Activities at Camp WidjiwaganAs written by the students Photo Gallery Online Part 1
Photo Gallery Online Part 2
Mrs. Cope's Gallery
Eco HikeOn the Eco Hike we went hiking for about six hours. We ate a delicious trail lunch and made a fire in the woods. We roasted marshmallows, sausages, cheese and pancakes. We also ate trail mix, banana chips, dried fruit, rasins, tree tea and much more! While we were hiking, we saw beautiful ice cliffs. Some groups cross country skied. During the hike, many groups played Thicket. Thicket is a game in which there is a Thicket Master who closes his or her eyes and counts to thirty. Everyone else goes to hide in the woods. Then the thicket master tries to find all the people. If you are found you are out! The thicket master then counts to fifteen. All the people move five feet closer to the thicket master. Then the closest person to the thicket master without being found wins.
Predator PreyPredator Prey is a game that represents the food chain of wild life. We played this game at camp Widjiwagan in Ely, Minnesota. In order to play this game we split up into three groups, these groups were voles, weasels, owls. The voles are at the bottom of the food chain then comes the weasels and finally at the top of the food chain is the owls. The vole s need to find one food and one shelter symbol in order to stay alive. The weasels need to find two food and two shelter symbols or four voles for food. Owls need three food and three shelter symbols or 12 weasels or 12 voles. That is the game of Predator Prey.
Cross Country Skiing During our trip in Ely we went cross country skiing. Most of us got the hang of it at the beginning of the lesson. A lot of people fell down a little hill that led down to the lake, where we were trying out our skis. Cross country skiing is different then downhill skiing, for one thing the skis are longer and skinnier and your boots clip in to the front of the binding but that is the only place, they clip in they don’t clip in at the heel.
Cross country skiing is really fun. If you like skiing you should try it.
Polar PlungeOn our 7th grade class trip to Ely, we did the Polar Plunge on our last night there. What we did was we went down to Burntside Lake in our swimsuits and wool socks.
Then we jumped into a hole in the lake, climbed out and ran into the sauna. After about 15 minutes, we ran back out of the sauna, into the lake, and ran to the outdoor dressing rooms to get into our nice, warm, dry clothes. Afterwards, walking back to the lodge, our feet were frozen and our heads were spinning because our brains were thinking “why on Earth did you just do that, you idiot”.
The Polar Plunge gives a whole new meaning to the word “cold”.
Night Sky During the night sky program we learned about the night sky and all of its features. First we to kirby and two counselers taught us about the night sky. First they explained the moon, all of its phases and how its myths connect to it. Soon after we went outside and discovered the proportionate distance amongst the planet in our solar system. Then they pointed out and explained the basic constellations including: Big and Little Dipper, O’ryan etc.
Night HikeThe first night in Ely we went on a night hike. While on the hike we walked around the campgrounds in the dark with our study groups. At one point we went on to Burntside lake and did solo-sit, which is when you sit anywhere alone on the lake and look out at the stars for a while. We learned about the consolations and we also saw Mars and Jupiter. The night hike was scary, relaxing and an amazing part of Camp Widji.
Wolf PresentationThe wolf man’s name was Jim and we thought the presentation would be boring but it was actually really fun because Jim was really funny and it was a fun way to learn about wolves. We learned what kind of wolves live in the United States and Minnesota. The Grey Wolf has become endangered and we have learned about how the population decreased. We learned about what wolf packs do and how they survive and act around other packs. Wolves, we learned, are very territorial and have a variety of ways to “mark” their territory. Jim kept our attention the whole time by making jokes that were educational and entertaining.
Animal StudiesIn our separate groups, we did a class called Animal Studies. We learned about an animal such as a beaver, a wolf, or a fox. We learned about their tracks and their scat. We also learned how to identify them by these qualities. We went to their natural habitat and looked at their homes. We followed tracks and identified what animal made them. Some groups “milked” a beaver or fox. We learned that it is not possible to milk these animals. Animal Studies was a really fun class!
Team BuildingIn team building, we learned that working in a team is easier than working by yourself. For example, when we played “chocolate chips” we worked together to steal the chocolate chips from the gray bird. There are many good things and some bad things when you work together in a team. Some good things are that we can do anything if we put our minds together, people can have a chance to be a leader if they are usually followers and visa-versa. Some not so good things are that sometimes there are disagreements. Team building helped us get to know each other better as leaders and, and as followers.
Forests StudiesAt camp Widjiwagan the students did forest studies in their small groups. These forest studies included all forest life except animals (animals studies were a different activity.) We learned about different trees and how they grow different at camp than from the cities. Going along with leave no trace (another activity) we learned what kind of trees you can get food from. We did tree identification and learned lots of cool things. We studied the forest on almost all of our activities, but especially forest studies.
Cabins at WidjiwaganSome of the cabins in Ely were really nice. Some of them had bathrooms and heated floors. All of the cabins had bunk beds and one heater. They all had two doors. One in the back and one in the front. We all had lights above our beds. We just had free time to relax in our cabins before other activities.
FoodThe food at Camp Widjiwagan was awesome! Most students enjoyed the food. The “Fluffeee Wuffeee” (a Finnish pancake) was amazing. This is just one of the strange foods we tried at Camp Widjiwagan all of which were delicious! Every day we had some sort of hearty stew for lunch. Every meal was yummy!
