Welcome to the Forgotten ECE, the show where before and after school educators, summer
camp and PD staff and CYWs have a place where they are seen, heard and valued.
I'm your host, Jamie Wagler, and I'm so excited you're here.
Hi everyone, Jamie here and thank you for joining me on the Forgotten ECE.
I am so sorry I've been AWOL for like a month, but I'm back and I'm super excited because
there's lots of fun things happening over here at the Forgotten ECE in the next couple
weeks which you'll love.
Totally worth the random pause, but it's fine.
Today though, I am joined by two very inspiring educators, Jas Harvey and Sharice Goure.
Say hi ladies.
Hi.
Jas is an RECE alumni from Mohawk College currently working towards her diploma as a
resource consultant through Seneca College.
Jas has worked in before and after school programs for a number of years throughout
Waterford, Boston, Toronto and Stratford, Ontario.
And Sharice is currently working towards her bachelor's degree in early learning program
development.
She has been designing, organizing and executing camp programs for over two years, also runs
a before and after school program.
Together Jas and Sharice were honored last year to present two recreational staff, summer
camp employees and fellow RECEs, their expertise on setting up a successful camp.
And I am thrilled that they agreed to discuss that here today.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you, Jamie.
This is so weird for us because we might also work together.
So putting a mic in front of us might be a little entertaining for you tonight.
We'll jump right in unless you guys have anything to say to start.
I'm just really excited to be here.
I've been following your podcast for a while now.
Well since the beginning, diehard fan.
And yeah, I'm just excited to be part of this.
Oh, thank you.
And now I'm supposed to follow that up.
Thanks Jamie for having us.
It's super exciting.
Absolutely.
Jas and Sharice are huge advocates for our field and for before and after school education
and school age all around.
So it's great.
It's great that we're all here together.
So let's get started.
When designing your layout for summer camp.
So picture this.
We were just asked to run summer camp program 2.0.
Take us back two years.
That was me rewinding.
What what are you taking into consideration?
What's your first thoughts?
If you don't mind.
I think the biggest one for me is the four foundations, belonging, engagement, expression
and well-being.
I think that that has to be apparent in, you know, every program that early childhood professionals
run.
That's awesome.
And then we can also look at our room arrangement and see what we need to have in our whatever
room we're given, whether that be a gym or a classroom or wherever that may be.
The hallway.
The place that we've been asked to run.
Exactly.
Is there a preference between the gym, the hallway, classroom?
What is your thought on that?
I think the gym is like ultimate.
That gives you so much room to utilize and you can also have the gross motor activities,
fine motor activities, tabletop.
It just gives you a wide range of areas that you can set up for.
It really sections off the kids to the ones who want to play games over here, the ones
who want to have a little bit more room to move around.
Once you just want to read quietly in a corner really gives them that space to do so.
Whereas if you're in a classroom, I don't feel like it's as easy to do that.
You're too compact.
Yeah, the room is big, right?
It's funny because during the school year, especially on this show, I advocate how it's
better to have a permanent spot.
A classroom is such a great place.
But when talking about summer camp, I have to agree having that huge open gym, hopefully
your gyms are huge and open, sorry if they're not.
Having a huge open gym, it is beneficial.
And honestly, the only way to do it is if you have the gym for the whole summer, no
one's asking you to take it down.
Hopefully.
Yeah, right?
I think saying that too, it's like we're not all gifted with a beautiful big gym.
So coming back to shadowing on what you just said, sometimes you're dealt with a cart and
that was my first year working in the summer program.
We had a cart.
So learning how to manage all the centers and all of the areas that you need on that
can just be almost like exaggerated when you go to the gym.
Yeah.
And heightened and leveled up.
Absolutely.
So gyms would be the best place.
I think we can all agree.
Okay, let's look a little bit more into room arrangement.
What does that look like for you?
Well, I think the thing we have to remember is we want a well rounded environment.
So like making sure that you have a craft center, a block and building center, a literacy
area, dramatic play and cozy corner.
After those areas are set up, I think you can kind of just start moving into other areas.
You can add a science area or you can add gross mortar area.
