A Day In The Life
Over the years, many of our campers have met and grown to love our hardworking teachers, and for good reason. Every teacher at camp works hard every day to provide an enriching curriculum for the arts that’s both fun and educational for every camper. While many of our kids have been with us for several years, the Camp Musart experience is still new to many people. So, come along with us as we take you on a day in our life!
Our mornings start with setting up for our first classes. For Ms. Katie, our ukulele and voice teacher, setting up requires a sitting area for the kids and tuning the ukuleles. For Ms. Fallon, our guitar, drums, and yoga teacher, she usually starts her morning classes teaching guitar. Both of these classes are more focused on introducing the basics of the instrument, and getting the kids used to the feel and sound of what they’re playing. Recently, they both have been teaching simple chords and encouraging songwriting and playful strumming. Both Ms. Katie and Ms. Fallon’s classes help the kids settle into camp and begin to explore their creative side!
After the morning rotation, lunchtime begins. The kids sit outside on the front picnic tables and enjoy conversations with the teachers and other kids. Most of the conversations end up revolving around which playground to play on after lunch. After the first 15 minutes of lunch and cleanup, the kids get to have free time on the playground until the afternoon rotation! While the kids have the choice between the front or the back playgrounds, our back features multiple hammocks, the back is the camp favorite almost every week.
After lunch, Camp Musart heads into afternoon classes. Ms Malini, one of our afternoon teachers, introduces the campers to a variety of cultural art forms, such as mandelas, origami, and indian art. Her favorite part of these classes is seeing the smile and feeling of accomplishment on her students’ faces when they finish their projects! The kids often initially think these projects are too hard, but she feels rewarded to see them slowly start to believe in themselves. Ms. Fallon also begins her yoga in the afternoon, where she teaches the kids about the joys of relaxation and mindfulness, in a way that’s still engaging for the young campers. She enjoys setting the intentions for the day and week with the children, and introducing them to the different poses of yoga! Every week of a camp is a new experience f the teachers. Not only dp the kids learn from us, but we learn from them as well. Their vast knowledge continues to surprise and amaze us everyday!
Throughout the day, Camp Musart strives to make sure every student gets an opportunity to experience every instrument in our building! In addition to our class rotations, we have Ms. Rachel and Ms. Layaa pull students throughout the day for short, but informative sessions of piano, violin, and cello! For the piano, these one-on-one lessons enhance the knowledge they gain during their piano classes throughout the week. The violin and cello lessons typically introduce the basics of each instrument to the child, as most of our campers have never had the chance to try these instruments before attending. Ms Layaa and Ms Rachel find it evry rewarding to show them the basics of the beautiful instruments, and even more gratifying when they begin to learn and gain confidence in themselves!
During the day, our supervisors also take part in classes as well as take care of office and administrative work. Ms. Zoe spends her days both in the office as well as with the kids teaching piano classes and often pairing up with Ms Katie or Ms Mia to give individual lessons to each child! Ms Samira, the owner of Camp Musart, also leads cooking classes during the middle of the week, with a tasty rotation of foods and treats that the kids get to make, (with supervision and guidance, of course) our cooking class is a a camp favorite for many of the students!
After our rotation of afternoon classes, Camp Musart heads into Last Hour. Last Hour is an opportunity for the children to make a choice in what activity they want to do, as well as enjoy a less structured period of time, where they’re still engaged and learning. Last Hour is divided into 2 classes, ranging from games, gymnastics, and science.
Ms. Fallon describes Last Hour as her favorite part of the day. She teaches gymnastics during this time, and says it’s so fun to engage in the sport and teach the fundamentals. Given her background as a gymnast, she feels she can connect with the kids in a very special way. This is also a time where the teachers get to talk to the kids and get to know them better than we get to in class. It’s truly a fun experience for all parties.
While our day-to-day events remain relatively the same, each day at Camp MusArt provides campers with a unique and exciting experience to look back on. In the future, we hope to add more activities that will introduce kids to new forms of music, art, dance and more!