What We Did
There were eight weeks of the Full Circle program.The first week of Full Circle was for the students’ and counselors to get to know each other. The first thing we did was to throw around a stuffed animal dragon to tell our name. But we had to think of our favorite food that started with the first letter of our name and that was our name. Four example our head counselor’s name was Justin Jellybean. Then we had to hold hands in a circle and climb through a hula-hoop that we had to pass around the circle. First we would put our head through and leg and hand and in that time we would tell something about ourselves. Then our head counselor told us about the water cycle. He had a water bottle and said that he was drinking clean dinosaur pee. Then he poured a little of the water on to the tree and said he wasn’t wasting the water. He said he was recycling it. He said it evaporates into the air and condenses into the clouds and rains into our reservoir. After that, then we went to class and got into our tribes. There was the Fire, Water, Air and Earth. After recess, we went outside again and got a big net and we each wore a sign with an animal on it and we pretended what would happen if the water got polluted and we dropped the net when our animal got sick. Then we turned our sign around and took a marker and put what we wanted to be when we grow up. Then one at a time we picked the net up again when we had a connection with someone else in the circle. The purpose of that was to show us we needed each other. After that, we got a ball that looked like the earth and threw it around the net just for fun. After lunch we went back to our tribes and did an animal totem. We had to think of the animal we are like and draw about it. And that’s what we did the whole day.
Week two was an exciting day. It was the day we went on our first field trip. We did a ropes course. We had to climb this ladder to the top and jump off a log. It looked easy, but from up there it’s a long way down. Everyone did it. There were other courses too, the climbing course and the swinging course. Some of us did them all. Everyone cheered for everyone that was climbing. That is what the whole field trip was about – to work together. And have fun. That is what we did on our first field trip.
On the third week all of the tribes had a map of our neighborhood. We showed each other where we lived. We all got a sticker, put our name on it and stuck it where we lived. If we lived too far, we had to put it on the edge of the map. We also got to learn all of the systems of the earth. We learned a lot from all of the systems. We put them into ten different categories.
On week four, we went to Franklin Canyon where went hiking and took pictures of different systems in nature for our website. What we saw at Franklin Canyon was a lake, a hawk, poison oak and scat (which is doo doo). We also saw mountains, shelter for animals and lots of other things. The fifth grade classes had fun and all of them were begging to go again to Franklin Canyon. The best part of going to Franklin Canyon was about taking pictures for our website about systems. It was fun.
In the fifth week of Full Circle we got to make ropes out of yucca and we also made a fire. To make the ropes we pounded yucca leaves with smooth, large stones until the fibers separated. Then we washed them to make sure they didn’t dry out. After the leaves turned whitish, we twisted the stringy fibers into two different sections. The two sections were then twisted together in alternating patterns. Making the rope didn’t take a lot of teamwork, but making fire did. To make the fire, we had to have a softwood block with holes in it, a hardwood stick and a block to help the stick stay still. The stick was set in the softwood block and the other block was put on the top of the stick and was held in place by a volunteer. The stick was twisted back and forth until we made an ember. The ember was put in a nest made of Spanish moss and cattail and we blew on it until the nest burned. We put the burning nest on wood until it burned. We cooked bread made of a simple dough and we all had fun.
On week six we did a community walk and the people from Franklin Canyon came to our school to go on the walk with us. We took more pictures for our website. On our community walk we went around our neighborhood looking for different systems at work and we took pictures. We found a lot of systems and we had a lot of fun walking the whole way back to school.
On the seventh week we started making shields. All of the clans made their own. They drew about their tribe’s elements. Some clans even drew about what their clan’s group name was. We all had fun drawing them. We couldn’t write words on our shields. Sometimes we had a hard time getting along and deciding as a group, but all of the shields looked cool afterwards. It was a fun activity drawing with each other. After we were done making our shields Dwain (the person who brought Full Circle to our school) took a picture of us for the website.
On the eighth week we had a graduation ceremony for Full Circle. Justin (our counselor) and Dwain gave a speech. Somebody from each class got up and told about our service project. Then each of us got a diploma and we everyone gave a short speech about what we learned. And that was our graduation.
We ended the Full Circle program with a community service project for animals and the North Central animal shelter to help the animals get adopted. We also wanted to donate surprise for the animals. We decided to do this project because we care about animals and I’m sure you care about them too. Also, when we were on our community walk, we saw a lot of dog waste and that got us thinking “Let’s help the animals and think about someone else for once other than us.” So, on December 12, 2007 we took a trip to the North Central Animal Shelter. When we got there, we unloaded the supplies and food that we collected. The thing that was so cool is that we got to clean our rabbits’ cages. I know that may not seem like fun, but it was a blast. We also got to feed them. And we also got to see horses. Our goal was to donate supplies to the shelter to help the animals. Towards the end of the field trip we got to paint with stencils. At the end, we felt good to know that we accomplished something so generous.
