Music Class

I am really excited about having music class at camp. I think this is one of those classes were kids have an opportunity to shine even when they might not be that great at it. Another great thing is that camp people are more usually than not, musical. That means we can all being our own talents to the classroom. Some examples of this is that Mr. Craig plays guitar, harmonica and sings like a rock star, at least I think so, and Jamie has an amazing voice. The goal of the class will be to build some confidence with being in front of people, and we will spend time practicing great songs. Then when we are all done we hope to have a class that feels confident enough to sing at Fridays' talent show! Camp is sounding more fun all the time. Thanks for tuning in.

(next time, I'll talk about art.)

Frequently asked questions: Answered

Each week does not have a theme.

However, each week includes art, science, music, literature, drama, and many other things that are parts of our camp.

We also do some things like a traditional day camp like arts and crafts and talent shows. We also will be offering things that we call our discovery classes which will include, but are not limited to, animal study, gardening, chess, and archery.

We take the kids swimming at wing park in Elgin, which is a great place with lots of supervision, and more importantly to the kids giant waterslides.

We do not do field trips, except to Wing Park, what we do is bring speakers in, and have them do special presentations for the kids.

I hope this answers your questions, if you have more please feel free to ask.-Mr. Craig (bcraig@dvacademy.org)

How are we going to do it?

Well, this is a question I get every year. Wow, Mr. Craig all those ideas sound great, but how you gonna do it? Well, that is when I describe some methods to what we have going on. I would like to address some of the classes we are going to be doing weekly.

Drama class is one that I am excited about because not only will it give our staff some stretching to do, but our kids as well. I have myself taken drama classes and used drama as part of team building for class and camp staffs. They are two ways we are going to do our drama classes one is picture book drama. How do we do that? Kids at any age are introduced to a picture book that they will then discuss and then act out with the direction and supervision of our camp staff. Another method is call brown bag dramas, in this method a class will be given a brown paper bag with different items in it. The class will then have to rely on creativity and a bit of improv. to come up with a story and a small play to show us all on Friday afternoon. Input from the staff will be important, but the end goal will to have given the students involved a feeling of how it feels to do a little theatre.

(Next time I will discuss my thoughts on music class.)

Asst. Dir. Jamie Barbeau

Jamie Barbeau is the Assistant Director of the DaVinci Summer Day Camp where she has been happily involved in the program for going on four years. She received her Bachelors in Elementary Education and Middle School Music from Blackburn College in May of 2008 and has much experience working with children and creating educational programs that both adhere to State Standards as well as appeal to students of all ages. She loves theatre and singing and uses passion for the arts to reach out to struggling students. Jamie is so proud of the growth DaVinci Camp as made since she first started here and she is honored to work with such phenomenal people!

Weekly Schedule- Signs of Summer

I am so excited! I just finished the weekly schedule, and I will be sending it to Mr. Oldham to have him make into something the fans of our camp can use. I am not half the computer whiz he is. I hope that you are all getting as excited as I am. Just thinking about summer camp is bring out the sun. No, really have you seen the great weather today. Just kidding have a great day and see you at Camp!