OUR CLASS CAMPING TRIP

A DREAM COMES TRUE

By Kim Bierly

Hello from Oak Harbor, Washington. We're a small town on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound. I teach 28 fourth graders in our public school sytem.

I've taken my class, with another teacher's class, on camping trips for the past couple years. After last year I said, "No more!" I didn't enjoy working with the teacher I went with. I felt stressed from the planning and organizing, and two classes were just too many kids! This year the class camping trip emerged out of a beginning of the year project. We were making a dream quilt where each kid's square was a dream for something to do this year. Lots of "I hope we go camping!" squares based on their expectations that Ms. Bierly's class goes on a class camping trip every Spring. I was also approached by enthusiastic parents, so I listened and reconsidered, their enthusiasm sparking mine.

I decided we'd do it again this year, but there would be some differences. It would be just our class, and we'd go somewhere new. And we wouldn't wait until the last minute to plan, organize, and fund raise. And I wasn't going to do all the work. We teachers too often get caught up in taking control and being in charge. Often there are tasks we take upon ourselves that could be tackled by the students. Yes, it may seem easier if we just do it, and it will get accomplished faster if we do it, but there is something to be said for sharing the tasks. I realized this camping trip was fertile ground for curriculum if I involved the kids in all phases of planning. What follows is the story of our class camping trip and all the important and relevant work the kids put into planning for this class project.

Fund Raising

Initially we were going to go camping at a nearby private campground (which closed down for good later in the winter) that had covered wagons we could stay in. This was going to cost us $650.00! During a class meeting in early November I told the kids how much money we would need to go on the trip and they suggested that we could raise the money ourselves. We spent the rest of our meeting brainstorming how we could raise the money. Ideas included holding a bake sale, selling magazines, raffling a gift basket at the school bazaar in December, selling candy bars, asking for donations, making cards to sell, etc. We ended the meeting with no decisions made. This happened to be a Friday. I asked the kids to think about their ideas over the weekend, and I wrote about their fund raising ideas in my weekly letter I sent home on Mondays. The combination of student think time and communication with parents resulted in two very successful fund raising endeavors.

One student's mother saw the gift basket idea and said she had a large basket she could donate. This left us with the problem of what to put in the baskets which was the topic of our next meeting. At first the items suggested included candy and comic books until one astute student pointed out that it was going to be mostly grown ups at the bazaar and they had more money to spend than kids. They started asking me what I liked and I shared my ideas and suggested they might interview other adults as well. One group of girls stayed in the first recess and designed a survey sheet which I xeroxed for them. They then distributed them to the teachers' mailboxes. We also sent the surveys home to their parents that night.

Ideas from the surveys ranged from pasta baskets to bath baskets to coffee and tea baskets to fruit baskets. One parent offered to put together an entire bath basket for us, including the basket. Which meant we still had the other basket to fill up. After tallying the responses the overwhelming basket of choice was a coffee and tea basket. The class than proceeded to brainstorm what individuals could bring to school to put in the basket, while consulting me as the local adult coffee expert. The end result was a jam packed basket of coffee and tea related goodies. Besides the two baskets, another parent donated a six week membership coupon for a kids fitness center she ran in town. We were set with three items to raffle at the school bazaar in December. Several students and family members were in charge of the raffle table. Students who worked at the table were responsible for collecting, counting, and keeping track of money. They spent some time prior to the bazaar day practicing counting money and making change. They also spent some time thinking and composing explanations for why they were raising money. They were applying skills, often taught out of context in classrooms, to a real life purpose!

One of the other fund raising ideas was making cards to sell. Our principal shared some cards that had been given to her that were created by elementary students from another district. The cards featured endangered species with a drawing (by the students) on the front and a mini-report on the back of the card. When the kids saw these cards they responded with, "Hey, we can do that too!" We spent some time brainstorming potential card themes. Ideas included plants of Whidbey Island (my idea since our science topic was plants), historical places of Whidbey Island, animals of Whidbey Island, and Christmas cards. The class then voted and "Animals of Whidbey Island" won.

In small groups they researched about the animals of their choice. My only criteria for animal selection was it had to be an animal found on or around Whidbey Island. Animals selected were Gray Whale, Orca, Salmon, Harbor Seal, Sea star, and Bald Eagle. Each group wrote a mini report about, and drew pictures of, their animals. This learning opportunity emerged out of a real need to raise money for our trip. I taught research skills, note-taking skills, and report writing. Something we all teach intermediate aged students, but in this case the kids took it more serious because they had a real purpose for their work. The end product was a set of six cards. We've sold them at school and at a local bookstore. The kids were involved in folding and tying the cards into card/envelope sets, and taking and delivering card orders. I used fund raising information to generate story problems for math which proved to be a highly charged math time. So much excitement as they discovered what we had earned, spent, and could potentially earn! By May we earned $640.00!

