What I Want To Teach My CITs

Small Ways to Make a Camper Feel Important and Loved

Make them a friendship bracelet or put a wrap in their hair!

Plan a small activity based around one of their interests! Maybe a comic drawing contest, have the cabin choreograph and perform a dance routine together, or mini cooking class.

If they have a good idea for a devotional, let them lead it! 

Have them help you set up for a later activity or event if they are uninterested in the current one. 

Let them braid your hair!

Loan out your crazy creek for a few minutes! 

Give them tiny awards or certificates of achievement! Ex: cutest outfit of the day, best swimmer, most hydrated, etc. (Just make sure that each camper in the cabin gets one throughout their stay so they don’t feel left out.)

Write short, personalized notes to each camper in your cabin to take home and read later. Tell them how they inspired you!

Talk to them about any personal things you can relate to them with. Ex: similar interests, where you’re from, what you wanna be when you grow up, etc. 

Sit in the middle of the table at a meal and let a camper sit at the end.

Compliment them on their usage of core values. Ex: “I thought it was really cool and responsible of you when I noticed you picking up trash along the trail earlier without being asked.”

If they give you a drawing or letter or make you a friendship bracelet, attach it to your clipboard or backpack to carry it with you everywhere. 

What is your favorite thing to do with campers to pass time?

CBM Essentials

Our list of popular items that aren’t on the main packing list!

Chaco’s- this is by far the most important item on the list. Chaco’s are worn all day, every day by almost everyone aside from that one weird staff member with a pair of Teva’s. Why? They’re the most comfortable and versatile shoes out there. Just make sure that you give yourself a few weeks before camp to break them in to avoid blisters.

Flannels- Flannels are also very important to bring because of their many uses. They’re perfect for when it gets cold at night and in the morning, and for a wide variety of dress up days. The possibilities are endless.

Knee socks- Perfect to wear with your Chaco’s in the morning and make any dress up day outfit stand out in a crowd. Make sure that you have them in different colors for color war!

Nike Shorts- Jean shorts and fancy clothes are not necessary at camp besides services. You’ll need double what you think you need when it comes to nike shorts. You go through them super quickly since the dirtiness of camp doesn’t make re-wearing clothes too easy.

A decked out Nalgene- One of the marks of a super cool camper or staff member is a Nalgene covered in stickers. It just is. The more, the most different the better.

Long Sleeve Shirts- Perfect for nighttime activities and mornings. Always worn with nike shorts, never anything else. Theres nothing comfier than an old long sleeve shirt to keep you stylish and cozy.

Bandanas- Bring bandanas and bring lots of different colors. Having a variety of colors and patterns makes everything easier when it comes to color war and dress up days.

Patriotic attire- In the world of summer sleep away camp, patriotic and red white and blue is certainly not just for the fourth of July. An ENO- This is the second most important item on the list. No explanation needed whatsoever.

Some Ilvermorny headcanons

First and foremost, every day is cranberry pie day

While students do have robes, the clothes they wear underneath the robes are not uniforms. There is an eclectic mix of tastes, from the very serious horned serpent who wears button-downs and ties every day, to the wampus who has enchanted their graphic t-shirt to move, to the thunderbirds and pukwudgies who mutually exist solely for sweater weather.

Every year on James Steward’s birthday, there is a school-sponsored cranberry pie bake-off. Pukwudgie house nearly always wins. Once, thunderbird won and good lord you would think it was the civil war all over again

There are a lot of local professors, of course, so you get some really thick Boston accents, but there are also professors with southern belle accents who serve iced tea in class, professors with Canadian accents, professors with midwest accents, several Native American professors with smooth, lulling accents, and some Mexican professors who slip into Spanish when they get super excited about their subject. There was a visiting professor from Ireland once, and 96% of female students (and some male students) had major crushes on him.

Wampus house is where you go to get body-crushing, soul-lifting hugs

Horned serpents may be scholars, but they are also some of the keenest observers. They watch the whole school from afar and quietly play matchmaker to all of their friends. No one suspects them because - what, horned serpent? No. They don’t know about emotions. Meanwhile, the house president makes a killing on the bet she made to predict the homecoming king/queen. 

