Fire Building in Wild Colorado

In Wild Colorado we learned how to build fires. First of all, we picked partners and gathered sticks. From there each group built their own fire, and Zane came around to give everyone a match. He gave us only one match because you may not have more than one match in the wilderness. Only two groups were able to make a fire with one match. It was the counselors and my group. Our next task was to cook an egg using orange peels and an egg. We had two tries at doing it. The first time ours cooked halfway, and then a stick landed on the egg while it was cooking. This made the egg tip over. The second time we cooked the egg on a flat rock, but we ended up dropping the egg in the fire. Next, Zane gave us dough to make bread. Every group got tinfoil and dough and put it in the fire. That task was not as hard as cooking the egg, and every group managed to get their bread cooked. After that, Zane wrapped crickets in the dough, and put them on a flat rock in the fire. Most people ate the crickets after they cooked. Afterwards, we ended up putting out the fires and headed over to Hermosa gas station. Our group got a treat because successfully built a fire. We headed back to camp satisfied. All, fire building was extremely fun.

- Steven Bailey

Oral Writing Class Dispatch - Friday, July 1, 2016

What is oral writing?  Well, this week we have focused on learning the two parts of a sentence and  the five sentence paragraph all without holding a pen or pencil or touching a keyboard. 

The picture below shows the three boys: Julio, Adam, and Cruz (from right to left) using a sentence frame with cards to depict the sentence, “She took a plane to the college.”  

Using this sentence building activity each student became proficient with identifying the subject word, the predicate word, and all the articles in a given sentence. Each student went on to compose his own simple and compound sentences using the cards and then speaking his sentence aloud while touching his cards one word at a time. Today, each student built a simple or compound sentence, depending on my prompt, and then dictated that sentence to an iPad using the Dragon Speak app.  

We are using the same multi-sensory oral approach for the composition of a five sentence paragraph. Each student receives five colored strips: green for topic sentence, three blues for each supporting sentence, and red for concluding sentence. Today I spoke a topic sentence and the boys each thought of three supporting sentences. For example, I said, “There are three ways I make money.” Each student then took a turn waving his blue strips one at a time as he said something like, “First, I can get paid for doing chores around my house. Second, sometimes a neighbor pays me for taking care of their pets. Finally, in the summer I can mow lawns.” Our DMC oral writing class may not be putting any pen to paper, but we sure are composing up a storm.

- Lauren Geraghty, DMC Tutor and Oral Writing Class Teacher

Evening Activities

Each night after dinner, the campers have the opportunity to get out their last bit of energy by participating in evening activities. We rotate through activities such as soccer, ultimate Frisbee, volleyball, basketball, fishing, river play, board games and bead making. The campers this year have been particularly excited about basketball. All participants have the chance to get warmed up by playing a couple quick rounds of Knockout. Then the real game is kicked off with a jump ball between each teams shortest player. Where the game lacks in rule following, it gains in competition and overall fun.  It’s a great way for all basketball abilities and levels to come together in an all out, DMC, street style basketball game. Let the “baskets rain” and the “ankles break” as the games continue. 

- Cassidy 

Wild Colorado Checks In

"Watch out for that cactus." Our group was thousands of feet up in elevation, hiking, and we had to watch each step. We didn't want to get pricked by thorns or misstep and slide on loose rock. 

The mountainous journey of today's hike for the "Wild Colorado" group was worth it though: our destination of the "Indian Cave" proved to be a hit with the campers.

The Indian Cave, now part of a large park system north of Durango, is named for its previous occupants. The ceiling close to the entrance to the cave is marked with soot from the fires that used to burn here. 

Exploring further back in the cave, campers found pools of water, stalactites, stalagmites, and guano. The back most cavern of the cave had a secret room where all of us gathered. When all of the flashlights were turned off the room became pitch black and no one could see their hand in front of their face. 

See this story unfolded below:

DMC IS UNDERWAY!!!!

Hi All,

Durango Mountain Camp is underway! It seems like it has been a year since we got everything started last Friday. We have been busy, busy, busy with a ton of academics and adventures.

This week campers and tutors have found their groove, figuring out where they need to start and hitting the O-G ground running.

Also, outdoor pursuits are in full swing exploring the area on horseback, bike, kayak, rope, or on foot. Evening activities have been a blast too with the first round of Mountain Madness taking place just tonight.

Stay tuned for more posts!