First Night Session A 2016!

Hello Families! What an amazing first day. We packed so much into this day! This being a 1 week session we want to make sure that your Campers get to classes ASAP. Tonight, after a dinner of homemade pizza and garden greens, the tipi communities met and created a skit where each of them would be able to be on stage and say their name with what Wavy calls "Projection!". They also took tours of Camp, stopping off at all of the skill sites so the teachers could orient them to the safety rules and guidelines as well as where the equipment is and the etiquette of their class. Tour guides were staff dressed in silly costumes.

I was just down in the tipi circle and they were all headed to their tipi's after Wavy told his famous story which begins, "I was a teenage beatnik..." This is where Wavy describes brushing his teeth with a snickers bar and black cherry soda and then demonstrates the horror of losing all your teeth by removing his rainbow bridge and then yelling "Brush 'em if you got 'em!" It's a beloved camp tradition for SURE!

On the first night of every session counselors help the tipi begin to build a cohesive tipi family by playing games and creating tipi agreements. What we want is for every tipi to have a “home base” in Camp with people who they have gotten to know and who have made common agreements about living together and supporting each other.  A long standing tradition at Camp Winnarainbow is to use “AN ARC” – which is an acronym for Attentive listening, No put downs, Appreciation, Right to pass, and Confidentiality. These are the basis for each tipi’s promise to each other while they are at camp. For younger campers these ideas are described in simple ways such as, “We promise not to call each other names”. For older campers many counselors have the tipi members suggest agreements they would like, making sure that the basics are covered but helping the tipi come up with their own unique thoughts and requests. Throughout the next week the counselors will help support the agreements through different team building activities, fun games, “tipi time”, and if there is any conflict addressing it right away.

What we have found is that building agreements in the smaller tipi communities translates into the entire camp community – where we encourage mutual respect, responsibility, friendship building, acceptance, and having fun! 

Well dear families, I'm going to say goodnight. There are some pictures and I will post them in a separate blog entry. More to come tomorrow! Thanks for sending your amazing children to Camp Winnarainbow!

yatiel owens, msw
director