But just making sure that you have those five, I think are important to create a well rounded
environment.
Like those five core.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
And then once you see that, you'll see what the kids engage with the most and then you
can branch off from there.
Which kind of goes into the next thing, which would be like just making sure that things
are pushed like separated.
What am I trying to say?
Separated.
Sectioned?
Sectioned off.
Yeah.
Because you want to make sure that there's enough room that, you know, things aren't
mingling.
I mean, it's not a bad thing if they mingle together, but not crowded.
So avoiding runways, right?
Like children love to run and they'll run around the tables.
Obviously, we don't want them doing that indoors unless we section off that area.
So strategically placing your furniture in ways that avoid the running room.
So what I'm hearing a lot of it's almost the same as setting up if you were going to go
into a preschool room or.
100 percent.
Setting up that you're supposed to put as much care and energy as that thought into
it as that.
It's not just, you know, open the door and throw out a table and here we go.
Yeah.
And I think provocate, provocate, provocate.
You know, we strive to have play based and go with what the children are interested in,
but we have to make sure that they find that interest.
So provocating each center with things like, you know, books and puppets in the literacy
area with I like to also we did.
We added paper and pen or some sort of writing thing, writing utensils in each area to make
sure that even though you're strictly saying, OK, it's a craft center, a block.
Area, you can also have literacy and dramatic play in those areas.
And that that happened last year, like the kids were loving reading a story, then coming
up with their own story, then reenacting it.
And we put on a huge play where they got to go up on stage, dress up.
And that mixes a whole bunch of centers together.
But you still kept them different.
Yeah, it really brings in all of the important factors of education and of what we do.
And then you go into one big thing and like just what you explained right there about
how they write a story and then they came up with their own plan and they got to perform
it.
That's that's a learning happening before your eyes.
You can't just if you would have walked in and saw that, like if you want to walk in
and said, we're going to do a play today, it would have never been as authentic if you
would if you would have wanted them to do that.
But instead, they surprised you and they did themselves because of the way you set up the
room, because of what you did to those centers.
Absolutely.
Just keeping it well rounded.
I think the things too is don't forget to add your own table as teachers.
You need your own space.
Absolutely.
Keeping your files, keeping the, you know, first aid kits, the backpacks, the log books,
the attendance, making sure that you're organized.
Keep organized.
The only thing that can make things mayhem, especially with a bunch of children, is if
you're not organized and don't have backup.
Backup is important, too.
But yeah.
No, awesome.
A little touch on organization.
What do you think, like should there be more important information that has to be hung,
especially if you're in a licensed summer camp program?
So I would like to just pause for a minute because there's a difference between a licensed
summer camp program and an unlicensed summer camp program.
In licensed program, we're required to have certain information hanging up like allergies,
individual learning plans or individual needs plans and just making sure that those are
available so if ministry comes in and, you know, we want to do that.
Do you put that like the teacher table?
Do you have a different spot for that?
What are you thinking?
So we display a lot of it on the wall.
So other supply, those who are covering our breaks have an idea of who have an allergy
and a phylactic who's got some other special need that you need to cater for.
We also have a copy of it on our teacher table in our binder, our master binder.
There's always a copy lying around and one up on the wall to display as well.
I think we do have the teacher table, but also we did have an area that was originally
the table was set up for students.
So we had hand sanitizer and band-aids and soap and water for them, paper towels, tissues.
The broom was there.
Garbage.
Recycling.
And by that table, we put all of the students information that was needed up for those purposes.
You just sparked an idea.
You're telling me that you have a table designed for children to clean up their own mess.
Yes, independence.
What a novel idea.
Wow.
You mean you don't just think up their own for them?
Absolutely not.
We're not there to do that.
We're there to encourage them to be independent thinkers and learners.
And I think a lot of us forget and we get caught up in cleaning up their messes because
they're not going to do it right.
Well, this is a teachable moment.
This is when you can give them that spray bottle with soap and water and hear, you spelled
your milk.
Don't cry about it.
We're just got to clean it up and move on.
Teachable moments.
Amazing.
Yeah.
