bird watching activities into summer as well. Don’t forget to keep you feeder full and water in your birdbath.
Most folks do not see Autumn as the season of harvest and reproduction for nature. With a bag in hand start to collect pine cones, acorns, seeds and other items that can be used for crafts or displayed as is. Be sure to have your child identify each and tell you how it might be used in nature. A bouquet of colorful fall leaves is incredibly easy to create and will give your child a constant reminder of the fun they had outdoors.
Winter may not be the most hospitable season for many, nature hikes can still be incredibly rewarding. Try seeding a spot by picking out a specific area and throwing out seeds, bread, apple chunks or bird feed. Upon your return, examine the snow for tracks then determine which animals have been enjoying your feast. If you continue to supply the same area all winter, you will most likely get the chance to see if your guesses were correct before the snow melts. Remember, most animals are nocturnal so go out after school at dusk.
Don't feel the need to be constantly hiking to enjoy the outdoors. You can entertain your child plant a few early blooming flowers and keep the bird feeders full. A budding naturalist will want to check every day and see what’s new. Make sure to give them a journal to record their finds. Younger children may be happier drawing their finds, while an older child will be happy with a disposable camera to commemorate the changes they notice.
Gardening is a wonderful way to get children outdoors. Keep their attention span in mind while planning the size and number of plants, otherwise it will be extra work on your hands. Vegetables like carrots, leaf lettuce and radishes are almost foolproof, But the most rewarding and fun is getting one or two pumpkin for jack o' lanterns.
For most families outdoor activities are most often done in the summer. Yet, for most parents making the time to get out in nature can be a challenge. Camping is a great way to expose kids to nature, but rather than giving yourself the hassle of planning a week-long trip there are some options. First, just set up a tent one morning in the backyard. Cook your meals outside, fly kites and play tag. When it's time for bed, crawl into your tent and tell stories by flashlight. Second, have the pros help you out. Look for a day or an overnight summer camp that specializes in Nature and the outdoors. For many parents this might seem like a whole new area that they might be reluctant to get involved with, but once you do your research you will find that Summer Camp is so much more than just a break from your kids...it’s child development!
To learn more about Summer Camp visit www.summercampadvice.com
Swift Nature Camp is a Wisconsin Summer Camp for boys and girls ages 6-15. Our focus is to blend traditional summer camp activities while increasing a child's appreciation for nature, science and the environment. They also have a special “first time at summer camp” program that is dedicated to providing kids a wonderful first time experience.
Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Start your child on their own thousand mile journey through life today.
The most important Hint is to remember when looking for things to do in nature is to get OUTSIDE. Almost any indoor activity can be done outside in nature.
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The most common trait we hear attributed to those who bully is that they lack empathy. They do not "feel the pain" of the victims as they inflict pain upon them, freeing them to act without guilt, shame or hesitation. Unbound by a social, emotional and/or moral consciousness, they can comfortably and easily do things that the rest of us would find unthinkable.
In my experience, few bullies are sociopaths. There is actually a spectrum of bullies in that regard, only a few whom fit that category, and many of them suffer from the "I am special so the rules don't apply to me" complex, not really from being a sociopath.
Most of those who do it though are not that extreme. The majority have developed a complex, sophisticated denial mechanism that allows them to hurt others, and be okay with it, reinforced by a story they tell themselves that justifies behaving this way. With little prodding, they feel deeply for what they are doing and easily reveal it - at least in the early stages of doing it.Being A Teen Today Is Insanely Stressful
Youth culture today is far more complex and high-pressured than it was when we were our kid's age. Most teens today have a sense of scarcity of resources and opportunities and their life feels like constant competition.
The school demands alone create more intellectual stress than most adults could easily manage as adults. The social pressures though, and the absurd standards that modern youth peer culture sets for one another, are far worse than most parents truly understand.
Many teens live with a sense that they are perpetually just one wrong choice or comment away from failure or rejection. Beyond worrying about school failure ("you won't get into a good college and thus your life is doomed" which is flawed thinking that is endlessly perpetuated by adults), their bigger fear comes in the form of worrying about being abandoned by the peer group, the modern equivalent of being kicked out of the tribe - especially because they spend the majority of their lives now in the tribe of their peers.
Consider this:• In 1950 youth between the ages of 12 to 18, spent 60 hours a week with adults and only 12 alone with peers.