Thanksgiving at Ilvermorny is a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed. It’s almost bigger than Christmas. The thanksgiving feasts at Ilvermorny put Hogwarts to shame. Turkey, ham, real cranberry sauce, pies - oh my god so many pies. They’ve got cider, and tea, and cocoa like you wouldn’t believe. There are New English dishes and Southern dishes and Native dishes and Mexican dishes and Canadian dishes and West Coast dishes - essentially it’s a gigantic continental potluck, and it goes on all day long. Also, their pumpkin juice tastes 1000 times better.

While things like dueling and fighting with wands may be frowned upon at Hogwarts, at Ilvermorny it’s kind of just assumed that stuff happens, and the profs are very chill about it. “Just don’t kill each other okay” “just take it outside” “no casting destruction spells indoors” “bring some band-aids with you” “if you break your nose don’t bleed on your homework”

Pukwudgies are a pretty agreeable house over all, if not a bit salty and surly around the edges, they’ll still help you with your homework and bring you soup when you’ve got a cold. But all bets are off when they step onto the lacrosse field. Maybe its a pride thing, but pukwudgies are frikkin animals when playing lacrosse.

Wampus beats pukwudgie at lacrosse fairly often. They don’t actually practice that much, they just kind of win.

This fact has fueled a sports rivalry - friendly in wampus’ eyes, bloodthirsty in pukwudgie’s eyes. 

At wampus/pukwudgie games, horned serpents sell special blends of popcorn. Thunderbirds purchase, hoard, and eat 89% of this popcorn.

Horned serpents and pukwudgies often, though not always, end up having an unspoken rivalry in potions class.

Contrary to popular belief, wampus is not full of athletic jocks. However, they are the most body-positive of all of the schools, and, somewhat ironically to the stereotype, will never judge anyone for their athletic ability. They want everyone to be able to enjoy athleticism and bravery and adventure in the ways they are most able and gifted.

That being said, they do have the kind of student body who, if called upon, could become a minute militia.

When there is a freak hurricane or tornado headed headed for the school, it will be a wampus student who is patrolling the halls and telling students where to go for safety. If there is a bully in school, you had better bet your bottom dollar that s/he will be beaten to a pulp by the next day, and it will be a wampus student sporting mysteriously bloody knuckles.

Pukwudgies are the ones who patch up the bully; they might accidentally wind the bandages a little too tight.

Thunderbirds love a good game of hide-and-seek. They have a tradition of, every halloween, playing hide-and-seek in the dark in the woods.

Horned serpents are the students least often caught for sneaking in contraband into school. Caught being the key word. Most students learn at some point in their education that if you want a nice stiff drink, you go to horned serpent. During secret designated holidays, horned serpent common room turns into a speakeasy. 

Unexpectedly, it is pukwudgies who carry the most weapons and dangerous materials on their person at any given time. If a group of Ilvermorny students were going through a security check, it would be the pukwudgies held at the line while they emptied their pockets (bigger on the inside, of course) of various poisons and weapons. When asked, they would just shrug and say “just in case”.

The town around Ilvermorny is home to several franchised chain restaurants that, although they are no-maj brands, have been taken over by Ilvermorny alumni and thus serve predominantly wizarding patrons. Cups levitate to customers in the Starbucks, there are magic-only options on the menu; the chik-fil-a floor sweeps itself; at dominos the pizzas assemble themselves while the one clerk waits, bored, at the register. There are in-house cues for magic patrons whenever a no-maj walks in. The clerk rings a bell or taps loudly on the counter, or yells out an order than is actually a code word for stop doing magic stuff. It’s like red light green light.

There are some old service tunnels beneath the school left over from WWII and the Cold War. They’re like a labyrinth, and Thunderbird has a monopoly on the maps to the tunnels. Some of the more obscure tunnels have large rooms that are perfect for parties and impromptu speakeasies (lookin at you, horned serpent). Thunderbirds will rent out these rooms to fellow students at a fair and competitive rate.