I guess it caught my attention because you do, you see a lot of people that are still,
they wait till the end of the day and they're like, oh, I have this little mess to clean
up.
But even something as simple as setting the tables for their lunches.
Yes, they bring their lunch from home, but then taking the initiative to wipe down the
tables with soapy water.
100%.
Sweep up after they're done.
That adds so much more authenticity and important learning experiences to our program.
It fosters the foundations once again to bring it back there.
It fosters belonging.
You belong here.
You have to take care of your areas.
You have to take care of this environment just as much as we all do because you belong
here.
This is your place.
It also teaches them to respect what they have and respect the materials that they're
given and what they use.
Absolutely.
Amazing.
Not too far off of that, is there any like equipment or furniture that you would suggest
if people can get their hands on that would be a benefit to these programs?
Absolutely.
Other than like the basics of tables, chairs, what we did was got beanbags for the kids.
They seem to really, really enjoy that when they're reading or they need a second to themselves
in the quiet area.
I think rugs too.
I think rugs are incredibly important, especially if you're in a bigger area such as a gym.
When they're playing on the rugs, it takes the sound down, which is good for those who
are sensitive to the sound.
Especially for things like block building.
Absolutely.
It also sections off the area.
It definitely does.
What is where?
Where different areas start and where other areas finish.
You talked about sound.
Can you touch on like hanging things on the wall?
Is there stuff that you put up on the wall in the gym?
I know that the brick walls or the concrete, whatever you want to call them, cement walls.
The old school walls.
They don't actually muffle a lot of sound.
It actually echoes out for them.
But is there like things that you can put on the wall?
Is there certain tips or tricks you have around that?
Well, I love the little patches of Velcro circles.
You know, Velcro was kind of our go-to for everything that we put on the walls.
And command strips.
They're renter friendly.
You know, your custodian won't get upset for peeling paint off the wall.
But those work really great.
I'm not a big fan of the sticky tack.
I don't think it works very well.
So when we found the Velcro strips and the command strips, that was a blessing, honestly.
But once you start putting things up on the walls, it starts to muffle that sound as well.
So creating not only, let's just say like a 2D environment, this is now a 3D environment.
You know, you can hang things.
We did a solar system off of the basketball net.
And that was extremely cool.
And the kids were totally in love with it until the wind tangled it all up.
But definitely utilize every area that you possibly can as long as it's once again kind
of renter friendly.
And whatever element you have in your area.
Like we used our basketball nets.
You can heighten it.
Literally the experience for them.
I like that plan words.
So we've touched on furniture.
We've touched on equipment kind of.
We touched on spatial.
I'm wondering about lighting because we all know what that awful lighting is like in schools,
especially in the gyms.
It's really bad for the little minds.
So do you have any suggestions around that?
We've utilized a lot of lamps, lowering down the lights, not as many.
Because we are in a gym, you don't have any windows, so you're really boxed off.
So definitely lowering down the lights, play music to help set the atmosphere as well.
Music is always on.
Always on but it depends on what level we want it to be at.
So if we want a quieter time, lights go down low, music is soft and relaxing.
We kind of want to have a fun time, games, free play.
A lot of the kids like to suggest music, so we'll play that sometimes.
We did have the first year we had a lamp and the lamp had the different color bulbs and
that would show, or sorry, the different color light switch.
And that would show, you know, what kind of noise level we were expecting from the children.
Now obviously they're not going to stick to exactly it, but it did, you know, create...
For the most part, I think they definitely were aware of what they were expected of.
That's awesome.
That's a great way to utilize that extra level of lighting and expectations.
You're really drawing the lines so that they know what to expect.
You kind of touched on centers, the five core centers.
Why do you think it's important to have those specific five centers?
Is there any rhyme or reason to it?
Did you just pull five centers?
When I suggested this, were you like, I guess we should have literacy and...
What was your rhyme or reason?
Well talking to our resource consultant, we've got a lot of really great tips from them and
with the room arrangements and some handouts, which we can also offer to whoever's listening
if you want to email or shout out to Jamie, we can send you out some really great handouts
that we got from our resource consultant.
