Knitting and Crocheting

Who knows how to knit and crochet out there and who would like lead the crocheted hat and scarf revolution this summer?

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Good Morning Inspired Teen Camp Counselors,

A few things. Thanks for continuing to post your great ideas and for responding to each other's posts. In a few days, I'll put up the schedule for the first few weeks and you can continue to plan future collaborations. Second, if you fill out your profile on the blog site, we can learn a little more about each other which is fun. And third, if you will continue to post your ideas for songs and games for our staff manual, I'd really appreciate it. Feel free to e-mail me at anytime with questions.

Peace!

music improvisation class

i'd like to offer a music improvisation class
and was wondering if anyone would like to co-lead it with me
it's preferable if you play an instrument, especially something like a flute, violin, classical guitar
or anything else that can sustain a melody

cheers

my ideas

hey folks,
the names georgios, and here's what I've been thinking:

1. How To Make Utopia Work: Consensus Based Organizing
This would be an intensive in which we would first briefly look at the history of consensus organizing and talk about ways of organizing our world in a more egalitarian way. we would then go over how consensus meetings work (or dont work) and from there we would form our own "community" through role-playing and try to govern it through consensus.
supplies:
writing utensils
BIG sheet of paper
the ability to make a printed hand-out on consensus (between the office and the local library I should be able to do this, right?)

2. Arise, Zombie Vaudeville!

We'll talk briefly about what vaudeville is/the history of it, and then we'll brainstorm the acts/scenes that we want to do. from there we will construct zany props and sets from cardboard (there will be an epic raid on the cardboard recycling dumpster behind the dining hall) and then we'll practice with our cardboard to make a cohesive and crazy vaudeville performance.
supplies:
sturdy and powerful but safe scissors
big sharpies
inexpensive paint
big sheets of paper for brainstorming

3. Holga Photography
we'll talk about what makes holga unique, basic camera structure and function, how to load film into a holga (this can be tricky), composition of a photograph, and then we'll rock out and take a bunch of pictures. I assume we already have the cameras, so all we really need is film. assuming the intensive is taught once each session, and we shoot a roll a day for the 5 week intensive, if Z is the number of cameras we have, we'd need Z x 10 rolls of film (is that right? I'm horrible at math, someone should correct me if I'm wrong). the cheapest 400 speed 120 film I can find is: http://www.freestylephoto.biz/190420-Arista-EDU-Ultra-BandW-400-iso-120-size?cat_id=403
where do we get the photographs developed? I know we've done this in past years, but I don't know how we've done it.

4. Creative Writing
This could be a single class or an intensive. we would go over the role of storytellers and tricksters in society, traditional forms of creative writing, discuss ways of being creative outside of those traditional forms, maybe share some of our favorite (short) pieces by others, and then go to it. I'm hoping for fictional news broadcasts, predictions of the future, completely falsified lab reports, etc. in addition to your traditional poems, stories, and plays.
supplies:
lots of decent pens
20 pads of paper

apart from that, I love sitting by the pool, walking in the woods and talking about nature, and dancing. I'm fine with being thrown into any activity that just needs someone else to help keep order/supervise.
please please please if any of you have experience in any of the things I'm teaching, do it with me!

sketch comedy? don't mind if i don't.

Hello friends, my name is abram leon. I am interested in doing a sketch comedy intensive, which i have led in the past with fairly fun results. I would be excited to team up with someone with acting/theater experience, because i don't have any experience in those fields. here are some ideas of what we might do:

-Tell our favorite funny stories
-warm up/improv games
-brainstorm ideas - finding the funny in our everyday lives

later on in the week...

work on actually writing scripts
practice for performance (possibly we could perform in a talent show, or if not we will present to the group on the last day)

let me know if you want to team up!!!

-abram

Your Favorite Welcome Games

Good Morning!

I'd love to know what some of your favorite getting to know you games are. We'll gather your ideas into a handbook so that we can all have some ideas for making our teens feel welcome!

Some great ideas for things to do when we're at orientation before the kids arrive

There's the Ha-Ha game (pretty much the perfect game. Laughing is guaranteed.) which is where a bunch of people lay down with their head on someone else's stomach and one person says "ha" trying not to laugh. The next person does the same, saying "ha ha." Then it goes on, with an additional "ha" on each person. You go as long as you can without laughing... which is often not very long.

Another game is where everyone gets a partner and one closes their eyes and we all agree upon a theme for what sound the non-eye-closing person has to make while moving around an area, so the listener has to pick out their partner's sound that they agree upon in advance and tries to move toward it. It's hard to hear your partner's sound over all the noise, but that's part of the fun, and that you bump into a lot of people with your eyes closed. Then you switch roles or partners.

Another one has everyone secretly, randomly choosing a person to avoid and another to attract them. Then everyone starts moving around the room or field or wherever, always making sure to have both people in their view, but trying to maximize distance from one person and minimizing it to another. it sometimes looks like a deranged school of fish.

Oh, that's pretty-- WOA!

A palindrome is a word or sentence or music piece or epic poem that reads the same from back to front, like "racecar". In this activity, we'll draw, in a calligraphic-sort-of way, by heavy utilization of the second dimension, a palindrome of a word or phrase. What the heck does that mean?! You'll see.

Supplies: Artsy paper and pencils, quality detail erasers (I don't know a good place to get these but any old art store will be fine)

This might be better as a one-time event rather than an intensive, because it's pretty easy to get the idea, which is all I can really teach. Techniques to do it well is a personal learning process.

Hey, You Wanna Play Magic?! YEAH!! Let's Play Magic

Magic: The Gathering is a popular, very fun card game. Its rules are often hard for beginners, but we'll have rule and strategy books and a novice pro.