Unlike hogwarts, Ilvermorny students are more apt to use modern technology. Electrics can be weird around witches and wizards, but they still enjoy a lot of no-maj programming. They use computers instead of quills (but still have to print off their essays, ugh,) and listen to music, and watch TV.

Star Trek has long been a school cult favorite. Pukwudgies have adopted Bones as their pop culture mascot; Kirk is Thunderbird’s, Spock, horned serpent. Wampus vacillates on which of these three they like most, though it must be said, when they start watching Next Gen, many wampus students find themselves enamored with Worf,

There has only been one no-maj to ever make it past the magic shields of Ilvermorny unaided. This instance was in 1985. His name was Chad, who at the time was 1) stoned out of his mind and 2) delivering chinese takeout to a horned serpent pulling an all-nighter. School admin found out later, and there was hell to pay. They never did track down Chad to wipe his memory.

Pukwudgie house does have more than its fair share of healers, so they are definitely the ones to go to for cold remedies, home made soup, the best cures for menstrual cramps, and really good back rubs.

However, they are also the ones to go to for less medical remedies: the best hot cocoa, the most gourmet teas, and home made food.

Each house has a class president who is elected for a two-year term (unless they’re a final year student, in which case they will serve one before being taken over by their VP). They have some influence within their houses, but never as much as they’d like. For instance, the thunderbird president once attempted to institute mid-day dancing parties, but school admin said no.

Pukwudgies are usually not super athletic, but are often very good at things like darts, archery, and waterbaloon fights.

Wampus takes ultimate frisbee very, very seriously.

Thunderbird hosts an ongoing scavenger hunt throughout the semester.

The women of horned serpent blow off steam and the stuffy acadmic pressures of their house by making pillow forts and watching rom coms with each other.

Back in the eighties some wizard created a magic version of D&D, and it has become a weekend favorite of many students across all of the houses.

After graduation, instead of having a class ring, it has become tradition for Ilvermorny students to make a pendant out of their golden cloak buttons.

Ilvermorny may be separated by inter-house squabbles much like at Hogwarts, but at the end of the day, they all leave school wearing the same blue and cranberry robes, sporting the same skill with a wand, raised to the same scrappy, witty, mod-podge tenacity that American witches and wizards embody so well.

The different things I did as a counselor that are the reason my alignment includes “chaotic”:

Accidentally made a 3-4 foot flour dust fire ball in our lodge using a fire starter in a metal cookout pot.

Instead of telling kids not to bully the girl who believed in fairies, I hid a fairy house in the woods and told them fairies were real.

Got the herpetology (reptile) club to come to camp and “paid” her with a walking taco and a s’more.

Brought a friend’s bearded dragon to camp for the critter care rotation and then kept it warm by keeping it on my shoulder while doing paperwork.

Dressed up in an owl costume, including mask, to run camper check in on the (public) road. Also made owl noises and motions while doing said check-in day.

When a child couldn’t sleep, I sang her the lullabies I knew. They were from a play I did about the holocaust. 

And this is just in my two years as a day camp counselor. I had four more years after this.

Camp Playlist

Every camp staff knows the struggle of finding camp-appropriate music to jam to. So here’s my playlist of camp-appropriate songs (which I play while driving).

“Best Day of My Life” by American Authors

“Pompeii” by Bastille

“All American Girl” by Carrie Underwood

“Bubbly” by Colbie Calliat

“Bright” by Echosmith

“Immortals” by Fall Out Boy

“On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons

“Don’t Stop Believin’“ by Journey

“Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall

“Ho Hey” by the Lumineers

“Whole Wide World” by Mindy Gledhill

“Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield

“Home” by Phillip Phillips

“Fight Song” by Rachel Platten

“Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts

“Brave” by Sara Bareilles

“Geronimo” by Sheppard

“Anthem” by Superchick

“One Girl Revolution” by Superchick

“Shake it off” by Taylor Swift

“Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon

“Firework” by Katy Perry

“Story of My Life” by One Direction

“Renegades” by X Ambassadors

(various Disney songs)

Alright camp people of Tumblr, add on your favorite camp-appropriate songs.