But I think it's just keeping that well-rounded building.
Building center is really important.
Dramatic play.
Craft center is so crucial.
Just fostering all of those, you know, expression through the craft center and belonging when,
you know, they're proud of themselves.
They go over, they make something.
For instance, let's say they're in the block area and they build a castle.
Great.
Well, now they're excited to show.
So you put it aside and you are proud of them as well.
That's fostering belonging.
I think literacy is important.
Kids should be reading more and getting off of the tablet.
So we had a play like on the wall, we built a castle out of paper and it was just...
The imagination castle.
And it was just ensuring that children were using their imagination again.
And I think, you know, just through each of those centers, that imagination that is created
builds this incredible summer for each one of the campers.
Actually at the end of that week was one of the, honestly, one of my favorite memories
where we had the big scavenger hunt and we designed this.
I think the kids gave us some ideas as well of what they wanted.
And then we designed our playground to be a pirate ship.
That was so much fun.
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
We made flags.
How did you do that?
Well, each group made a flag.
They decided to do each group and they did a flag.
I believe they even decided to do a pirate ship.
And then what did you use for your pirate ship?
The playground.
What?
Like the actual...
Yeah, play structure.
We decorated it, took their flags out there, took pictures.
Played games.
Ran around the entire school courtyard looking for different clues.
Where did we go?
We went to Disneyland a lot in the pirate ship.
I think that was like the main one.
And McDonald's.
I remember McDonald's paying a destination for sure.
If I had a pirate ship, I would definitely go to McDonald's.
It was great because we got to play too.
And I think that's what this is about.
If you plan your summer program right, you get to enjoy each and every day with the campers
as well.
So you're telling me that you play with the kids.
We play with the kids.
For sure.
Do you think that that is an important part of summer camp is actually playing?
Yes.
Huge.
100%.
You wouldn't believe the places I've gone into and the teachers just sit at the desk
and they just sit like a part of the room the whole time.
And I don't engage in play at all.
I mean a lot of times it's the same excuse over like, oh they don't want to play with
us, oh they don't care.
Oh my god, your day would drag on.
Not saying you have to play with them 24, like the whole day, but like I would just
be bored, honestly, if I wasn't able to play.
I mean that's one of the best parts about being an early childhood educator is you get
to play.
And foster that love of playing through what we do.
Absolutely.
It's just with the kids, 100 times easier when you, it doesn't even have to be playing
with them, you just sit with them.
They will find their way to you and talk to you about whatever.
Oh, that's amazing.
What about parent communication?
Like we talked about our guardian parent guardian communication.
We talked about like how it's important to foster that belonging of children in the program.
How do you get families to cross that invisible line at the door?
How do you get them to come into your program and either join in the kids play or just engage
in what the children have been learning so they have some kind of insight into your program?
That's an awesome question.
Well, first it's a little bit difficult because I feel like parents really think they're just
there to drop off and go, not there to really see what their kids are doing, just to hear
about it at the end of the day.
So when parents drop off in the morning, we invite them to come in, take a look with their
kid to see what they like to do here at camp and engage with with whatever we have around
the room.
We also have, Jazz and I designed our back wall to have information for the parents,
whether that be a calendar that says what's upcoming, field trips, things like that.
We had pictures and documentations of the kids that of what they did and what they were
interested in throughout the weeks that they could look back on.
And honestly, the parents really loved it.
The kids love showing their parents what they were up to as well.
And that's just taking, you know, the sleeves, what do you call the plastic sleeves?
The page protectors.
You take a few page protectors, you put them up, you make a collage on your phone, you
print it out and it's as simple as that.
And you just throw it up.
It doesn't matter if it has a theme or words, words doesn't matter.
But the fact that there are pictures up invites the children to show their parents creates
that, you know, bond with the parents as well.
You know, you're not just picking up going to work.
No, you want to see what your kids doing that day and having that on the back wall was definitely
beneficial for everybody, honestly.
Yeah, I think it helps that the kids are excited about it.
You're excited about it.
So then inviting them in, that's a great way to kind of cross that threshold.
