I Have Had The Same Pink And Black Adidas Backpack For At Least 4 Years. The Wear And Tear That Would’ve

I Bring a Small Library to Camp

One of the many reasons people at camp call me “Mom” is because I love reading to my campers at bedtime or during down time when asked. I’ve been called “entertaining” by my fifth grade campers because I “do voices” and read more like I’m narrating a play and all of its parts. Part of the reason I do this is because, well, I enjoy it. They may not seem too interested in reading when you interact with them, but that’s usually because it’s during the day and there are so many other things to do. But when given the option to stay up a bit later, they will want to be read to; and many kids (and even teens) really do like listening to someone else read. For younger kids it may be something their guardians do at home; for the older ones it may remind them of the comforting reading time they had as a young child. Children who are read to on a usual basis (five or more times per week) often use more literary language when asked to speak or write.¹ While working with children, I have noticed that many kids show signs of stage fright or a feeling of discomfort when doing things as simple as introducing themselves to a group. I like to use reading to my campers as a way to show them that speaking up and being crazy when you talk is perfectly okay and even encouraged.

I find it’s often difficult to get my campers to interact (sometimes appropriately) at meal times. While being the icebreaker of the group can work, at breakfast I found my campers often spoke about the book I read the night before. That’s the last thing they remember from the previous day and it’s the first thing they’ll talk about the next morning (unless they’ve already been distracted by gaga ball). When we read to campers or children in general, they’ll unintentionally talk about the story, ask open-ended questions, question word definitions, and point out conflict and resolution. This promotes an increase in their language development and comprehension of stories– all of which lead to better reading skills.²

I usually bring a small collection of paperback books to camp with me and have a library in my cabin for down time or if they would like to read before bed. The big hits this past summer were J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Roald Dahl’s Matilda.

Keeping in mind that my campers are usually in the 3rd-6th grade (8-12 years old) age range, here are some books I keep in my little library:

Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s by J.K. Rowling

Lions at Lunchtime by Mary Pope Osborne

The Talking T. Rex by Ron Roy

Midnight on the Moon by Mary Pope Osborne

The Lucky Lottery by Ron Roy

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

The Canary Caper by Ron Roy

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Faith and the Electric Dogs by Patrick Jennings

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Now just remember, if that character yelled- you should be using above an inside voice. If that character is described as having an accent- try your hardest to have one. The more engaged you are in the book, the more engaged they will be. Read to your campers. They will love it and you will have control over bedtime.

¹Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. New York: Harper Perennial.

²Berk, L. E. (2009). Child Development (8th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

7:30am: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

8am: Breakfast

8:30am: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

Every 10 minutes until lunch: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

2pm: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

Every 10 minutes until 4pm: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

4pm: Snacktime

4:01pm: “Texas what are we doing now?!”

Me inside:

Inside Out kind of describes what it's like to be a preschool teacher

This is me when I talk about my campers to other people. 😂😂😂

https://twitter.com/skyatlantic/status/965907723937308672

Hahahaha! So funny! Jon’s face…

(Love your pet day…)

Me over here having ideas for Catching Fire adjacent fanfic, but we're still on the Hunger Games...

I wish all cops were like this… ❤️

Watch: The officer’s collection just happened to include a super rare 1-of-10 “shiny” card.

4 more days! I can’t wait to go back to camp!

they hate it when you have sweet brown eyes and chubby cheeks

The Pink Rose, part 4

Part Four- July 5th, 74 ADD

Pairing: Haymitch Abernathy x reader (vaguely, part 4 is mostly filler- sorry)

Word count: 1,444

Warnings: Brief violence, weapons, and reference to death

[Y/n] had slept too late, she knew Effie was going to be upset with her. She quickly readied herself to make a Capitol appearance when they arrived. Making her way to the dining car, she prepared herself to get some snide remark about punctuality from Effie. As soon as the car door opened, [Y/n] saw Peeta slap the glass of wine from Haymitch’s hand as Peeta said, “Only not to us!”

