A Note from the Site Director |
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Theme week has been a Blast! It’s been fun seeing campers, staff, and TAs dressed up for each daily theme as they have engaged in camp activities this week. Smiles have been flying high with our campers singing and playing instruments this week. I had the chance to sit in and play along with our Guitar Class as they practiced Puff the Magic Dragon. I was glad to join Music + as they sang warm up tunes and learned songs on barred percussion instruments. I am looking forward to Games Day this Friday where the kids will have a kind of Field Day with us. It will be a good change of pace with some fun surprises along the way. Thanks for trusting us with your campers, we are having so much fun!
Jonathan Hamilton
Site Director
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Notes from the Camp Director |
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Dear Camp Families,
I can’t believe that we’re already at the end of the second week of camp! We are having so much fun that time just flies by. Here are a few reminders as we look forward to week 3.
Lunches/Backpacks: Your child should only be bringing their lunch box (containing a lunch, snack, and mask) and water bottle to camp. Please do not send a bookbag or other items as space is at a premium and our lost & found is growing.
Instruments: Parent of Campers in 3rd grade and up, campers bring their focus instruments to and from camp daily. Feel free to encourage your camper to practice and show you what they’ve learned!
The Parent Portal has exciting new updates. You can check it out by clicking the highlighted link below.
Password: camplevine2022!
Performance Videos: We want you to be able to enjoy your camper’s performance in the safety and comfort of your home. All camp families will be emailed a link to their site & session's performance video as soon as it is available. It may take us awhile to edit and send them, but they will be on their way as soon as we complete them!
Attendance: Please email camp.va@levinemusic.org if your camper will be missing any days next week. It is important to for us take this into account while we are planning the rehearsal and performance.
Re on a holiday: That smiling sun on the back of the dashboard paddle is our camp mascot, Re. Re wants to go on a holiday! Re would love to join you at one of your favorite landmarks, help with a summer activity, or travel with you on vacation!
You can use Re on your dashboard sign to take and send a picture of "Re On a Holiday" to us at camp@levinemusic.org or just post it on Facebook and tag Camp Levine #reonaholiday.
Happy Friday,
Mary Cat Gill
Director of Camp Levine
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This week the Emmys made crafts, sang songs and had so much fun playing different instruments! They were further introduced and informed about the piano, guitar, drum set, and violin during visiting instruments. During art, they crafted rainbow collage sun catchers inspired by the song "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie. They are also making kite streamers to dance with while singing the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins. Outside, we have played games such as “Red light,Green Light”, “Follow the leader”, “Charlie under the Ocean” and a new one: What Time Is It Mr Fox? At the end of each camp day, the Emmys get choice time to jam with classroom instruments, create a puppet show, or engage in imaginative play at the toy center.
This week for the Emmys was full of games, music and some film-themed fun!
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In music+ the Grammys took their first steps into the world of choreography where they created dances for the Snow White song “Whistle while you work”. They’ve also completed learning the song on the xylophone. In sports and games we played “capture the flag”, “Circle Ball”, “Streets and Allies”. We also had stations of outdoor activities. In art we created “Ghostbusters” themed drawing with ghosts haunting instruments. In sampler the campers are split into 4 groups of, guitar, violin, piano, and drums, each day they get to try out the separate instruments and learn about them. In drama we had physical warm ups (crazy 8s) and we played games like poison frog, telephone. In vocal/choral, we learned to sing the songs “Happy”, “Everything is awesome”, and “try everything”. In dance we learned dances to the songs listed earlier. |
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This week, the Oscars have been hard at work getting ready for the final performance. We start our mornings with art class where they have been working a bunch of cool new projects with themes including Star Wars and Ghostbusters. In music+ they finished up writing a song about movies and learned the parts on the xylophones. They are also mastering their parts to Step In Time. The campers always count the minutes until sports and games, and they have a ton of fun playing the games. In chorus, we just learned Somewhere Over the Rainbow and are starting Ease on Down the Road. They have mastered their three dances (Everything is Awesome, Happy, and Try Everything) in dance class and have gotten to play freeze dance in the extra time. Drama is the highlight of the day and we've learned a bunch of new drama games!