I'm just going to say the reason it was on the back wall, not only because it was a big
wall, but the entrance door to the center is at the back wall.
Yes, which is where the parents come in.
But you can even switch it up and put it at the front, because that would invite the parents
or the families to go straight through and actually see the center instead of just dropping
off and picking up.
So you can switch it up and feel it out.
Like as a summer camp leader, really, you know, hone in on being into having that individuality
and, you know, creating an environment that says those things for you and your team.
Amazing, you also had something else in there, if I remember correctly, like a parent or
guardian table.
We did.
Yes.
Yep.
We also with Lost and Found, because Lost and Found is an imagination castle in its own.
Important areas to have at summer camp, Lost and Found.
It also makes a really great donation box at the end of the year for those who don't
get it.
Definitely.
Yeah, talk about the table.
So our info table, we had our little booklets that we created just to kind of give the parents
Set out our themes for the week.
Exactly.
Give them a set out theme, what we have planned for the week, the main big activities we have
planned, if we have any field trips.
Making sure they don't forget their hats and their water bottles and their sunscreen and
extra clothes, all the things.
It just served as a reminder, but a sectioned off area where parents, well, that is designated
to the parents themselves.
No, that's awesome.
And just to give the listeners an idea of what these books look like, they were like,
how you used to fold a card in those four.
Like a normal sheet of paper folded in four.
And then into these gorgeous booklets that they would, that Sharice and Jazz have designed,
that the first one they had had an introduction of the staff with pictures of the staff,
but like in cartoon format that was all hand drawn.
And then they opened it up and it kind of gave like an intro to what they can expect
at summer camp.
And then each week, we're going to talk about themes, but based on the theme of the week,
that's what the booklet looked like.
And it also included something incredible, which was something that the families of children
could do at home to kind of...
It was a big hit.
It was like, I know you did something as simple as like a word search or a try this at home
or here's a recipe.
Play-doh recipe.
It was a really great way to hone in, hey, not only are you learning here, but you should
also take that important time one-on-one at home to play with your children.
Yeah, because we have these kids for a long time and God, there's no judgment whatsoever.
It's our world right now, but...
We know how much bananas are.
Right.
But giving them the opportunity to take five minutes and just really be with their families,
I think was important.
But even the siblings or cousins, sitting down with your sibling and making play-doh
together or drawing one of these characters or...
Trying out an experiment that the kids could do.
By themselves.
Yeah, without any supervision.
That's so much fun.
No, that's awesome.
I think that...
I mean, I think we can all agree, but crossing the threshold and getting families involved
in two-year programs is an important aspect.
And what does that look like in terms of community?
How do you ensure that either the community is involved or your center's community is
involved into these programs?
Well, we had an entire week dedicated to community outreach.
We called it Community Week.
I know, it's shocking.
Great name.
So original.
I know.
It was basically, Jazz and I came up with this worksheet of things that we needed because
you know how funding goes for centers.
Funding pay.
That's another episode.
So yeah, we just kind of came up with a list together of what we needed and who was willing
to donate.
Toys, craft supplies, pillows, stuffies.
Boxes.
Because boxes go a long way in early childhood education.
We love our cardboard.
Yeah, but anything like that.
We also had for parents or any family member or friend of the kids, we created this document
which just to throw out a little slang.
What am I looking for?
Resource?
Research.
Yeah.
We put in Braaff and Brenner's diagram to show them what and why we're doing this.
To reach out to your community is super important.
So they can come in, choose a day, pick a time spot, half an hour even, come hang out
with the kids, come show them something.
We had one mom do a yoga session, a mindfulness five minutes.
We had police officers.
Oh, the tattoo artist came in.
We had police officers, firefighters.
Paramedics.
This is where you can really reach out to your community.
Like Charisse was saying, the ecological system, showing the kids and the families that it's
not just about them and their immediate family.
It goes bigger than that and then bigger than that.
And really making sure that our community is working together because it takes a village.
It takes a village.
Yeah.
It really does.
And I love that you said the quote unquote regular, like, oh, we had a firefighter and
a paramedic and a cop come in.
