Frogging

Here is a new essay from our time at KEEC:

Falling in the Lagoon
by: K.C.
We were at Keewaydin. It was Thursday Choice Day, and for the afternoon I choose frogging. It’s where you go to a lagoon and catch frogs and other amphibians. We took a Keewaydin van to the other side of Lake Dunmore, to where the lagoon was. When we got there Trevor our leader showed us this old, but good conditioned cage where we would put frogs.
Trevor said that we only had a couple nets, so some of us would have to use bare hands. I wanted to go bare-handed. I went to the lagoon, it had a lot of frogs, big and small. I tried catching them but it was hard because I had to go in before I could get close to them, and by then they’d sense me, or see me, whatever little froggies do. Then, I saw this frog, just sitting there, right beside this little chunk of land, floating in the center of the lagoon.
I stepped in. I tried going in quickly over to the frog, it seemed to be working. I went onto the chunk of land. Let me rephrase that, into the land. I flew straight threw the chunk of land. Wait, it wasn’t land it was methane gas, lily pad, and moss stuff. The frog swam away as fast as it could, which was pretty fast. I tried to go after it, but I was stuck.
The bottom of the lagoon engulfed me. I was struggling to get out, but I just kept sinking. After a minute I was just below my knees in mud by a couple inches, when I made my big mistake. I tried to take a big step out when I tripped in the mud and fell face first in mud. Well I would have, but I put out my hands so I’d be able to get out easier, but my face still got a little dirty. My feet were finally free! After about two minutes I struggled out of the lagoon, then I realized I was wearing a white shirt, light jeans, and a white hat.
When I got out I saw C. fell in not to’ far from where I was and almost the exact same thing happened to him, everyone who went frogging came over to try and help him out, he got out in a couple minutes. Then I dropped my hat in a mud pit when we were walking back to the van. C. and I said we were just like Creatures from the Black Lagoon, and we smelled like methane gas, and frog. It was really funny.

Kitchen Duty

One of the jobs kids had at KEEC was dishwasher duty. Here is a student's description:

I was a dishwasher the 2nd half of the week at keec. I worked with a staff member at KEEC named Matt. He was awesome to worked with. I also worked with my classmates Tanner, Mat, Sean, Maddie, Jon , and Riley. We worked in the back of the kitchen. We rotated jobs so we all got to do all the jobs as dishwashers. The good part of being a dishwasher was we got to eat first then do the dishes. The challenging part was the dishes came in fast so we had to work fast. It was a lot of fun!!!

Another job was hopper during meals. Here is a student's description:

Hopper - In this job you work with a lot of people. You have to prepare the tables by getting the food that wasn't kept warm on the tables before everyone arrived. You also had to put out the silverware and the plates and bowls. you work with the chefs and Trevor the chief hopper and assistant director. One of the good parts of being a hopper is that you get to know what you're having before everyone else does. One bad part of being a hopper is that you have to smell the food before you eat it and when you're really hungry that can be a disaster. You have to work at breakfast, lunch, and dinner but you only have to work for half of the week. You only have 15 minutes to get dressed while everyone else gets 30. And you miss some rec time (recess) in the afternoon.

Even more lost photos

Here are some gems from Mrs. G's camera...

Lost Pictures

When filtering hundreds of pictures it is easy to overlook a few good ones, a few kids get left out of posts, and we had some technical difficulties with one camera that we just got pictures off of today! Here are some, more may be coming!

Natives

One investigation several groups went on was Natives.
"We learned about the Abenaki tribe that used to live in the area around KEEC. Then we learned how to throw a spear with an item called an Atl-atl (sp?). Later we hiked out to an area in the woods where there was a native American camp set up. We learned how to make fire using a bow drill and cedar and birch bark to start a fire"

Mural Painting

Wilderness Skills

Another Thursday choice selection.

Earth Art...

...also known as eARTh. Campers got creative with raw materials found in nature.

Candle Making

A bunch of campers chose to make candles on Thursday Choice Day.

Waste Watch and other announcements

At meals many announcements and directions are given. These include what you need for your next investigation, the weather for the day, and selected news items like sports scores and environmental news. One point of emphasis all week was reducing the amount of food wasted at meals. The kids have become very concerned and competitive about not leaving any food on their plates, even eating apples without leaving a core! The video below shows KEEC instructors using song and charts to build their caring, as well as a call to bring this idea of reducing food waste home to Chester-Andover. Don't waste the milk!

