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Peace Village has been full of many adventures and the week is coming to an end. Many volunteers and teachers have devoted their time to make this year phenomenal. The children and counselors have learned so many things throughout the classes, but also they have learned more about themselves. "The purpose of Peace Village, as I see it is to contribute at the local level to the evolution and advancement of civilization." Chelan the Peace Village counselor director said. Teaching children ages 6-13 the multiple practices of peace by trying new things throughout the week is also another goal at Peace Village. Everyone at Peace Village is thankful for all the helpers and volunteers making this camp continue on.
I can’t believe today is already Day Three of camp! I am having a blast as always, this year as a counselor for the Eagles, our oldest group of campers, many of whom are veterans to Peace Village and are gearing up to become junior counselors in just a year or two. These young people are full of joy and insight, and two of them are already teaching their own classes as part of Village Fair, our mixed-age group activity rotations. I am continually impressed by the maturity with which each camper engages in the material of each class, and how they often step in to help both younger campers and older counselors.
This year, we have something new and special planned for these fantastic kids – an overnight retreat (tomorrow night!) where they can explore as a group and as individuals this incredible time of their lives: a time where they are no longer children and not yet adults, a time of earning independence and gaining responsibilities, a time of discovering who they are and who they wish to become. Many cultures around the world hold rites of passage for their adolescent citizens, but this celebration of transformation is something that is often forgotten in America today. We hope to bring this tradition back for our 12- and 13- year olds, so that we can celebrate with them their changing roles at camp, in their families, and in the world. I feel that this time is neither a beginning nor and end, but another step on a journey that can be confusing but also enlightening and empowering. I feel very fortunate to be sharing this time with these teens and to have them on the inaugural overnight for Peace Village! I can’t wait to see what the facilitators (Karen, Pamela, and Jack) will bring to this exciting event and what new discoveries our Eagles will make; I hope they will take some opportunities to share their stories with you! For now, we have another day of games, stories, crafts, and lots of Peace And Love for all. -Sulli, Eagles counselor Peace Village 2014 has certainly been off to a fantastic start. The familiar sound of children laughing and the delightful smell of food being prepared in the kitchen fills the air. I look forward to coming to Peace Village every summer. It is such a magical place to be around lively kids and wonderful staff who volunteer their time to be here. Peace Village is truly a special camp that makes my summer so much better. This year there are over 150 campers at camp! I have been coming to Peace Village since the very beginning and it has been such a thrill to watch it grow bigger and bigger every year. People all over the gorge have embraced the concept of Peace Village which has allowed the camp to flourish in the best way possible. Today, my Salamander group went to an "Earth Art" activity. We listened to a story about animals working together to stop the hurtful habits that we inflict on the planet. I watched the children's faces as they listened to the story. They were engaged and excited. This is what Peace Village is all about. It is about making children think about issues in the world and helping them to learn how to be a peaceful leader. I am looking forward to what the rest of the Peace Village week has to offer!
After several months of preparation, Peace Village camp has finally arrived. Excitement is shown through the children's faces as they connect with friends, and counselors. For many this camp is a tradition and reconnecting with old counselors is also an excitement. Peace Village offers a variety of activities allowing each child to explore in new adventures. They learn about connecting with other children by sharing common interests and developing new skills, but mainly they learn how to connect within themselves. An exciting week is bound to happen and new memories will arise.
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Heather and I had a wonderful week in Media Literacy with your kids last week. Together we learned ways to be wise and mindful around all the advertisements that surround us. Experts estimate that the average young person in America is exposed to 2000-5000 advertisements each day. Most advertisers hope to succeed by making us feel that our lives are not yet good enough--we need another product to make us feel complete. Our hope was to give each Peace Village camper an age-appropriate tool for making sense of the advertisements each day brings. Here are the skills we taught; we encourage you to continue these conversations at home. For the 6-7 year-olds we focused on being able to tell the difference between wants and needs. We played games to practice this skill, and each camper brought home a Wants/Needs necklace to help them think about ads they see: is this product a want or a need? For the 8-11 year-olds we deconstructed advertisements. We learned to think about ads as stories that advertisers tell. We asked these questions:
For the 12-13 year-olds we focused on body image and values: our values vs. the values in advertisements. We brainstormed the qualities we like to see in the men and women in our lives (parents, teachers, our future selves, our future spouses, aunts/uncles). Then we looked at images of men and women in ads. We compared the qualities we saw there with our own list. Hmmm. We saw some big differences in the two lists. Each camper went home with a Message in a Bottle amulet that contains a list of the values campers want to keep closest to their hearts. Here are some links that you may find helpful as you continue talking with your kids about ads. Here's a short, powerful video from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty Kids (and adults) love to see this. A great conversation starter. Here's a fun site for kids from PBS about truth in advertising Here are a few more helpful sites to browse through: Common Sense Media Parent Further Thanks so much for sharing your children with us last week. They are beautiful people! Debra Pennington-Davis THURSDAY IS UNDERWAY! Even my seven year old bats are becoming accustomed to the schedule, and remain excited for the new activities each day. This week has been both crazy and fun with most of the time spent in the latter. The kid's favorite activity so far has been theater with the always energetic Nicole, where we learned how to tell stories of happiness, peace, helpfulness, community and many others with no words and just their bodies. They also loved working with paper pulp, clay, and water to make seed balls. This is where you take a pea seed and wrap it in the pulp mixture to make a ball that the seed can grow through, without the birds being able to smell it. Those are to be gifted to the community gardens, as well as trellises for the peas to grow on. While there are many hands on activities, as a few previous counselors mentioned, there are a few where you sit and have discussions. While it is difficult for my young bats to dig too deep into it, they certainly understand things like ads and the role media plays in society telling us we need things that we do not, and that peace starts with us. Overall between those aforementioned core activities and being able to choose their own activities during village fair, this week has left both the campers and counselors more peaceful, and perhaps a bit more tired, individuals.
-Bats Counselor Chris aka The minivan of piggy back rides |
AuthorPeace Village Staff and Volunteers share mostly during the week of camp. Sign up above to receive notifications of blog posts and you'll never miss the latest news. Archives
August 2018
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