• In 2010, this age group spends 60 hours a week in contact with peers, and less than 12 with adults.
• In "wired" homes in America, parents spend on average 4 minutes a day of uninterrupted time with their kids.
Today's kids are influenced mostly by machines (6 hours a day of screen time is the national average for today's teens), institutions (kids typically outnumber adults 24 to 1 in schools and spend 7 hours a day there 170 days a year) and countless hours a day being influenced by peers.
For many of them, being accepted by peer culture, having status in peer culture or proving themselves invincible to peer culture, becomes their highest concern and greatest source of stress.
The fear of being kicked out of the peer tribe that dominates their experience of the world, essentially equates at a deep psychological level, to certain-death. It’s no wonder it consumes so much of their time and energy. (Have you ever heard your teen daughter say, "If any one finds out about this, I'll die?" In their inner world, it is not just a cliché.)
In a survival situation all morality goes out the window. We'd do almost anything to survive. If not, you'd die.
Many of these bullies have a story they are living that links back to this.•If they were abused themselves, • they bully others to maintain their own status and value• it is to establish their dominance •it is to demonstrate to the "in-crowd" that they are funny and ruthless
I can go on and on, but most causes of bullying behavior comes back to the same thing:They are doing it and are okay with doing it because it is what they feel they need to do to survive, in a stressful, competitive world.
Until this changes, there is little adults can do besides continue to run around and clean up the messes. All the training in the world on recognizing the signs of bullying won't stop bullies from bullying.
Today's kids need to have the power taken back from popular culture, especially popular peer culture. The power these have over them trumps the power most parents have to influence their kids once they hit the middle school years.
This is not "just the way it is", nor is it indicative of a "normal stage of development". This is a modern creation, or perhaps better said, the pervasive by-product of the modern way of life that places so much emphasis on the things that matter least - and that demands parents be so consumed with things outside of home that they have little time or energy left to address what should be their primary concern: things going on inside their kids' lives.
It takes more than 4 minutes a day to raise kids to be morally and socially conscious people. It takes more than 12 hours a week of contact and attention from adults to influence kids to choose the values of mature adult culture over the values of popular adolescent culture. It takes more than just parents teaching kids about right and wrong, for kids to adopt these same beliefs.
I've built my life's work on becoming one of these critically needed adults in the lives of youth during their adolescent years. I hear their stories, know their struggles and "get" how complex and pressure filled their lives are. .. and how much time, repetition and time and repetition it takes to help them internalize a secure self-directed value set that frees them from peer approval dependence.
They need many more people doing what I do, teaching them real life skills, helping them construct their beliefs and values independent of the negative influences of society, giving them the reassurance that they matter, their lives count and they will succeed if they choose to live a life of uncompromising commitment towards the things that really matter. .. and giving them the real life experiences now that prove to them that they already have what it takes, far more so than they realize. We all needed it at their age, today more than ever.
Jeffrey Leiken, MA (leiken.com)
We all know how much fun kids have fishing at summer camp. Well, Just because the snow is flying is no reason to think the fish are not biting.
Northern pike and panfish have been providing good action; walleye have been hard to entice. Vehicles are venturing out now that lakes are frozen over, but ice thickness varies. Check with a local guide or bait shop before venturing out. Photo courtesy of Skip Sommerfeldt
The 5th Annual Big Elk and Musser Lake Association Ice Fishing Contest is being held Sat., January 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Phillips. There will be prizes for adult and youth (under 12) categories, food and raffles; drawings at 4 p.m. 715-339-3166 / 4277
The Phillips Winter Fest Ice Fishing Contest is being held Sun., January 29, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Lake Duroy. There will be prizes, food and raffles. 1-888-408-4800
Ever heard of Google Earth? Well, it lets you find everywhere! Including Swift Nature Camp! Can you find it here? A hint look at the bottom of the photo and you will see town...Maybe even the Village Scoop Ice Cream Shop. From there, go north and to the West. Still not sure? Try signing up for google earth and take a fly by. If you don’t know where to look try just typing in Swift Nature Campand it will fly you right to camp. It is so much easier than taking the bus.
So be sure to go to Google Earth and download the special program.
It’s cool to see camp from this view...Maybe this is what it is like being an eagle in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. So tune in to google earth and be you’ll be amazed.
