Friday, October 8,2010 (The Last Day)

It is with great sadness that I write this final blog for the Nature's Classroom trip of 2010. The kids have had a great time and are looking forward to coming home, yet they do want to stay. They have done some pretty amazing things this week and I'm sure you will here all about during the weekend. Mrs. Hennessey, Mrs. Mayne, Mr. Doherty, and myself have had a great time also. The weather was great, except for Wednesday, and the food was good. What more could you ask for.

Today the boys were woken in the most unusual way. The girls from Lincoln-Thomson school came barging into our cabin at 6:45 screaming “Get Up!!'. It was wonderful. It was pay back for the prank that we pulled on them last night. Mr. Doherty and I put on some scary masks and went to the LT and Aborn girls' cabins. Then the boys came in screaming and causing utter chaos. What fun!!!

The Underground Railroad was awesome last night. It was a clear, dark night with a sky that shone like a trillion diamonds. Did ever notice how much brighter the stars are in the country? A few students were nervous because of the yelling and anticipation of what was going to happen. The staff tries to make the experience of what it was like to be a slave as real as possible. After this activity we all went to Pahaska cabin and talked about slavery and its relationship to bullying. This was a lesson that would not have been able to experience in a traditional classroom.

I'm sure your child has had the experience of a lifetime. Mrs. Hennessey and I still remember when we went to Nature's Classroom when we were in sixth grade. Ask your child about the week and what they did. I will be posting all the photos and videos on the Aborn website as soon as I can. From Nature's Classroom in Freedom, NH,



GOOD-BYE!!!!!

Thursday, October 7,2010

Here we are with one day left and it has been a great time. Needless to say the boys got their daily dose of heavy metal thanks to AC/DC. However, it is taking them a lot longer to get up. Tiredness is really setting in. For breakfast we had french toast and bacon. It was very good. The rain finally stopped and the sun is shining, in between the clouds.

I hope everyone is enjoying the pictures and videos I have been posting. When I get back I will post all the pictures and videos on the Aborn website.

It has been like a zoo up here. The kids have been seeing deer galore. I have yet to see one. However, as we were having a meeting on the dining hall deck a bald eagle flew right by us. Then another one came from across the lake. It was spectacular.

Last night the kids performed their Wednesday Night Live skits. They were very funny. I did take a few videos of it. It is Nature's Classroom version of Saturday Night Live. Normally they would do this on Thursday night but we switched it because of the rain. Tonight is the Underground Railroad. We are all looking forward to that.

Remember how I wrote about the boys' room looking like something out of a tornado story.  I now have proof in video. However, we took time today to have the kids clean up the cabins. If we didn't take care of it now they would have to do it tonight after the Underground Railroad and that would not have been a pretty sight. Today they had a huge game of tag called Predator and Prey. Basically half the kids are the consumers and the other half are the animals the consumers eat. They run around and try to capture
each other. This goes on for two hours!!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

This morning's musical selection consisted of a nice heavy metal ballad from Metallica. However, many of them were awake before me. Will they never learn that sleep is precious up here? Last night many of the boys and girls were complaining about how tired they were. The boys were all asleep by 10:15 last night, but woke up at 6:15 this morning. It looks like the rain finally made it to us. It is pouring out right now. And there is no stopping the activities up here. Today is the big 4 hour hike and some of them will be nice and wet when they get back.

The girls (thankfully) fell asleep much earlier than their 2 am stint on Monday night. I woke them to some extremely loud Motley Crew at 7:00 and they have been going ever since. The cabin is starting to look like a bomb went off and the girls are convinced that the boys are pranking us by messing it up. Really it just them being messy but they are having fun trying to set traps and cameras to catch the boys! I think there is mixed feelings about the long hike today, but they will have fun once they get out there.


Tonight is the most anticipated activity of the week, Underground Railroad. I have the kids believing that they be traveling in the tunnels below the campground. If I see a box on the ground covering a pipe I tell them that it is an entrance to the tunnels. They are so gullible.

The boys are pigs. I have never seen the cabin such a mess. I think it is because I told them they are responsible for their own things. Come Friday when they have to pack everything they will be scrambling to find their stuff. It also smells like a locker room, but they are taking showers everyday and brushing their teeth. The main thing is they are having fun.

Speaking of fun. They were soaked when they came back from the hike. The rain let up for about and hour and a half then just as they were ready to go the sky opened up and did not let up. When they came back the groups cooked marshmallows in the fireplace. No, not in the cabin, in the dining hall. We are not living luxurious up here. The Underground Railroad activity may be delayed until tomorrow night

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Ah, woken to the sweet sounds of Motley Crue at 7 am. (Enjoy the video) I think you parents should try it, it works. Last night was a relatively quiet night, until we got back to the cabin. They probably went to sleep around 11:30 and few of them are paying for it today with their tiredness. We warned them. Mrs. Hennessey said the girls were the same. They'll learn.

The consensus is in: the food here is the best they ever had. Sorry to all of the family cooks. We started our day with pancakes and sausages. Delish!! For all the parents who can't get their kids to eat veggies, they love the salad bar. When the waitron, the person that acts as the waiter for the table, finishes his or her duties they participate in a cool dance related to ORT.  What is ORT you ask?  ORT is all the food that is wasted at each meal.  The staff here weighs is records it on a chart to show the kids how much food is being wasted. After the ORT report the kids participate in “entertainment”. This is when one of the counselors get up a sings a song in which the kids participate in. They do it after every meal. Don't be surprised if your son or daughter comes home singing about a squirrel with a bushy tail that sticks peanuts up his nose.

Today they had a variety of classes that ranged from making water rockets to, of course, dissections. They made a couple different geodomes. One they could climb on, the other was much larger but not as sturdy. In between classes they are playing basketball, tennis, soccer, tetherball, and basically having a lot of fun. The weather has held out for us so far but tomorrow for the long, four hour hike is not looking to promising.

Tonight they are having the night experience. They will walk around the woods and learn about the stars, how wintergreen lifesaver spark in the dark among other fun activities.

Monday, October 4, 2010

After what seemed what was going to be a day of nothing but dreary weather we drove into the sun, literally, in New Hampshire. It turned out to be a gorgeous day at Nature's Classroom. We got here around 11:15 and the kids got acquainted with their surrounds(a.k.a hauling their bags to the cabins). After a lunch of grilled cheese, soup, chili, and salad they broke up into their field groups. This is the group that they are with all week, however they do take different classes with different counselors.

The kids went to field group to get to know their counselors and the other kids here. Then they had transition time, which is basically free time, for a half an hour. They played basketball, soccer, football, and tennis. I don't think anyone was sitting around. After they went into their first class. Some of the choices were eye dissection, JellyBelly-ology, Eat the USA, Forest fires, etc... It is funny because the dissections are the most popular of all the classes.

For dinner we had pasta, rolls, and veggies. Of course they loved dessert the best, brownies. As I was sitting at the dinner table Victoria said, “I've only been at Nature's Classroom for a day and I already love it”. That's what I mean when I say your child will not want to leave on Friday. Right now they are in a science fair where they are learning to burn money, and it is not from shopping, making goo with cornstarch, burn the penny, they like to waste money up here, and floating a tea bag. I don't understand this one. After this will be quiet sing and then nighty-night. Of course they won't go right to sleep. I'm figuring they won't go to sleep until at least 11, maybe later. I can't wait for tomorrow morning with my morning metal song.