But you also had people that you wouldn't expect to come in and talk to summer camps.
And they ended up bringing the most amazing experience, like a tattoo artist.
She even brought in little fake tattoos for them.
Little fake tattoos.
That was so cute.
Kids end up making themselves a little sleeve.
And the kids loved it.
They absolutely loved it.
And they learned about all of these amazing careers.
And they learned about how all of these people help our community in one way or another.
You had a massage therapist come in.
We did.
We all did the little feet massages on their own feet.
But she brought a whole bunch of oils, different scents.
All child friendly.
She did the research.
These families got so into it that they did so much to make sure that not only was their
presentation engaging, but they were nervous coming in to talk to these children.
They really put their all into it.
That was so good to see.
And it just, once again, brings that sense of belonging.
Also we did, with the community week, let's just branch off of that.
You need a lot of stuff.
And you know what?
Most of us in our companies don't have a lot of money.
Some of us are not for profit.
You know, we just, if you're running a summer camp, you need a lot of things.
Especially with school age children, they need more things than, you know, just your
average blocks.
So we did a donation list and we posted that on Facebook.
We did that around the community.
We posted it in the libraries and we have, you know, old children's costumes, large boxes,
kids' t-shirts, coloring books, craft supplies, anything you can think of.
Get a little list together and really reach out to your community for their resources.
We had a stage full within the first week.
A stage full of just, oh my god, so much stuff.
Lots of craft supplies, crayons, markers.
A lot of it we ended up having to use as prizes.
Yeah, we did the prizes.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's a really great way to hone in on your community, but also get everything
you need for free.
Just saying.
Yeah, a lot of people were willing to help.
That was really awesome.
On that, you guys, this year, just like, this has carried on over the years at our centers,
but this year we got to open a second location for summer camp and we literally started with
nothing.
Then the summer camp we normally run usually takes up from our before and after school
program, but we have another program running out of that room.
We had two blank slate summer camps and a lot of room to fill.
The community has come together so much for us.
It's something as simple as when you see something on Facebook like a coffee table or a beanbag
chair or a rug and just saying, hey, I know you want $10 for this, but I'm wondering if
you'd be willing to donate to a not-for-profit preschool or a childcare center.
Could we borrow your rug for the summer and we'll give it back.
We'll make sure it's clean, whatever.
Honestly, you do what you have to do.
Yeah.
Don't be afraid to ask.
The worst they can say is no.
Someone really smart must have told you that.
My mom.
Shout out.
Hi mom.
But yeah, seriously, like-
Utilize what you have.
People want to help where they can and because we live in a society and not even a society,
a world right now that is hard done by, people will help where they can and it doesn't have
to be money and it doesn't have to be big.
Something as simple as, oh, my kids didn't use all of their crans this year or whatever
and they send those along to have one extra thing at summer camp and it's actually beautiful
how everyone comes together.
You would be so surprised the amount people will donate once you just ask them nicely.
Absolutely.
We had a lady, I asked her for something if she would be willing to donate.
She said, no, I'm really looking for the money right now, but I'm also looking to get rid
of a bunch of stuff and she gave us three giant moving boxes full of toys and art supplies
and board games, all in really good condition.
You'd just be surprised once you ask.
That's incredible.
I think I just want to touch on the community part a little bit and this would go into inclusion.
We did the community week, but we also invited families to share their cultures and I think
that this needs to be shared more in a lot of different centers.
We celebrated different celebrations.
I'm trying to find a different word there, but yeah, from around the world and really
fostered the different diversities that children, even that weren't necessarily there, just
showing that there's more than just our community.
It's not just, and just really broadening it to the world.
I think I just wanted to do a little touch on that because I think it's really important.
No, it is important.
It's easy, especially when you come from a small town and where we are is a small town.
When you come from a small town, you don't always get a taste of all the amazing things
that there is out there in this world.
Giving that to the children, giving them some idea of how much more incredible things are
out there, it opens their eyes and their minds to so much more than what they might have
grown up around or what they're used to.
You guys also did something really incredible with the educators in the childcare centers.
