Camp Out Adventures with Grade 2

Despite the presence of a roaring fire, twinkly lights and illumining stars, second-grade students were quiet beside their campsites as they spent the morning enjoying a leisurely yet educational activity, Camp-Read-A Lot. The special activity not only highlighted the fun of being an accomplished reader, but commemorated Read Across America, a national program that aims to inspire students about the joys of reading and to become lifelong learners.

The conjoining classrooms were transformed into four themed campsites: Camp Reading Rangers, Camp Evergreen, Camp Blue Water, and Camp Super S’mores. Teachers Erin Correa and Emily Anderson welcomed the campers for their morning adventures and began with the first round of reading. With a set allotted time, the students grabbed their favorite books and silently read in their tents, under the stars, or next to the calming water.

“Camp-Read-A Lot is a fun way to celebrate how far the students have come as readers this year,” said Mrs. Correa. “Watching the students’ excitement grow as they walked into the campsites instead of their classroom was fun to see. We hope to continue this tradition each year as it allows the students to be engaged in learning in a different way.”

While reading was the main focus, the students also partook in a variety of team-building activities. In groups of three or four, the students focused on different tasks that focused on their prior unit of study, time and money. For the time challenge, students examined clock illustrations and wrote down the specific time to showcase their understanding of units of time. For the math challenge, they were instructed to count change on a task card while also selecting an item with the same price point. 

Additionally, a scavenger hunt was incorporated into the mix for a fun break from the academics. The students were quick on the search as they had to match a photo to the listed item description before embarking on the “word sheet” assignment in which they had to create new words from the letters of each campsite name. The morning ended with snack time and more leisurely reading.