Happy Birthday!

Tonight's birthday celebration...

PS- You might want to turn your volume down, 100 kids can be loud!

Blogging on Bogging

This afternoon a group chose to investigate a nearby bog, a place where a thick layer of plant material, mostly moss, floats on a shallow body of water. As KEEC leader Matt put it "it is like trying to walk on a waterbed." We found Pitcher plants that attract bug to a sweat liquid then consume them for food! As usual the video shows our adventure better than a description. And it wasn't even buggy.....

The War Canoe

This afternoon a group took out the huge "war canoe" onto Lake Dunmore. Somehow a few brave (or lucky or unlucky) souls managed to find their way out of their seats and into the water. The story of how will have to be posted later because I was not in a canoe, I was out on a bog. More about that later...

Rock Climbing

Submitted by student:
"rock climbing was so much fun today, we were singing and having so much fun. I never thought that KEEC was going to be sooo much fun...I am going to miss it on Friday when we have to leave and I wish after friday we could come again because it is so much fun. But I will be happy kinda because I have not seen my family for a week, but I will miss the staff too because they are all so cool and nice."

All Day Hike: 5 caves, 1 waterfall and countless lookouts!

We had a fabulous time on the all day hike. We climbed Mount Moosalamoo to the Wiantanog Lookout and the Over Cliff Trail down to the Caves Trail to Generals Lookout. From there we climbed to Majors Lookout for lunch before heading to Josh's Cave. Josh's Cave has many chambers and the campers had a great time exploring. Next we headed to the Falls of Lana and back on the Ethan Allen Trail, past the infamous Ethan Allen Cave where the Green Mountain Boys hid Native American clothing to fool the New York tax collectors. A fabulous day!

Thurday Choice Day

Thursday is the day for kid choice activities, different from other days where study groups are assigned investigations. Today kids are off canoeing, hiking, making art, and learning wilderness skills. Jeanie is on the all day hike so posts today might be a little less than other days. We will try to catch up tonight.

X-Stream Hiking

A select group of kids chose X-stream hiking this AM for Thursday choice activities. This is using a stream bed as a path, hiking up the water, getting help from fellow KEECers, and of course getting wet and having fun. It was much cooler today, and some of us actually got cold for the first time. A good sunny rock was a perfect spot to chill and warm up.

Town Meeting

All campers participate in a town meeting here at KEEC. They are given a role to play in KEECville- the real estate agent, the soil, the deer, the children, the factory workers, etc. A developer pitches a plan to change KEECville in some way and the campers have an opportunity to ask questions about how the change will affect them (as the real estate agent, the soil, the deer, etc.). Ultimately campers get to vote on the proposal and explain their point of view. Did you know that Vermont is the only state that allows children to speak up at town meeting? How cool is that!

Storms cap off Wednesday

Right as KEECers got back to their cabins for bed line of thunderstorms moved in to our lake valley. It was a beautiful sight as the neighboring mountains were lit up by lightning. Everyone made it through, the only casualty was the tee pee in the field which was blown over I tried to be some of it on video, beginning with our last look at the full moon.

Quiet time

Every day after lunch kids get a good chunk of time to chill out, read, write letters home, or nap in their cabin bunks. These photos are from Fox cabin on Wednesday.

Hot Days and cooling down

Wow what a scorcher here at KEEC today. We have been pushing fluids, finding shade, and looking for unique opportunities for a cool down, like a sprinkler.....
We also went swimming before dinner, pictures of that to come later, I was in the water too!
Thunderstorms are looming on the evening sky, bringing cool weather for our last full day!YAY!
-Jeremy Kelloway

Trees wonderful trees part II

In the afternoon group 3 took trees a step further, investigating how humans use them, and how Vermonters in the past cut them to make charcoal. We learned about sawyers and coilers, people that cut trees and slow burned them in mounds to make charcoal on the mountainside by KEEC. later we came back and tried to build our own charcoal mound out of sticks, leaves and mud.
Again the video and pictures do it more justice than I.
-Jeremy Kelloway

PS Thank you for all the great comments, they are very motivating!