How to Annotate Literature

Many times language and literature classes require students to annotate the books that are given to them, but in many cases tips and advice on how to do so is lacking. I will be sharing my personal strategy for efficient and successful annotating that will not only help your understanding of the text but also gain the love of your teachers! The tips have been divided into 5 components, each with their own explanation. Sticky Tabs are Your Best Friend

I don’t know how I would manage to annotate without my sticky tabs. They help me organize and navigate the book before the reading, remind me what to look for while i’m going through the text and help me find whatever I may need once I get to further analysis for the class. 

Create a key for your tabs, personally I use five colors each having a few specific purposes based on where I place them in the book. Most stickies are accompanied by a specific note that will remind me of what I wanted to point out, these stick out of the right margin. 

Pink- Anything to do with characters, be it development or certain traits to remember. It can also be used for when you have questions about character related aspects of the text.

Orange- Refers to setting, in plays it is also applicable for stage directions.

Yellow- Is used for literary devices and use of language (tone, diction, patterns) and syntax, if there is a particular word the author used or a structure you want to take note of, this is the color to use. 

Green- Applicable to any important plot events, notable scenes or things that you think will be significant later in the story.

Blue- Themes and context of said ideas, anything to do with time, place and space in which the text takes place. It can also relate to how your context (a student reading a book for a literature course) impacts your perception of the text.

These are the things teachers usually look out for and it is certainly useful in any kind of further task! 

The top and bottom margins can be used to divide the book in to sections, such as chapters or scenes, mark the most important pages and to also highlight text to text connections. These colors you can pick yourself! I do not recommend having more than 5 sticky tabs per page, otherwise it gets too crowded and they lose their purpose! (but you will still need to buy aaa lloootttt)

This is my key for the book I am currently annotating, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. 

Don’t Overdo it With the Highlighter

Find one color highlighter that you like the most and use it to mark explicit words or phrases that catch your attention, you can also use them in correlation with you sticky tabs!  I prefer to use a yellow highlighter because it seems to bleed the least, and I usually use it in relation to the the yellow and blue tabs because those are the ones that relate to the most detailed and minute parts of the text. Once again you can find your own preference! But don’t overdo it, otherwise, like the tabs, the highlighter will lose its function to highlight important points. 

This is an example of how much highlighting I usually do. For non-fictional texts or parts of a book (like in the introduction you see here) I reserved highlighter for dates and names. 

Have a Conversation With the Author

This is one of the first tips that my high school teacher gave me and it’s really one of the most important ones to remember. And I know, it may sound kinda silly, but I find that it really helps me in developing my ideas and remembering exactly how I felt about a certain aspect of part of the text. 

Whether the text is fiction of non fiction, anything in between, you can always do these few things

Ask questions- As if you were going to get an answer, ask questions, write them down and write down as many as you want. Writing things down helps people remember so then it is more likely that in a class discussion you will be able to recall your queries or wonders. 

If you don’t like something, or you’re surprised by something, write it down! Use exclamation marks, use words that you would use in a regular conversation. I always write ‘WOW!!’ or ‘OMG’ when i’m especially impressed, and having such vocal- well written vocally- emotions will bring you closer to the subject of the text. 

Talk to the characters as well, if you are questioning a character’s actions ask them and provide an explanation as to why you speculate they may have acted a certain way. Not only does that further contribute to your involvement (also making things more entertaining) but it also deepens your thought!

What i’m trying to say is write down anything that comes to mind, your first response is your true response, and it is a valuable addition to your notes! And if you want to write a whole essay in between the lines… Actually, i’ll come back to that later! 

Pens, not Pencils 

I used to make notes completely in pencil but my approach changed when I realized that overtime the pencil would rub off and get illegible. I think it was because I used my book so much, but having switched to pen I realized that it helps me in quite a few other things as well. 

