Camp Read-A-Lot

“Welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot!” Miss F and I greet our students as they enter the “camp.” We hand out name tags and direct the student campers to meet over here and we’ll give directions. We set up the camp in the gym before school started this morning, with camp chairs here, blankets spread on the floor there, and a campfire made of pool noodle logs and tissue paper flames in this area. We have stuffed animals placed strategically around the gym for the animals in the woods. This circle on the gym floor is our pond. There is a welcome sign and a sign of rules near the entrance (door). On this side we have placed coolers full of books for reading at Camp Read-A-Lot. In another space we have word search puzzles, coloring sheets, and crayons.

We teachers are the Camp Directors. The parent volunteers and teacher aides are Camp Counselors.

After we give some camp guidelines, such as, “Please Walk,” “Don’t feed the bears,” and “Enjoy reading,” the students select books from the coolers, and spread out through the camp to read, with some lying on blankets, and others relaxing in the chairs. After a while, the “sun” starts to set, so we dim the lights and students may read by flashlight, which they have brought. We’ve been playing background sounds of the woods.

The campers have a turn to go to the Camp Kitchen (my classroom) where they make s’mores. My aide directs the Camp Kitchen and helps small groups of the campers with their s’mores. We use red and white checked plates, napkins, and tablecloth (Dollar Tree) in the “kitchen.” To make the s’mores, the students place half of a graham cracker on a plate, add two or three squares of chocolate, and then place a large marshmallow on top. This is microwaved until the marshmallow puffs up (about 10 seconds) and then the remainder of the graham cracker is pressed on top. Campers bring their s’mores back to camp (gym) to eat them.

We also enjoy a teacher read-aloud at camp. Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping and Curious George Goes Camping are favored books for listening to at Camp Read-A-Lot. Camp Read-A-Lot is one of our favorite events and is fun to do near the end of the school year.