Planning for the Trip

Our trip was scheduled for late May but was postponed to early June due to inclement weather . Since the campground with the covered wagons closed I decided we would go camping at a nearby state park. The campsites were protected in the trees yet we would have easy access to the beach. There was one area that offered outstanding tide pooling opportunities. And since one of our mandated fourth grade science topics is "Oceans" I felt this would be an opportunity for the kids to study a couple of ocean ecosystems, the rocky shore and the sandy shore, firsthand.

My goal was to have the kids involved in the planning process of the whole trip. There is so much learning to be had in the planning and organizing of a trip. And it is emergent learning because it will evolve from their/our needs.

One month prior to our scheduled trip I handed out the first official parent camping trip letter informing the parents about a camping trip meeting where they could learn more about the trip and ask me questions. I wasn't prepared for the class to start planning for the trip for another two weeks. But the parent newsletter triggered questions about the trip from the kids. Since their enthusiasm and curiosity were charged I decided to take and record their questions, realizing this was an opportunity to shape our planning according to their questions and concerns. Questions included the following:

• Can we be in groups with our friends?
• Can we sleep in a big tent together?
• Do we need sleeping bags?
• What if we don't have a tent? a sleeping bag?
• Do our parents have to sleep in the tents with us?
• Can we plan and cook our own meals?
• How do we shop for our food?
• How much money can we spend on food?
• Will we need pans to cook with?
• What kinds of clothes do we bring?
• Are there bathrooms with running water?
• How much will the campsites cost?

Some of the questions I could answer and others I wasn't sure about. Forming their camping groups was of particular interest to them so I told them to think about who they wanted to form camp groups with. I made the decision to let them choose group members. Before I finished talking they started forming their groups. It was an amazing process to watch. Obviously they had been discussing groups prior to this meeting. Groups formed quickly and I just stood back and observed. Some groups even got down to writing equipment lists and planning meals! As I said earlier I wasn't prepared to start planning for another two weeks, but the kids were obviously ripe and ready to start planning.

I was really struck by their efficiency at organizing themselves. All conversations were focused on the trip. I observed empathy occurring when one loner child was taken in by a group. I decided I would follow the kids' enthusiasms and we would start planning now instead of later. After 20 minutes of allowing them talk time I pulled them back together and asked them to share what they had been discussing and planning. As I jotted down their thoughts and concerns I clumped them into categories and we could see three main themes of planning issues had emerged: food, camping gear, and clothing. These three themes were the foundation for our planning meetings that followed for the next three weeks.

Food

We started with food because that is what they were asking a lot of questions about. I decided the kids would be responsible for planning and cooking their own meals, with parent supervision. The two main questions they asked were, "What kind of food could they have?" and, "How much money would they get to spend?"

During a class meeting I asked students to share camping and cookout food memories to spark memories of food that is eaten when camping out. Over the course of a few days, we brainstormed possible breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack camping foods. I shared my stories and strategies for menu planning from when I worked as a cook on a fishing boat. For homework they were asked to record what they ate during each meal over the course of three days. In class we studied and analyzed their menus. I wanted them to be aware of balanced meals before they started planning their meals. They then planned their menus. This entire process integrated written and verbal communication skills with group cooperation and problem solving. Menus had to be approved by me. My main criteria was balanced menus. They then compiled grocery lists based on their menus. Right before the trip a group parent will take the group grocery shopping after school.

The question "How much will we get to spend?" kept coming up. My response was, "I don't know. How much do you think you will need?" For math homework they worked on a page of problems related to the cost of our trip (bus mileage costs, bus driver pay, campsite fees). They determined how much of our $640 was left over to put towards food. They discovered each person could bring $14 to their group for food. I asked, "How much money do you think you need for food?" My response to their "I don't knows" was "Well, how could you find out?" One student suggested that they could go to the grocery store before buying food to find out what prices were. And that is what we did. We took a walking field trip to the local grocery store. Just prior to the trip this required a mini-lesson on reading food labels so the kids would be able to apply cost of a unit of food to the number of servings it provided.

Students in groups of twos and threes, armed with clipboards and grocery lists, scoured the store for prices. Some students discovered having "S'more stuff" and "sandwich stuff" on their lists wasn't enough. Parent volunteers were helpful with pointing out/reinforcing serving sizes, prices, weighing produce. Students were engaged in: cost comparison shopping; recording, adding, handling (when they got to buy a treat at the end) money. They were estimating serving sizes and mentally calculating group costs. Conversations I overheard were "But wait, if you compare the price of this loaf of bread with this loaf this one is a lot cheaper!" When looking at ground beef, "Now wait a minute, I thought hamburger meat came round!" In the cereal section, "Whoa! I didn't know cereal was this expensive!"

