Tuesday, Mr.Furmento led the morning lecture with a captivating statement:Science is not the answer, it is the question. What we know for sure here at Eco Camp is that we live in a world full of questions. But jumping right to the answer leaves out one very important step, Discovery. Our motto is “learning by doing” and nothing better describes what we practice. This morning lecture set the camp up for a day full of exploration. Mr.Fallon led our older campers on a discovery walk to a small woodland patch near Savin rock, showing the vast difference in ecosystem from the direct shoreline. This type of lesson is a great way to keep our campers engaged with conservation.
Back at camp, everyone’s favorite pair Mrs. Nancy Paone and Ms.Cathie Iaccarino led the campers through a lesson on Native American culture. This lesson has been a part of our curriculum since day one and is one of our main foundations. This lesson teaches our campers about the history and culture of the First Nations, with emphasis on their relationship with the natural world. We encourage the campers to utilize circle thinking, remembering that the daily choices they make affect the environment around them. Trash and debris that end up in our oceans end up inside of us. We continued these lessons with groups on totem animals, smudging and totem bags. Native Americans were the first ecologists and their relationship with the earth is one we truly can learn from.
Thursday was full of fun as our yearly Hawaiian and weather day ! Morning lecture featured Hawaiian history and the formation of the Islands; the afternoon featured some great groups. The campers rotated through tornados, volcanoes, clouds, and warming oceans. Our warming oceans presentation focused on the influence of the greenhouse effect on our oceans' temperatures. We took this time to touch on carbon footprint utilizing the quiz found on https://climate-calculator.climatehero.me where you find out if you’re a climate villain, consumer, friend, or hero! Take the quiz with the family and comment your results!
The key to saving our planet is educating the future generation to keep fighting for a cleaner and healthier planet. Eco Camp has been fighting this fight for 30 years and we will never stop!
Thursday concluded with our yearly volcano eruption led by Mrs.Kerry Rush and Andrew!
We had an exciting and educational first week at camp this year ! Thank you all so much for your support! Next week we are off from camp but check back here for some sneak peeks into our curriculum!
Ms.Cathie Iaccarino shares the difference between circle thinking and line thinking.
Our arts and crafts leader Ms.Liz Ward helps to thread the yarn for our campers totem bags!
Some of the reactions to our volcano this year! @WestHavenEcoCamp on Facebook and Instagram !
-Sophia Marino (Senior Staff)