Not only did you invite community members, you also invited educators down.
Can you tell me what that looked like?
I'm sure a lot of listeners, especially supervisors, would be like, as if I have time or hours
or space to send down someone who's working in another program to summer camp.
What did that look like?
Sure, I can talk.
All right, you go.
What that looked like is they took an hour, half an hour, however long.
We had the sign up sheet.
Yes, we had a sign up sheet.
Took a certain amount of time, whatever day of week they would like to come, whether that
be for one week of the summer or sorry, one day for a certain allotted time or if you
want to come every Thursday, every whatever.
Honestly, it was just whatever works out for that person.
Most of the time it was for an hour or less.
They all have something to bring to the table.
We have a wonderful educator who's really great at nature.
She did a nature activities.
We have another educator who's great at science.
Oh my God, that's so much fun.
Mad scientist.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was amazing.
The kids loved it.
They got to see a different face.
What would happen is that teacher would switch with the other teacher.
Let's say, we'll just say me and you, Sharice.
Sharice would come down from her program and do a nails and hair and makeover hour.
I would go up to then the preschool program and hang out with those kids for an hour.
It really helped the educators, I think as well, just take a break.
Take a break.
Because you do, you need breaks.
We're human.
In all programs.
Yeah.
In all programs.
I think that helped a lot of us through the summer.
Well, the kids look forward to it.
They knew what day the scientist was coming.
They knew what day's hair or makeup or the confidence booster, we called it, was coming
and they did a little bit more than hair and makeup.
They also talked about confidence and how to build confidence in yourself.
Self love.
Or nature was coming down.
They were like, oh, I get to go in the nature group today.
We're going to go do this and this and this.
They literally went out to the forest.
Yeah.
It was incredible.
And it also hones in on each of the educators' strengths.
Specialties, strengths.
I think too, it's like the children got to sign up.
So it's not like it was offered necessarily throughout the whole class, which is totally
up to the educator, but there was little groups.
And then you got to have that more one-on-one time, which was really special for the kids.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah.
I just, I really want you to touch on that because it was, it was an incredible, it was
a really incredible summer.
Yeah, it was a great summer.
We kind of touched on this a little bit, so I'm going to kind of bring it back to it because
a lot of educators, especially now, are all for play-based learning, which we should be,
but also in merging curriculum rather than themes.
But things like summer camp is hard to run when you have to have people sign up for like
an emergent just come for a week, whatever.
So usually summer camps plan some sort of theme.
What does that look like for you?
And does it still, is there still emergent aspects or can you tell me about that?
Absolutely.
So we have one table, we have just one table.
And what, in the beginning of the summer before, well, as sorry, before the summer, we plan
each week and each educator that's there at the summer program gets to take a week.
So they get to really, you know, dive deep and create an imagination.
They're not creating imagination, they already have it.
But honestly, it's just a table.
It's just one table that has a theme.
So let's say, you know, you did, Sharice, you did the ocean week.
Yeah.
That was fantastic.
Put out sensory activities for the kids to interact with, facts about different ocean
animals or the ocean itself.
We had sensory bottles out.
And if that grew, it would go across the whole center.
But if it didn't grow up, it was like a mess, it stayed to the table and kids found other
stuff.
We had like game show.
Game show week was one of the favorites.
And even the kids now come back and still want to do it.
This week, we're we just got we just got some buzzers.
And then all of a sudden, and some tables and all of a sudden, there was this beautiful
presentation from the children.
Just we just got to sit back and enjoy.
There was kids this year that signed up specifically for game show week and have basically planned
the whole week themselves.
Yeah, absolutely.
Which I think is an important thing to like all of our theme tables.
Yes, they're there.
But as the week goes on, we add and take away stuff depending on what their interests are
with the actual theme.
So even though yes, there is a theme, it's geared towards what their interests are and
how they like things and play based.
Yeah.
Oh, that's incredible.
I know I've kept you for so long, we're gonna wrap up soon.
But there was one more really important thing that I love that you guys put into your program
and it was your mantra.
Can you tell us about your mantra?
Can we remember it?
