Homework House Summer CampDay #1
7-9yr olds – Heritage State Park
Objective: To introduce the campers to the curriculum and how the curriculum relates to their community.
Also, to encourage community and team building among the campers and the staff.
Note: Campers will actively engage with the environment by participating in the Hasbro Scavenger Hunt (P.
65)
Word of the Day : Community
9:00-9:30 Breakfast
9:30-10:30am Goal Setting and Expectations
What is summer camp?
What expectations do we have of summer camp?
What do we expect to learn?
What are some guidelines that will allow us to make summer camp the best experience possible?
10:30-11:00am – Walk to Heritage State Park
11:00-12:00 – Introduction to Holyoke with Charlie Lotspeich
12:00-12:30 – Lunch
12:00-1:00pm – Relaxation Station (Literacy)
The group will read: City Green and analyze the themes that arise in the book and how they pertain to the
community of Holyoke. The campers will learn about environmental issues.
1:00-2:30pm – Learning about Holyoke Canals and the Holyoke Environment
After reading the book City Green and getting a brief introduction to environmental issues, the campers will
receive an in depth description and visual of the same. They will learn about the Holyoke environment and
how it has changed through out the years.
2:30-3:00pm – Walk back to site
3:00-3:30pm Getting to know each other – Ball Toss
To engage the campers in team building activities we will play ball toss. Ball Toss requires the children to
memorize the names while playing a fun interactive game.
3:30-4:00pm – How did we do today?
Did we achieve all of our goals? Did we follow all of the guidelines? In what ways did we see the word of
the day in action?
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #2
7-9yr olds – Chicopee State Park
Objective: To introduce the team to a fun and diverse way of thinking about nature and science. To continue
to foster the importance of community and team building.
Word of the Day – Nature
9am-9:30am – Breakfast
9:30-10:00am – Goal Setting and Expectations
10:00-10:30am - Ewwww Science!! How do we fit in with nature? - Brainstorm
The team will be introduced to nature and science in a fun and interactive concept.
Part I: Brainstorm. The campers will brainstorm a definition of nature. If nature were a person how would
he/she look and feel?
Part II: What can we learn from the brainstorming activity? Is there something that we can use through out
camp to help us learn and engage with nature?
10:30-11:00am - Free Write/Coloring Representation
What do we associate with science?
How do we feel about it?
What are our fears? Do we want to overcome those fears? How?
The children will draw pictures of what they associate with nature. In this activity the counselors will
encourage the campers to think of nature beyond trees and what is obvious. The team will then report back to
the group about their posters.
11:00-11:30am – Ride to Chicopee State Park
11:30-12:00pm - Lunch
12:00-12:45pm- Oh No, I’m Lost (Relaxation Station)
Materials: Poster Boards, Markers, Crayons, Construction Paper, frogs, tadpoles, worms, sea weed, cut out
into pieces.
The counselors will put random pieces (animals) in different parts of a section of the park. The campers will
be in their teams. Together they will decide whether the animals and nature-liked things are where they
belong. If they aren’t where they belong they need to bring them to their “homes.”
After 15 minutes we will go over all of the pieces, their names and where they actually belong.
Objective: To teach the campers about different parts of nature and the reasons why some organisms live in
their respective places. The next activity is fishing. This activity will prepare the campers to take
responsibility of ensuring that the fished caught are returned back to their homes.
12:45-1:00pm - Meet a Tree (Hasbro P. 69)
1:00-2:00pm – Fishing
2:00-2:30pm – Collection of water samples using the water kits
The teams will collect water samples of the lake to beginning collecting data for their examination of
different types of watersheds.
2:30-3:30pm – First hand exploration of Lake
3:30pm – Board Bus
3:30pm – How did we do today?
What did we learn? What are some characteristics of a lake? What were the different types of fish we learned
about?
4:00pm – Dismissal
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #3
7-9 yrs old – Wendell Recreation Area
Objective: To introduce the team to two different types of watersheds: the pond and the stream. Today’s
objective is also to teach the campers about pond life and habitats.
Word of the Day: Habitat
9:00-9:30am Breakfast
9:30-10:00am – Goal Setting and Expectations
10:00am – Board Bus
11:00am – Arrive at Wendell Recreation Area
11:00-12:30 – Pond and Stream Life Exploration
Materials Needed: Critter exploration kits, buckets, and nets
The campers will collect critters that they find in the pond. The programs objective is to teach the campers
about this different kind of habitat and its inhabitants. This activity will build on the previous lesson about
how to take care of the nature around us.
12:30-1:00pm – Lunch @ Pavillion
1:00-1:30pm – Relaxation Station (Literacy)
Materials Needed:
*Coloring pages of: tadpoles, fishes, worms, water snider’s, salamanders and other critters found in a pond.
*Poster Boards or Large construction paper
*Glue, markers, crayons, color pencils
Beginning of poster making – The students will have coloring pages of the different critters. They will color
them in and being to lay them out on their frame (construction paper). Every team will have a different
critter. Looking at the critters they collected, the students will try to create a visual to represent what they
saw. With the assistance of the team counselor, the campers will begin to jot down notes on the
characteristics of the different critters in the following categories: Physical appearance and lifestyle.
1:30-2:50pm – First Hand exploration of Ruggles Pond
2:50pm Change and Board Bus
3:15pm – How did we do today? Is there anything that we could do better? Did we follow the guidelines?
What did we learn that we didn’t know before?
