Day 4

Today we were given free time in between breakfast and lunch. I decided to go down to the main dock with my tube and relax in the sun for a while. While I was relaxing in my tube, the other group, that was being led by the intern Tom, was coming down to the main dock to canoe. Most of these kids have never experienced canoeing before so I was actually glad I was able to observe the lesson. Watching them get into the boats reminded me how important it is to reach out to our students and help them succeed in the many tasks that they may not have the confidence to do.

After lunch, we spent a few hours with Rob working on team building skills. I enjoyed the games we played in the field because they can easily be brought into your classroom. The last three activities are easily my favorite because they really showed me how important it is to rely on other people in a time of need. The first activity we had to be blind folded. I was already skeptical of this activity once he told us we had to be blind folded because being in the dark scares me. However, not only were we blind folded, but we had to arrange ourselves in order of our birthdays. Of course, I am the last person in line with my November 15th birthday. Luckily, I had Matt in front of me who I greatly appreciated because he very calmly talked me through everything that I needed to know and be aware of. That activity was such an amazing activity and I had tons of fun doing it because it showed me how much I needed to slow down and appreciate my other senses beside my vision.

The second activity we did was the spider activity. Looking back, I have to agree that we did a fabulous job with communication and listening to one another. We all allowed each other to have their say in the situation and we valued each others' opinions. That is one of the most important things when completing that activity. They last activity was also a lot of fun because it was a lot of problem solving incorporated with physical strength. Creating a solution to get all ten people passed all three "islands" took a lot of time and effort in our part. Just like the other activities, we listened to one another and showed that we all truly cared about completing the task that was given to us. Reflecting on our team building time, I am extremely proud of how well we worked with one another and trusted one each others' opinions. I think it is important to have those characteristics when entering a teaching job in a school because it is beneficial to the students for the teachers to be communicating and working together. Taking some of the things we learned today and incorporating them into the classroom will help build a strong bond and "family" in the classroom, and giving the students a sense of family and community is always helpful.

Day 3

Today we explored Ferd's Bog and then hiked up Black Bear Mountain. I have never seen or visited a bog before and I was excited because I was able to read about one in Adirondack Green by Jon Slade. Before I even left to go to the Bog I knew that I would have a little bit of a challenge because I easily get grossed out by certain things. It is not because I don't want to do it, but sometimes it just freaks me out. Needless to say, I was nervous about going to the Bog because I was unsure of what we were going to encounter. After spending time at the Bog, I started opening up and trying new things. I was able to take a net and fish for small critters with Karl out in the Bog. It was very exciting to actually be stepping into a wet, mushy and squishy surface. Unfortunately, Karl and I couldn't find any critters, such as frogs or salamanders in the water. It made me sad. While I was busy looking for critters, Kathy was out exploring the bog and found a spider that had a white sack attached to her. I was actually able to look at the spider (briefly) and see that she in fact had a white sack attached to her. That was a huge step for me due to the fact that I am deathly afraid of spiders.

After we left the bog, we hiked up Black Bear mountain. I have always enjoyed hiking, and today it was absolutely amazing.  I have never had the chance to hike in the Adirondack mountains and the forest is just so different to what I would normally see. There are tons of different plants and flowers that I learned today that I have never even seen before. Some of that may have been due to the fact that I never slowed down and took the time to explore it like I am now. I am thoroughly enjoying taking the time to explore the forest and use the different identification tools to figure out what type of tree/flower/bug we found. We found three different caterpillars today and we were only able to identify one of them because the other two were not in the book we had. Being able to hold that caterpillar and look through the book to figure out the name of it made me feel like there was this completely new world out there that I have been missing all my life. I am truly proud of myself for the baby steps I took today. I feel that it is important to experience these things before entering a classroom because these are the types of encounters and explorations and findings that we will expect and hope that our students will experience.

I am also happy to announce that we finally made it onto the lake today. First we were kayaking and then Cherith and I decided to give a new tubes a try. I haven't kayaked in a long time, so it was exciting to try it in a new place, especially up here! Floating in our tubes was relaxing and it was definitely what I needed because I felt very much relaxed afterward. I am overly excited about the new experiences that I have encountered so far because I feel that I am growing as a person. It is exciting to see where I started in the beginning of the week and where I am ending up. There is one full day left and I am ready to make the best of it!

Day 2

Today we were able to leave the peninsula and go to a couple of the museums that are close by. The first museum that we went to was the Wildlife Center. Here you could learn about the different wildlife that live in the Adirondack mountains. It was interesting because I was learning a lot about the different fish that live in the lakes up here. I am not very familiar with fish because I didn't go fishing that much as a child. It was nice to see the different types of fish as well as read about them.

After we explored the Wildlife Center, we ventured over to the Adirondack Museum where it tells us about more of the history behind everything. This was such an amazing experience because I enjoy learning about the history and the story behind things. Seeing all the old fashion horse and buggies and the house models really sparked an interest to me. It was also nice to go into the logging house because Courtney and I are doing our project on tree identification. We were able to learn so cool facts about trees that we didn't know before.

When given the chance to explore these museums one should always take it because I believe that you learn best when you explore. I am still patiently waiting to get out onto the water in my tube, however, the weather has not been that cooperative. I really want to experience as much as possible while I am up here so I can take it away with me and pass it along to friends who may be interested in coming up to the Adirondacks. 

Overall, today has been a great day because I am walking away with more knowledge than when I started. The museums were great and they were a lot of fun! Now it just needs to stop raining! =]

Day 1

Today was our first full day at Camp Pine Knot. Due to the weather, we decided to take our hike right after breakfast. So I put on pants and grabbed my rain jacket and I was ready for our fist hike. We were able to get a tour of the House Boat where Mrs. Durant used to stay during black fly season. I thought it was a lot nicer than some of the cabins in the camp. While we were leaving, I decided to walk around the outside of the house than the inside. While walking, I saw a huge spider and had to turn around and find a different route off of the House Boat. That was my first encounter with nature. During our hike, Courtney and I decided to try our hardest to identify different trees in the forest. The first tree that we identified a tree was a Beech tree, but that was relativity easy. Our second attempt at identifying a tree was not as successful. We originally identified a White Pine tree as a Pitch Pine tree, where Beth then had to give us the news that it was very unlikely that we had found a Pitch Pine tree. The rest of the hike was a success and we were able to see the Kirby house, where I would eventually like to stay one week in the summer time on a vacation trip.

The second huge encounter with nature today was with the flies. Once we got to the Kirby house, there were tons of flies. They were all over Courtney and I. Thankfully, we had long pants and jackets on so I imagine that we were able to survive the experience without any bug bites, so that's a plus! I was just in shock because I have never seen that many flies in one particular area.

I would like the rain to stop because I am patiently waiting to grab my tube and sunbath on the lake. It looks so peaceful and I'm ready to relax in this wonderful place!