Day 13-7/19

Make-a-Change Monday

Teaming up with Bill and Paul, recipients of Mayor Menino's gardening award and active community members invested in "greening" Boston, we went to the police station in Southie to spruce up its weed-infested sidewalk garden. Using cow manure, peet moss, humus, healthy soil and woodchips for water retention, we transformed a dry land plot to a vibrant garden after introducing nutrients and plants. We also eliminated weeds and watered.

"In the morning the soil was like it was from the Sahara desert, but now we are feeding it rich soil, like a gourmet meal for the plants!" - Hernan

"I pass by this police station every day on my way to school, and now I can say that my campers contributed to make it this beautiful." - Jemmie (JC)

Community Cousins Family Luau

Community Cousins is a program that strives for social harmony by connecting families from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Families are linked into "cousin" groups, and throughout the summer, they come together to meet at events and engage in meaningful exchanges. Below are snapshots from our Hawaiian-inspired gathering at Castle Island in South Boston!

Days 11 and 12- 7/15 and 7/16

Campers Camp at Myles Standish State Forest!

"“Group 4 girl and 5 girls slept in the same tent together and we were telling ghost story at night. And in the morning I saw two people running and we caught a bug and frog. And Kaia wanted to eat breakfast when we got to camp, even before and after lunch! She kept saying she wanted applesauce and chocolate chip pancakes.”

- Jazzmyne

“Yesterday was really fun. We played games. We went to the lake and I caught 4 frogs. 1frog was a boy. I can tell because its darker the the others.There’s 3 girl frogs that

are lighter than the others. But Miranda & Michael didn’t come. We had hot dogs, grill cheese and smores. There were rocks under the spot that I was sleeping at! Today my shoulder is killing me!”

- Mark

Day 10- 7/14/10

Blogger of the Day: Miranda

“Today I went in my classroom and Nadia taught us a new game. It was called land sea air. Then we made magic wands. You make it with black construction paper and clay. Then we went to broadway and picked up trash and see who had the most trash. Group 2 had won. Then we went to the pool. I played with Kaia. The water was freezing. Then we practiced for the mid summer presentation. Some people dance. But what I am doing for the mid summer is the jump roping. I want to jumprope backwards. Thats what I did for today on July 14 2010.”

Wednesday's Wondrous Work

Jemmie led an eye-opening conversation about environmental justice, covering deforestation issues in Brazil, global warming (and rising sea levels), recycling in South Boston, and the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling every day, emphasizing how we should use the front and back of paper.

Justin found a snail!

Cleaning up the community

Taking action!

Beautifying Broadway

Group 4 takes out the trash!

Day 9- 7/13/10

Blogger of the Day: Cameryn

“I took pictures of campers from Roxbury. And met new people from a different place than me. I took pictures of all my friends and new friends at the Condon school. I beat Bebo [Junior Counselor] at a game of basketball and I got help from some of my best friends, Jaydon and Justin. We made a peace picture and I covered my hands with paint. And I earned a lot of tickets [positive classroom points accumulated for a weekly raffle] almost 20 or even more.”

Tuesday's Tales

* Journal: Describe a dream you have. What steps can you take to achieve it?

* Participate in Marshmallows, Tape and Toothpicks Teamwork Activity with Group 5. Using the provided materials, which were each set at a specific amount, we sought out to build the tallest tower with the least amount of money, assigning group members to roles, ranging from accountant to architect.

* Rapid fire math review

* Collaboration time with Roxbury Youth Initiative Group 4: The topic of the week was peace and violence prevention, so after sharing our hopes for a peaceful world, we painted peace murals together!

Some perceived a peaceful world as an environmentally sustainable world.

Self-expressing on canvas!

Latoya facilitates discussion about peace.

RYI comes to visit SBOS Group 4!

Day 8- 7/12/10

Monday's Menu

* Experiment with yeast and how it makes dough rise with Summer Science!

* Journal: If you could invite any five people to your house for dinner, who would they be and why? What would you be serving for dinner? Draw a picture of how you would seat your guests in relation to each other.

* Participate in a listening activity and discuss the importance of appreciating and understanding others.

* Summer Harmony visits the classroom to explore components of music, such as rhythm, tempo, and dynamics; listen to music and describe emotions it evokes; and drum out our own expressions!

* Create Ticket Holder and Buddy Bag from a paper bag. We use this as a place to store tickets, given to campers exhibiting positive behavior, participating, and encouraging each other. We drop in slips of paper with put ups to our fellow campers.

* Peaks and Valleys: Most days we end camp with a closing circle in the classroom where we share peaks (high points) and valleys (low points) of the day.

Day 7- 7/9/10

An Appetizing Agenda

* Storytelling session with Kay Walsh

* Journal about a favorite animal (mystical or real)

* Art project: Create your own Creature!

* Field Trip to the Franklin Park Zoo

"I have two parakeets named Polly and Laura. I used a seed stick to feed the parakeets at the zoo. I love parakeets!"

- Miranda

Day 6 7/8/10

Blogger of the Day: Mark

"Today was a lot of fun! Michael, Kaia, Sean, and I made a sand castle by [Houghton's] Pond!"

CIVICS comes into our classroom on Thursdays to teach about how government works, the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and most importantly, how we, as youth, can change our communities through political activism. During our first class meeting, we wrote what we would do as president on the back of our namecards, and voted on a way to distribute lollypops, which flowed into a discussion on citizens and their role in a democracy.

Day 5- 7/7/10

Blogger of the Day: Kaia

"So after breakfast we went to the classroom and played math jeopardy. We made teams and my team's name was the "Crazy Vampires" and the other team's name was 'The Other Team Wolf Math Wizards,'but it was mainly the Math Wizards."

Miranda presenting a South Boston Outreach Program balloon she designed.

Colorful and meaningful agreements devised by campers at the Action Center!

Jemmie teaching about fractions after an engaging game of Math Jeopardy!

Reading Buddies with Group 1

Fun Facts About Fantastic Group 4 Today

* We wrote our own "I am Poems"

* Our first game of Math Jeopardy!

* Jemmie taught a delicious lesson to make a cake frosted with a review of fractions and measurements.

* We enjoyed our service-learning Introduction at Action Center led by teens and community partners. Topics of discussion included: making green spaces safe spaces, recycling, setting agreements for service action plans, and substance use and abuse.

FAMILY FUN NIGHT!

Mark showcasing a geometric structure he created!

Below (left) Mid-Monopoly (right) Michael and an ice cream sundae balloon!