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #4
7-9yrs – DAR State Forest
Objective - To expose the campers to the relationship between the different watersheds and the forest.
Word of the Day – Organism
9:00-9:30am Breakfast
9:30-10:00am – Goal Setting and Expectations
10:00am – Board Bus
10:30 – Arrive at DAR State Forest
10:30-11:30 – Nature Walk and collection of organism
* What organisms have DAR as their habitat? This activity will help the teams create a visual of the link
between watershed and the forest.
11:30-12:00 – Lunch
12:00-12:30pm – Relaxation Station
Read Aloud: Tell Me, Tree
Guided Reading: How can we connect the book to what we’ve experienced at DAR today?
1:00-1:30 – How many organisms can we name? Team Competition
The counselors will show the team cards with different organisms that the children have encountered and the
children will name the organisms.
1:30-2:00pm – Collection of Water Samples from the DAR Pond
2:00–3:00– First hand exploration of DAR Pond
3:00 – Board Bus Back to Site
3:30-4:00pm – How did we do today? Is there anything that we could do better? Did we follow the
guidelines? What did we learn that we didn’t know before?
4:00pm – Dismissal
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #5
7-9yrs – Forest Park Zoo
Objective: To expose the teams to the zoo and its inhabitants and engage them in conversations about
biodiversity and aquatic ecology.
Word of the Day: Predators Vs Prey
9:00-10:00am – Breakfast and Goal Setting and Expectations
10:30-11:30 – Animal Discovery Program
11:30-12:00 – Lunch @
12:00-12:30pm – Readers Theater
Each team will pick a book and create a performance for the group.
12:30-1:00 – Forest Park Pond Exploration and Critter Search
1:00-2:00 – Reader’s Theater Group Performance
2:00–2:30 – Ride Back to Site
2:30-3:30pm – Teams will work on their posters
3:30-4:00pm – How did we do today? Is there anything that we could do better? Did we follow the
guidelines? What did we learn that we didn’t know before?
4:00pm – Dismissal
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #6
7-9yrs – Heritage Farm
The field trip to Heritage Farm consists exposing the teams to farm life. During this field trip the children
will explore the differences between the forest and a farm. The children will participate in nature projects
hosted by the farm, which include stream exploration and critter analysis and animal feeding. The farm host
will also present different facts to the team.
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #7
7-9yrs – Great Falls Discovery Center
Objective: To expose the team to a live canal. This will allow for comparison between the canals of Holyoke
and the live canal.
Word of the Day: Canal
9:00-9:30am – Breakfast
9:30-10:00am – Word of the Day and Goal Setting
10:00-11:00am – Ride to Great Falls Discovery Center
11:00-12:00 – Scavenger Hunt at Discovery Center
12:00-12:30pm – Lunch
12:30-1:00 – Relaxation Station
Read Aloud: Earth Song
1:00-1:20– Report Back of Scavenger Hunts
1:00-3:00 – Live Canal Analysis
3:00pm – Board Bus back to Site
3:30-4:00pm – How did we do today? Is there anything that we could do better? Did we follow the
guidelines? What did we learn that we didn’t know before?
4:00pm – Dismissal
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #8
7-9yrs – Northfield Mountain
Objective: At Northfield Mountain the campers will engage with nature. They will learn about different
organisms and they will perform “experiments” on frogs. After seeing tadpoles at the other sites, the campers
will now learn about the evolution of frogs and how their development is related to their habitat.
Word of the Day: Evolution of Frogs
9:00-9:30am – Breakfast (Word of the Day and Goal Setting)
9:30-10:30am – Ride to Northfield Mountain
10:30 – 11:30am – Pond Program
The pond program at Northfield Mountain consists of searching for frogs and other important water
organisms.
11:30-12:00 – Lunch
12:00-12:30pm – Relaxation Station
* Literacy Stations
12:30-2:30 – Organism Analysis and Interpretation
This program consists of organism analysis and interpretation. After collecting their samples at the pond the
children will now have a chance to closely look at the different organisms, especially the frogs, to create a
visual of the difference stages of frog life.
2:30pm – Board Bus back to site
3:30-4:00pm – How did we do today? Is there anything that we could do better? Did we follow the
guidelines? What did we learn that we didn’t know before?
4:00pm – Dismissal
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #9
7-9yrs – Hamonasset Beach
Objective – Throughout the course of camp the team has been exposed to lakes, ponds, streams and rivers,
all of which are fresh water. This fieldtrip provides a different water sample because the beach is salt water.
Today’s objective is to engage the children in a conversation about the difference between the different
bodies of water.
9:00-9:30am – Breakfast
9:30am – Board bus to Hamonasset Beach
11:30am – Nature Center Exposition
This exposition displays the different kinds of organisms that live in salt water, specifically in the CT River
area.
12:00 – Lunch @ Pavillion
12:30 – Relaxation Station
Venn Diagram – What are the differences between the Chicopee State Park Lake and Hamonnasset Beach?
Read Aloud (Book Tentative)
1:30-3:00 – First Hand Exploration of Beach
Homework House Summer Camp – Day #10
7-9yrs – On Site
Preparation of last day presentations and final performances.
Hasbro Activities Utilized for Camp
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Meet a Tree
Predator Vs Prey Freeze Tag
Scavenger Hunt
Aquatic Critter tag Research Sheet (95)
Bug Picking Data Sheet (98)
Creating Critter Models (104-105)
Culminating Activities ( Younger – CT River Mural Older – Presentations)