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This week in the Tonys we have been focusing on getting prepared for our performance. We spent our morning sing learning new songs such as Never Grow Up from Peter Pan and then proceeded to break into groups based on our instruments. In sports and games we played capture the flag and volleyball, and when the weather was not ideal we played some indoor games. In music + we are learning new lines of The Lion Sleeps Tonight on the xylophone. In dance we warm up with a game of 4 Corners and then work on perfecting our three dances: Everything is Awesome, Try Everything and Happy. In drama we have started assigning roles and practicing our lines for the big show and play improv games. Lastly, in chorus we have started singing a new song: My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music. Overall, it has been a very productive week for the Tony’s. The TAs have noticed that the campers are becoming more comfortable with each other and are making new friends which is great. Additionally, so far the spirit days have been a success! Most of the campers have been dressing up and displaying their creativity.
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Violin Focus Group- The violin focus group has been hard at work learning Mission Impossible! This includes practicing bow technique, finger placements, and rhythm! We can’t wait to put it together with Ms. Allyson, Mr. Web, and the percussion focus group. The students are more and more comfortable with their instrument every day! ˙ᵕ˙ Ms. Sarah
Percussion Focus Group- the percussion Focus campers or continuing to hone their rudiments, written exercises in a simple rock and roll beat on the drum set. Today we'll start working on improvising on the drum set. I really enjoy working with them.
Piano Focus- Older campers have been learning about patterns in music and transposing as well as playing their performance piece. Younger campers have been learning to play Hot Cross Buns along with music and movement, loud and soft, and legato and staccato.
Guitar Focus- The Focus Group is doing excellent. They have mastered all the notes for the melody and learned how to strum all the chords. They are beginning to put together playing a melody while the chords are being playing. All focus guitarists are working hard to put together Puff, the Magic Dragon for the final performance. It was also great seeing the sampler classes again, they got another chance to strum the guitar and play short melody on open strings using their thumb.
Art- This week we have learned about complementary colors and created Star Wars inspired art using tempura paint. We also took inspiration from our favorite instruments and Ghostbusters to create haunting and creative masterpieces. Much creativity has been displayed this week!
Sports & Games- Students in sports and games have been working on cooperative learning. Students have been learning to work together as a team to problem solve in various games.
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Drama- My name is Julian and I am teaching the drama classes! Our focus this week is game playing and improv for the 1st through 4th grade. Specifically, our focus has been on team bonding and finding what we have in common. Improv games help the group become comfortable in the new environment, and develops confidence, creativity, and bonding, as well as speaking and listening skills, and inclusivity and tolerance as well as empathy. This group is so highly imaginative and has bonded so quickly that I have been able to expand the games we play. 5th and 6th graders learn more of the specific rules of acting and improv. This is such a great group!
Dance- In dance, campers have been getting to show their individuality and get to know each other through movement icebreakers. They’ve been learning the importance of performing with expression not only with their body movements but with facial expressions as well (we’ve learned that you can still read someone’s expressions with a mask on!) All of the campers have shown incredible dancing skills and musicality while learning the beginning of the whole group dances for their end of session performance. I am so excited to see their growth throughout these next couple of weeks!
Music +, Vocal/Choral: All of our 1st - 6th campers have had a terrific start in Music+ and Chorus! It's been a joy to sing, dance, play instruments and games with them. At Morning Sing every day, all campers have learned our Camp Levine Song and Camp Levine Chant, as well as parts of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Yellow Submarine. Ask them to sing them to you at home!
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If the Camp Levine experience has revealed a budding musician, I hope you will consider Levine’s many ‘school year’ opportunities. Whether you’re interested in private lessons or a group learning experience, I’m sure Levine has something for your child. And maybe for you, too, since many of our students are adults!
You can find a list of camper age-appropriate classes and lessons on the parent portal under "next steps."
Password: camplevine2022!
We hope you will take us up on a $50 discount to join any weekly private lessons or yearlong group class over $250. You can use the coupon code CMPL22 at checkout anytime before September 5th!
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