Prices, and information they gathered concerning serving sizes, were used in the classroom to help them figure out how much their food was going to cost them. Some groups discovered they weren't going to have enough money for what they planned and altered their menus accordingly. Most groups discovered they planned well and would have enough funds to put towards food. Just prior to the trip groups met after school with one or two parent volunteers to shop for their food.

The food planning phase was an invaluable experience for the nine and ten year olds in my classroom. Most kids have adults who plan and shop for them. It was a challenge for these groups (five to seven kids per group) to plan meals together. They had to practice communication skills, cooperation skills, organizing and planning skills, and apply math (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and money) to a real life purpose. This trip was their trip. They were invested, and they were applying their learning to the planning, organization, and implementation of their trip. It is amazing how seriously they will work when there is a meaningful purpose!

Camping Equipment

We started off again by brainstorming what they thought they would need and want on a camping trip. In small groups they brainstormed and then each group shared their ideas. As they read off their ideas I wrote them down on separate slips of paper. As a class we categorized these ideas and discovered they fell into two main categories: equipment to be shared and personal equipment. We further sub-divided their equipment ideas into sub-categories. The next day Linda brought a camping equipment list from home to share with the class. Her family camps a lot and her list gave the class more ideas. Using the class generated list combined with Linda's list, we developed two extensive equipment lists. The kids were instructed to use the "Equipment to be Shared" list to start figuring out what each person could contribute to the group. Through the use of written and verbal communication between each other and their parents each group was able to organize and pull together enough essential camping equipment. With the use of the "Personal Equipment" list each student was responsible for organizing their personal equipment.

It took about a week and a half to brainstorm the equipment lists and then communicate between home and school about who could bring what. It probably would have been a lot easier if I had just organized the lists ahead of time and had a parent meeting and asked which parents could contribute what to the groups. But then I think about the all the brainstorming, planning, organizing, and communicating that the kids enthusiastically and intensely participated in...and realize involving them in the trip planning process was worth it. As one parent said to me, "When we plan a trip this summer now Larry understands how much work goes into that trip!" They raised the money for it and they planned for it. This was their trip. Ownership of this trip was not about to end yet.

The Camping Trip

The trip was a tremendous success. The weather was perfect, the kids were great, and our adult volunteers were abundant and invaluable in the help they provided. Responsibility for their trip didn't end with the planning. The kids were also responsible for their camp life. With adult supervision and guidance they were expected to set up their own tents and organize their meal preparation and clean-up. And these things they successfully accomplished. One group of boys resisted cooking their dinner of steaks, potatoes, and salad despite one mother's offer of verbal advice and support. Their adult chaperones stood their ground saying, "If you don't cook, you don't eat!" Eventually hunger took over and as I later walked by I saw the boys intently focused on their meal preparation. Again this was their trip. I wanted them to have a complete experience of being in control and in charge of their camping experience.

The two days were balanced with structured activities and free-time choice. We explored a rocky tide pool area and had an incredible time seeing an abundant variety of tide pool creatures. This experience contributed to an in-depth representation of a "Rocky Shore Community" mural we were in the process of creating back in the classroom. Experiencing the tide pools first hand gave the kids real life experiences and images they could bring back to the classroom project. The week following this experience resulted in a rich explosion of accurate fauna added to the full wall mural. From the tide pools we hiked over to a sandy shore beach and had the opportunity to compare and contrast the two beach types. Other activities that occurred over the course of the two days included a plant identification study, beach clean-up, cooperative games, and campfire singing. Free-time choices included wading in a lake, fishing, hiking, and playing or relaxing in one's campsite.

Back in the Classroom - Bringing Closure to the Experience

So much time and effort went into this trip throughout the year. It seemed a shame to have it all end when we got back. The morning after we returned the kids were bursting with stories and memories. They excitedly shared these stories with each other and with friends from other classes.

Tapping into this energy seemed natural. How could we preserve their enthusiastic stories? I was planning to write a newsletter to their parents, thanking those who helped while summarizing the trip for everyone. I told the class that I noticed they had great stories they were sharing with each other. I then told them about the newsletter that I was planning to write their parents and asked if they would like to help by writing articles that told their stories. I received an enthusiastic agreement from them to help out and we spent the next few days writing what developed into "The Camping Trip Times". This final piece of work helped the class bring our memorable trip to closure. We reminisced about our various experiences as we brainstormed topics for the newsletter. Then the kids took the time to craft their memories into fun-to-read stories. The final product was a permanent record of their trip, printed up into a class newsletter. Kids and parents alike enjoyed reliving (or experiencing for the first time) our trip through the eyes and stories of the class!

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Last revised: October 17, 1996