Supplies: Magic the Gathering 10th Edition Theme Deck Set of 5 X2 (so that's 10 decks total), some paper and pencils

http://store.themonstore.com/maga10edthde.html

Who Wants to Hang in the Pool

Hi All,

We have 5 certified lifeguards coming to camp, but they can always use a helper to hang out by the pool during a swim session. Who likes lounging in the sun and making sure kids come back from the bathroom?

Looking for another Wilderness Skills instructor!!

Hey yall! Chris here. Last summer I helped to teach a class called Wilderness Skills that I would really like to do again! I'd like to focus on nature awareness, camouflage, stalking, some primitive fire making/cooking and maybe even hide tanning if I can get my hands on enough squirrels for the kids! I'm open to anything and would love to collaborate with someone who is passionate about nature.

It's going to be a great year!!!
Chris

tye dye camp tee shirts

Rebecca,
This past summer in Chile the kids produced their own tee shirts.
We tie dyed them and then spray painted a stencil.
It was a great activity, they loved it.
If you haven't already ordered the shirts.......just get white cotton tees and dyes. They made the stencil themselves and we used spray paint.
Love,
Mary

Camp Songbook

Hello All,

Please post (or comment on this post) your favorite OTC songs. They can be songs that we've sung for years or ones that you'd like to teach this summer. We'll compile them and teach them to each other during Staff Orientation. Maybe we can figure out how to make an OTC cd this summer!
Words are good, links to youtube videos are good...time to make some music.

peace.

Class Ideas

Class ideas are trickling in and I can tell that your imaginations are dancing.

Here's a few examples of ways to format your ideas that will help me in putting the schedule together and ordering your supplies. I'd love it if you'd title your classes, tell me whether it will be an intensive or a one-period class, and give me a short description of what the class will be like.

Intensives:

First a title. Then a short description.
Beyond Yoga: Over 5 days, we will dive into yoga philosophy, asana, breath, history, and meditation to begin exploring the breadth of yogic tradition.

Then your supplies (or you can put all the supplies that you need together on a list at the bottom)
Supplies:
Small paper journals- moleskin.com - 30
12 small mirrors (for mirror meditation)


Here's another example:

Art in Motion (this is going to happen this year!)
This intensive will allow the kids to express art through the energy of music. This can be done mostly with a stick and anything else that will cause drips like Jackson Pollock.

Supplies:
I will need at least 20 old sheets per week to paint on ( they are cheaper than canvas and dry quicker).


One-Shot Classes:

Reggae Chillout
We'll hang out and share our favorite reggae music. I'll tell a few stories about artists and songs and we'll chill.

Supplies: none (we have music hook-ups and cd players and such)


Feather Earrings
We'll make feather earrings and I'll give some info about the types of feathers that we're using and maybe tell a Native American myth about feathers and birds.

Supplies:
feathers- grouse, pheasant
specify kind of wire
Earring parts
(obviously I'm not well-versed on jewelry supply terms that's why I would really appreciate specificity and websites where I can get your supplies for you!)

Welcome!

Hello Teen Camp Staff 2009,

Welcome to 7th Season of Omega Teen Camp! I'm so happy to welcome you on board for a summer of great creativity, connection, inspiration, and meaningful, hard work. I'm Rebecca Sornson and I'm the Teen Camp Coordinator for this season. From now until you arrive on July 12th, I'll be in the office in Rhinebeck, NY to help you envision and plan classes, order supplies, and answer any questions that you may have about this summer.
Omega Teen Camp is unique in that it is programmed entirely around the amazing skills and talents of its counselors. The way that camp works is that each day, teens attend four activity periods of their choosing. Two of these activity periods are intensives. Intensives meet every day for 5 days for 75 minutes each day. In the past, we have had dance intensives which have resulted in a performance on Friday night, we've had garage band intensives, energy medicine and reiki intensives, mask-making, vegan cooking, high-ropes, and even synchronized swimming. Usually, you will have 10-20 teens in your intensive. The other two activity periods are 60 minute-one time only experiences which shift each day. These are often simple art project classes like making feather earrings, intro to guitar, dance and yoga classes, girl's and boy's circles, meditation, nature walks, canoeing, and swimming. These classes can have 10-30 participants in them depending on how many you can manage.
Over the next several weeks, I would like you to imagine up and roughly plan two 5-day intensives that you would like to lead and about 5 60-minute blocks that you would be interested in teaching. We encourage collaboration between counselors and you will almost always have another adult in your sessions to assist and support you. Please e-mail me or give me a call if you need someone to hash out your ideas with. Your imagination and a bit of good sense are your only limits!
Once you decide what you'd like to teach, we will need to order you supplies. We are happy to buy you whatever you need and the more specific you are, the easier it will be to ensure that we are well-stocked. We do have a few suppliers that we like to use for art supplies and here are links to their catalogues.

Dick Blick http://www.dickblick.com/
Nasco http://www.enasco.com/artsandcrafts/
As soon as possible, if you can send us a list of supplies or equipment that you will need with amounts needed and sources for finding them (websites, phone numbers, etc.), and we'll get them for you.
Below is a link to the blog that we are creating as a home for all the pre-camp conspiring that's beginning to sprout up. Here you will find contact info for counselors, travel instructions, packing lists, and opportunities to begin sharing ideas about camp. Whenever something important is posted, I will e-mail everyone to let them know, but feel free to check the blog frequently and contribute.

We are also looking for one or two people to come and get trained to facilitate the High Ropes Course at camp this summer. Camp Henry Kaufmann is running a training June 1st through June 4th, and we will pay you an extra $300 to do this training. Let me know if you're interested.