A Day in the Life of a Camper
Hollingworth Science Camp meets Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 to 3:15. A typical day at camp includes interactive, inquiry based, child-responsive activities. Specific activities vary by age, but the following highlights are the major components of the daily camp experience:
Morning Meeting
Gathering together for the day’s opening, campers and teachers engage in a review of the agenda, getting-to-know-you and warm up games as well as group-building activities.
Science Lesson
Throughout the day, campers use their scientific minds while participating in hands-on science lessons, investigations, and observations.
Read Aloud
As science topics are situated in the past, the present, and the future, campers explore developmentally appropriate fiction and non- fiction literature, as well as current events and science-related news items.
Outdoor Play & Movement Choice
Outdoor free play occurs daily in the TC courtyard or local park. Campers also enjoy a self-selected, small-group activity three or four times per week through our Movement Choice program. Past options have included sports games and circus moves outdoors, and yoga and contemporary dance in our air conditioned dance studio.
Snack & Lunch
Campers enjoy a social snack and lunch alongside their teachers and friends. Many groups choose to eat outdoors, picnic-style, weather permitting. Campers bring their own nut-free snacks and lunch. We also offer an option to order lunch from a private vendor who delivers to our camp.
Science Through the Visual Arts
The arts program, led by our artists-in-residence enhances the children’s understanding of their group science topic. Here, they engage in a month-long, three-dimensional art project that flexes artistic muscles and strengthens observational skills while exploring concepts related to each group’s topic. These projects are proudly carried across Columbia University’s College Walk for all to admire during our camp tradition of Science on Parade.
Choice Time
Campers choose from a variety of activities including games, puzzles, building materials, arts and crafts, and extensions of science lessons. The Makerspace is also available at choice time.
Closing Meeting
Campers gather together to reflect on their day, share what they have learned, and create plans for the next day.
Farewell
Campers are picked up in the Russell Hall Courtyard at Teachers College. At dismissal, teachers carry an “Ask Me About” sign that prompts parents and caregivers to ask their campers about a specific science lesson they had that day. These questions spark many animated conversations and encourage campers to take on the role of expert.
Camp Traditions
Each class takes at least two field trips each summer. The destinations vary from year to year but always enrich the topics of study.
We also present special performances that bring campers together in celebration of science. These events range from musicians to puppet shows to storytelling. We also host our own hands-on events providing campers with an opportunity grow their innovative thinking as they create and build. These events feature both high and low tech engineering design challenges.
On the penultimate morning of camp, families and friends are invited into the group rooms to experience many of the investigations the children engaged in at camp. This event is a special opportunity for campers to share their newly acquired knowledge and ongoing inquiries with their loved ones.
Following the Science Expo, campers invite their families to Columbia University’s College Walk where they present their individual art projects in a celebratory parade. Loved ones gather on the steps of the Alma Mater and cheer their campers on as they celebrate their accomplishments and creations.
On the final day of camp, children and teachers gather for a camp-wide celebration. To much applause, each group performs a topic-themed song that they have prepared. This is an important event to campers, teachers, and leadership alike, as it is an affirmation of the positive, supportive, and curious Hollingworth community we cultivate. This event culminates with the celebration of our graduating class, where we send our rising fifth graders off into the future to keep learning, creating, and wondering.
Hollingworth Hallmarks
Research underscores that the core development of a science mindset in young children relies, in part, on interaction with an array of unique and thought-provoking materials. Our themed Curiosity Carts each hold carefully curated materials designed to provide open-ended explorations. Carts choices are: Science Fiction and Fantasy Play, Design and Build, Puzzles and Provocations, and the Art of Science.
The Hollingworth collection has been carefully curated to include an array of genres including information texts, fiction, and poetry. Each group room has its own library related to their topic. Throughout camp, related chapter books ranging from mysteries to humor are read aloud during those quiet moments in the day.
Every aspect of science is propelled by a vision of the future, research in the present, and the roots of the past. Our days are filled with explorations in the here and now, and through News Flashes campers are introduced to visionary works as well historically significant scientists. Past, Present, Future provides our campers with inspiration for what is possible, a grounding in the past, and the validation that they are the scientists of today.
Often, our campers put things together—from buildings, to art projects, to ideas and more. Take Apart encourages campers to find out what is inside of commonly used objects (such as computers, radios, and clocks) Hollingworth educators collect items throughout the year that have distinct, accessible, and safe parts which they disassemble in small groups during camp.
We believe that understanding leads to action and problem solving. Each year educators and campers participate in an authentic community service project.
In the spirit of Maker Education, spaces for unstructured tinkering maintain a focal point in each of our group rooms. Camper engage their creative thinking while making with a range of carefully collected materials like recyclables, natural materials, a variety of fasteners and child-safe handheld tools. Camper’s creations are displayed during our Maker Gallery.