Grade 7 and 8 Overnight Trip to Mansfield Outdoor Centre

So students are about to embark on a three day, two night trip to Mansfield Outdoor Centre, which is located just 1 hour from Toronto in the beautiful area of Mulmur. Students will be staying in the cabins at the Main building and will be participating in a variety of outdoor based activities. Essentially, our students will be coming to a traditional kind of summer camp, only we're going during the school year.

I believe strongly in the value of getting kids outside and having them experience nature, learn and be connected with their world. Once you get them outside and experiencing and learning they love it and become even more curious. Richard Louv author of the "Last Child in the Woods", discusses the importance of kids gaining independence and getting outside.

These types of activities are so important for our kids. Firstly, many of our kids never get to come to a place like Mansfield and experience the outdoors. So many of my city kids have no idea what it's like to spend 24/7 outdoors, in nature.

When we come here kids  get an opportunity to explore the nature. We give them freedom within a set of boundaries. For instance, during free time kids can go and explore the area as long as they see the main building at all times. This rule allows kids to explore approximately a 4 or 5 acre area while still being within eyesight of our home base. The kids play soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc. They explore the fields. I make the rule that students can climb trees as long they stay on branches that are thicker than their wrist. The reality is they never really get very far off the ground but it feels like a huge freedom. So many of them have never climbed trees before. Last year we taught a group to make a horn noise by blowing on thick pieces of grass. Some of them were so entertained by this they spent the whole week playing with grass horns.

The programs we participate in are also extremely valuable. Kids, participate in pond study, where they investigate pond creatures, or they complete orienteering maps and explore the forest. They learn about nature through experiential education.

I'm truly looking forward to this trip and can't wait to see what happens.

The Hobbit

So I'm perhaps a little crazy but we have decided to take the students of Lagerquist to the movies to the view Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit".  We're taking about 300 kids to the movies. (You have no idea how many paper cuts I have from opening permission form envelopes:))
I've included the trailer here.

We're very excited about this trip. The students will have the theatre to themselves as this is a private viewing and if they want they can pre-purchase popcorn and a drink. Many of the students have become very enthusiastic about the story and have started to take an interest in the books. I hope to accomplish two things with this trip.

The first is to spark an interest in classic fantasy novels. The second is to expose a generation of kids to these great stories and even if they don't read the books hopefully this will show kids what these stories are all about and their importance to the fantasy genre. 

Having read all of the books I want to offer some advice to students. Tolkien wrote complex and challenging novels that require a reader to really think and pay attention to characters and plot. Many students will find the novels challenging to get through, but that's okay. Nothing worthwhile should be easy to get. Otherwise we might not appreciate it importance.

1. Both "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" can be heavy reading. Don't expect to get through it all in a weekend.
2. There are a lot of characters and historical stories within the book. Skip parts if you need to. You can always come back and reread sections later.
3. It doesn't hurt to watch the movies before reading the book. "The Lord of the Rings" movies offer a pretty good summary of the story and very little is different from the book.
4. Talk to others about the books and see what they think and  what they understand about the story.
5. These are important books that reflect a grim time in history. (WWII)

AND FINALLY!!!!!!!

The Lord of the Rings really did mark the beginnings of a new type of fantasy/adventure novel. There wasn't anything like them before this. Tolkien marked the way for new authors and new ideas. 

"The Hunger Games" series 
wouldn't exist without novels like "The Lord of the Rings" series. 
Just take a look at these images and compare them.  Well done Tolkien!!!