Frozen Summer Camp ;)

I think I can speak for a majority of ESL teachers here in SK when I say that teaching abroad is pretty chill. So when it came to summer camp at my elementary school, I was beyond stoked to plan and prep everything for the two weeks of camp! The first week was 2nd/3rd grade (and they were the cutest!) and the second week was 5th/6th grade (and they were the coolest, as per ushe). ;) When I came up with the Frozen theme (or rather when I heard that a ton of other teachers were planning things involving Frozen games and activities and was so inspired), I was extremely benumbed to use a movie that gave me goosebumps. That's when I decided to engulf the camp in an avalanche of Frozen material, glaciating everything around the cute and clever and oh-so-frosty Disney movie.

And, GUYS! Just like a snowman during summer, things turned out SWIMMINGLY!!!!! (And YES, I ALWAYS want to build a snowman).

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The Plan

Each day, I started out with a wintry PPT. of vocabulary that we would use throughout the day and in the icy activities. This solidified for the kids what was planned for the day and got them appropriately excited when I would show a clip from Frozen which used the same words and phrases. We would then play a few brisk games with the vocabulary and follow it with a craft or an event of some sort. I have to admit (if you can't already tell) that I am pretty pleased with how things turned out and how easy it was to run these two weeks of summer camp. My co-teach was quite worried that I would freeze up and not be able to communicate with the kids as their English levels were more than forty below! But things worked out well and since most of the students already had a context for the movie and its characters and tropes, we had a lot to work with. I also had a few 6th grade helpers for the 2nd/3rd grade week that turned out to be blessings in disguise as they were so cool and so chill! We all had a great time and we beat the heat outside with talk of frozen things, water balloons, milkshake bags, and our amazing and chilling AC inside.

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The Environment

The room started out as bare as the Antarctic, with just the materials laid out for each day...

A few snowflakes here and there...

The tables were arranged in a new way and the room was ready for castle-building, arts and crafts, snowflake-making, and Frozen karaoke!

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Activities

I made a few worksheets for in-between games and during downtime throughout each week. They included questions like "Which Frozen character are you?" and "What is your hobby?" and "Who are your friends in the movie?" and then "Can you draw yourself?" The kids dug them! Any chance to color will win elementary ESL classes...

One of the main highlights of Frozen summer camp was making Olaf's! After playing Pin the Carrot on Olaf, it was definitely time to make him ourselves! Most of the kids had their own take on the silly snowman and had a blast with the clay and the markers when creating their own snowmen (and snowwomen). 

We made Arendelle banners that were ADORABLE! The kids loved cutting and gluing and re-creating a part of Frozen.

We had a castle-building contest after making the banners and going over what castles looked like and how they were set up. I collected a bunch of cardboard and they went to town!

Ivy Castle, because, ya know, Ivy cracker boxes! ;)

And then, there was the KARAOKE!

2nd/3rd grade...

5th/6th grade...

And by the end of the week, the classroom had been transformed into a winter wonderland...

It was an awesome experience; the kids were so great; the school was quiet and our stage was set; and now I can't wait to do another cool summer camp again next year!

<3 K

 "Kristen" in Korean

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POINTS!!!

If you can correctly identify and count how many selfless Frozen puns I used throughout this post, YOU WIN!!!!! :D