Yeah.
Okay, should we try it?
I am brave.
I am strong.
I am kind.
And I am loved.
Yeah.
The reason we were sounding like that is because we have the actions.
We did it also in ASL as we were saying it.
ASL is American Sign Language.
As we were doing it, we really wanted to have this mantra for the kids to say in the morning
so they can feel what they're saying.
They know that they're brave.
Created togetherness and inclusion.
Yeah.
Super, super important, especially at some of the ages that these kids are getting where
they're having possible self-esteem issues or questioning things.
It's just a space for them to make sure they're safe.
Yeah.
And you guys would say that more than once a day, right?
We would say it in the morning.
We would say it before lunch.
It's almost like a prayer.
I mean, at that point, you know, just-
Just a reminder throughout the day that it's true.
We even had it written on the mirror.
Yes, we did.
So they can see it as well as not just hear it.
And sometimes we would hear the kids in small groups do it just with themselves, which was
so special.
It makes your heart burst, honestly.
Absolutely.
Well, you guys really went above and beyond, in my opinion, you went above and beyond the
call of duty when it comes to summer camp, because you've made it more than just a fun
place to come during the summer.
You made it a home away from home for these kids who spend a huge portion of their day
with you for two whole months.
A lot of- Summer camp is tricky because, yes, people sign up for themed weeks and, yes,
people get to go to different places, but some people, it's not really a choice.
You have- Your families have to work and it's wherever you can get a spot because it's just
like childcare at this point where it's hard to come by.
And if children have to stay at the same spot all summer, it's hard to- It's hard on them,
it's hard on the families.
It's just- It's not-
It's not easy.
Yeah.
And making it someplace authentic like this and someplace where kids love to come and
they feel loved and safe and strong and kind.
It's just- It's really bringing it home.
Let me wrap up.
Was there anything else that you wanted to add that I missed asking you about?
I think just because of what's happening right now with early childhood education, I think
a lot of teachers are going through burnouts and things like that.
Listen, summer camp is tough.
Working with that many children is not easy.
And I think a lot of people don't realize that.
So kudos to you educators.
You're rocking it, killing it.
And make sure to take care of yourselves.
Make sure if you need that five minutes, tap out with somebody and say, hey, I need five
minutes.
It's okay.
It is okay to make sure that you're mentally okay to be there.
It is not something to be ashamed of.
Yeah.
And just creating that self-love for yourself I think is so important.
Because you're in an airplane, who do you save first?
You save yourself.
Yep.
We've also talked about saving your day.
That could be literally anything.
Could be having a piece of chocolate in your car.
Yeah.
Saving your day is like a new thing that we've all started.
And I love it.
It's honestly helped out tremendously.
Tremendously.
Question time.
If you watch it, it's actually a segment, okay?
Segment, segment.
It's actually a segment.
But instead of people asking me a question, I have one last question for Sharice and Jazz.
And you can answer in whatever order you want to.
But what is one thing you would like listeners to walk away with today if nothing else?
Okay.
And Harold, all this good meaning.
I got it.
I want to stop.
Inspiration.
If we can inspire you a little bit as a leader, as a supervisor, as an ECE, REC, or any early
childhood professional, as a parent or family member.
If you took a little something to inspire your summer with your children, that is, I
mean, all I can ask for.
Yeah.
All right.
If you curious cats are interested in getting a hold of Jazz or Sharice, you can find Jazz
on Instagram at MissJazz22.
That's M-S-J-A-Z-Z-22.
Or MissSharice on Instagram at Miss underscore Sharice.
That's M-I-S-S underscore S-H-E-R-E-S-E.
Thank you to so incredibly much for joining me on the Figure Out AC.
Thank you so much for having us.
Oh, we will have you again.
As long as the listeners can get the right take, honestly.
Thank you everyone that's signing off and I will see you, or hear you.
You'll hear me in two weeks.
Bye.
Thank you.
Amazing listeners for your support.
Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at MissJami underscore R-E-C-E.
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Have something you want to hear about in relation to before and after school programs or full
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DM me or comment.
Again, thank you so much and happy learning.