The good thing about pen is that you can’t erase it and let’s say you started writing down a note, scan down the page and realize what you are taking a note of is completely wrong. That’s ok! That’s actually really good! Don’t scribble out what you just wrote down, but instead continue and explain why you may have thought a certain way and what your understanding is now. That relates really closely to the previous note.  Evidently pen also appears darker on the page, then there’s no possibility of it ever disappearing. It also won’t smudge or bleed as long as it’s ballpoint! That’s a good thing when drawing arrows between lines, underlining in addition to your highlights and circling/boxing whatever you deem necessary.

Time, Effort and Commitment

It’s clear that this post took me a while to make, and it took me a while to develop this system with all of the things that I have considered. So it must be self evident that using this type of annotation won’t be quick. It might get tiring at some times, and for me it really does, but at the end I find that it always pays off! You have to stay committed to this technique, you have to put in the same amount of effort for every page, which means you need time. So here are a few final general tips I will leave you with.

Don’t procrastinate! As goes for any task, and this one more than any, don’t waste time getting to it! I advice you check how many pages you have in total and make sure that you do a certain amount per day (usually 5-10 pages a day is good!)

If you go off on massive tangents in the side bars, make sure that you don’t get too distracted by them because they will take up a lot of your time. But one now and then may be good! Be sure to mark it for later reference!

Play mind games with yourself. This one is actually pretty interesting but it personally gets me a long way. If you have 20 pages left, don’t look at it as 20 pages but instead as 4 times 5, then the amount will seem a lot more manageable! It’s a kind of self encouragement!

That can also be said by looking now and then at how far your bookmark has moved through the book and giving yourself a pat on the back for all of you hard work!

That’s all I have for now! If you have any further questions for advice or explanation please message me and I will be more than happy to help! And I hope that this helps some people out too! (I’m counting this as 21/100 days of productivity as all I did today was related to annotating.)

Any tips for taking initiative? I’m always worried that I’ll make a wrong decision, especially because I’m on under-18 staff

Hi friend,

That’s a great question. Taking initiative can be little things that fit easily into your job but put you ahead. Always make sure that you’re doing your job and prioritizing it before your go above and beyond. Some easy ideas for taking initiative:

Be enthusiastic! 

Help tidy the dining hall a little after meals with your kids if you’ve got time. Make it fun by singing songs or playing games.

Talk with the quiet campers.

Walk with the slow campers.

Give campers leadership opportunities.

Offer to lead songs or grace at meals.

Offer to help with campfires or all camp games.

Help unload the vans after a supply run if you’re in the area and have time. The kids can help too.

Help carry heavy things when you see someone struggling.

Make sure your kapers are always done and on time.

Come up with exciting games and activities for your kids beyond the regular camp activities. Play canoe tag or go all out for the color war.

Make sure that you’re always doing your job to your best ability. 

Best of luck and have a great summer!

What to pack for camp: backpack/daypack

*These are things that I carry with me everywhere. Some of these things might overlap with stuff from previous posts, but that is because I have two of those items, one for the cabin and one for when I’m not in the cabin

*FYI I use a North Face Recon backpack. It has a nice mesh front pocket and large mesh side pockets.

water bottle

sunscreen

bugspray

after bite

first aid kit

schedule

2 extra pairs of socks

flashlight/ headlamp

lighter

paper for fires

hairties

feminine hygiene products (small opaque bag i.e. pencil case size, with a couple of what you need)

sunglasses

playing cards

pens and pencils

hand sanitizer

travel pack of clorox wipes

cell phone (i keep mine in a life proof case)

scissors

friendship string

duct tape (optional)

face paint for team games (optional)

portable speaker (optional)

small, lightweight towel (optional)

DO NOT keep things like your wallet, or keys in your backpack. they could get lost or stolen. Instead, keep these things tucked away in your cabin. I tend to bury them in my clothing drawers, so nobody can find them.