March 30th

After a rough start (short 1 bus), we made it here and quickly settled in and got busy. We began with a field group exprience where students faced several challenges to solve as a team. They became acquainted with their field group leader and field group members. It was cold but sunny and with all of the activity the kids were doing, they were warm and happy. We were placed on mountain time to accommodate our night activities (we are actually running 1 hour earlier than everyone back home). After a great lunch of spaghetti and garlic bread, students were given their first list of afternoon class choices. They were; Basin Ball with Kelly and Dave; Oh Deer with Yukumi; Habitat Restoration with Charles; Stormchasers with Nicole; and Lumberjack Scramble with Bryan. Each class focuses on a curricular area and uses hands on and role playing situations to drive instruction. After dinner (hamburgers & fries), we participated in a large group activity called Quest; which is another chance for students to work on team success of challenges. Students were taught the STOP strategy: Stop, Think, Organize, Proceed. This activity ran until 9 pm. Aftewards, we gathered as a large group, reflected on the experience, listened to a story, had milk and cookies, and watched a slide show of pictures of animals and nature. Lights out was late tonight but with the time change, we all will have a good nights sleep!