Camp Opouahi - an Excellent Challenge

It’s been a while since Miss McLeod has published a post on our blog.  In fact, two weeks ago today we were arriving back at school from camp.  Room 24 all agree that camp was awesome, excellent, exhilarating, exciting, thrilling, full of happy times, grand, challenging, great, cool and fun!

Here are some quotes from students about their camp experiences:

“My favourite part was feeding the eels because I’d never seen so many slimy creatures before” - Kennedy.

“I enjoyed caving because it included two of my favourite things; swimming and climbing” – Mackenzie.

“My favourite part was caving – I loved walking through the water and the wetas” – Lisa.

“It was scary, going into the caves.  I thought it might collapse on us and then we’d all be drowned” – Ben.

“I liked the caving because I’d never been in a cave and it was exciting” – Jono.

“My favourite part about caving was being in tight places with spiders and wetas” – Simon.

“I liked canoeing because I liked being out on the water” - Jodie.

“My favourite activity was canoeing because it was my first time in a canoe AND I liked the swimming part” -  Ryeogeun.

“I liked the caving because I liked exploring around in the dark” – Connor.

“I took pleasure in everything because it was fun and it was all a great challenge” – Johanna.

“I liked caving because it was a new experience and I liked the feeling of having adrenaline running through me” – Kellie.

“I enjoyed the caving because it pushed me out of my comfort zone” – Ashleigh.

“The activity I liked the most was seeing the glow worms because I’d never seen glow worms before” - Arielle.

Where do you go to camp?
What activities will you be taking part in?
And, what do you think the highlight of camp will be for you?

Challenge - Our Inquiry concept for Camp

This year when head out to Opouahi for camp one our key focuses will be on the concept of CHALLENGE.  We will be caving, canoeing, hiking, tenting, cooking and more.  Room 24 are asking themselves the question, "how can we face and overcome challenges?"  


This was a good question to ask ourselves last week as it started pouring with rain part way through our training walk.  We have a 6km hike into camp (with only backpacks - not all our gear), so the rain was actually an opportunity for us to explore what we might do if it does rain while we're on our hike.  Obviously, we need to prepare and make sure we have all the gear.


Today, we looked at 'Challenge' from the perspective of teamwork and problem-solving.  We had to get balloons across the field using only our torsos.  The balloons couldn't touch the ground and the team members had to stay connected to each other.  If we dropped the balloons or became disconnected, we had to head back to the beginning and start again.

It was a good challenge as we all had fun and we were encouraged to work together.  Afterwards, we brainstormed the challenge skills and ideas in the Wordle below.  We also looked at the Habits of Mind we used.  We decided we'd used these ones:  thinking flexibly, persisting, working with others, seeing the funny side, using past knowledge, stop & think, trying new idea, listening to others, thinking about thinking (reflecting), make it right, innovate, and be clear.  

Congratulations Room 24 - Miss McLeod was super impressed with you!

Is your class facing any challenges in the near future?  What strategies will you use?

Do you have any wise words of advice that we can use to help us overcome the challenges at camp?