North Pike Elementary School’s second annual Camp Little Jag, a weeklong summer camp for students in second through fourth grade held earlier this month, proved quite successful.
With 34 participants, enrollment more than doubled from the 16 who participated last year. The camp’s activities included math, science, reading, music, art and recreation.
“Everything went fine, it went smooth,” Principal Bobbie Burdett said. “The kids had a ball. ... There were lessons around everything, but they’ll remember the fun stuff.”
Fun played a major role in the students’ willingness to trade in summer slumber for an 8 a.m. campus arrival.
But who wouldn’t get up early for finger painting with pudding?
“I think their plates were just as clean afterwards as when we started,” art instructor Christy Miller said of the activity. “I had a child tell me, ‘I can play with my food and not get in trouble.’ ”
Students talked about technique and the origins of various forms of art. An “Art in the Round” used circular — as opposed to rectangular — canvases. Other activities included abstract painting with watercolors and tie-dying towels.
“I think it was just the fact they got to learn a little bit of knowledge of history, but they got to have fun,” Miller said of the students’ enjoyment of the camp. “It wasn’t a rushed thing. They were able to just be a kid.”
Burdett said the scientific portion of camp is the main draw, primarily because it includes the construction and eruption of model volcanoes. Other activities included the creation of salt crystal gardens, studying predictions and the scientific process, and experimenting with liquids and solids by making ice cream.
“They learned in life there’s going to be lots of things and you can predict the best way to do something, but it may not work. So you’ll have to readjust and just try again,” science instructor Heather Maxwell said. “I think it’s a great thing for North Pike to do — engage them in the summer and let their brains stay fresh, and it gets them thinking.”
Miller agreed. “They were raring to go from start to finish. Most were like, ‘Are we doing it again next week?’ ”
The camp meant so much to one participant that his mother worried about giving birth to his baby brother with camp under way.
“I would encourage parents to allow their child to do that next summer,” Miller said. “It’s a true learning experience. It keeps them in the routine over the summer and engaged to where they are still learning something.”
Math and reading activities — mostly computer-based — were fun and interactive.
“It was an opportunity for them to reinforce their math and reading skills,” math instructor Loretta Weatherspoon said. “It was about reinforcing what they’ve learned.”
Weatherspoon added that program enrollment may not double again next year, but she hopes it will continue to grow over time.
“(Participants) look forward to it,” Weatherspoon said. “We didn’t have quite the same turnout last year ... I think (the increase) is due to word of mouth and parents’ word of mouth.”