A half second later, Haymitch punched Peeta’s jaw, knocking him to the ground before reaching for the liquor cart. Without missing a beat, [Y/n] and Katniss each grabbed a knife from the nearest place setting. Katniss drove her knife into the table between Haymitch’s hand and the bottle, barely missing his fingers. In the same second, [Y/n] expertly threw a knife and sent it directly through the space between Haymitch and Katniss causing them to lean apart from each other.

Haymitch sat back in his chair, first raising an eyebrow at [Y/n], then looking at their tributes, “Well, what’s this?” he said, “Did we actually get a pair of fighters this year?”

Peeta rose to his feet and reached for the ice for his jaw, but Haymitch stopped him.

“No,” Haymitch smirked, “Let the bruise show. The audience will think you’ve mixed it up with another tribute before you’ve even made it to the arena.”

“That’s against the rules,” Peeta shot back.

“Only if they catch you. That bruise will say you fought but you weren’t caught, even better,” 

[Y/n] opened her mouth to protest but Haymitch held up a finger and turned to Katniss. “Can you hit anything with that knife besides a table?”

With an eerily blank expression on her face, Katniss removed the knife from the table and flicked it away, lodging it directly between two of the decorative wall panels. [Y/n] and Haymitch exchanged impressed looks.

“Both of you come stand over here,” [Y/n] said seriously, nodding to the middle of the room. Not being Haymitch, the tributes obeyed. [Y/n] and Haymitch examined Katniss and Peeta. They weren’t completely malnourished and seemed strong enough.

“Well, you’re not entirely hopeless. Seem fit,” Haymitch said.

[Y/n] added, “And once the stylists get hold of you, you’ll be attractive enough for the sponsors… I would know,” 

Peeta and Katniss didn’t question this, the Hunger Games weren’t a beauty contest, but the best-looking tributes always seemed to pull more sponsors.

“All right, I’ll make a deal with you two, actually, all of you,” He looked directly at Effie that time, “You don’t interfere with my drinking, and I’ll stay sober enough to help [Y/n] help you. But you have to do exactly what I say.”

“Fine,” says Peeta.

“So help us,” Katniss interjected, “When we get to the arena, what’s the best strategy at the Cornucopia for someone—”

“One thing at a time. In a few minutes, we’ll be pulling into the station. You’ll be put in the hands of your stylists. You’re not going to like what they do to you. But no matter what it is, don’t resist,” says Haymitch.

“But —” Katniss began.

Haymitch opened his mouth and [Y/n] held up her hand that time, “No buts- just let them do their job,” she nodded at both tributes, “But if they make you too uncomfortable, you tell me and I’ll handle it,”

Haymitch left the car and the train entered the last tunnel before the Capitol. As soon as the train left the tunnel, the Capitol came into view. Peeta and Katniss ran to the window to see the ruling city of Panem. As they pulled into the station, the people begin to point at Katniss and Peeta eagerly as they recognized a tribute train rolling into the city. Katniss stepped away from the window, but Peeta stayed, waving and smiling at the crowd. He stopped once out of view.

He turned to Katniss and said “Who knows? One of them may be rich.”

[Y/n] chuckled at how fast Peeta was learning and he seemed to be ready to fight in every way. Haymitch definitely misjudged him. But [Y/n] still worried about Katniss. That girl must have a hard time trusting anyone.

*     *     *

Katniss and Peeta had an interesting introduction to the Capitol- one [Y/n] still cringed at the thought of. [Y/n] at least had an idea of what Katniss would experience- exfoliated, waxed, tweezed, and practically hosed down. Then they would take her barely covered body to go meet a stranger who would decide what she wears in front of Panem. Unlike other years, [Y/n] liked the District 12 Stylist, Cinna. Even Haymitch didn’t seem to mind him. They hoped this up-and-coming stylist would make their tributes something worthwhile.

Haymitch joined [Y/n] and Effie outside the building where the chariots were kept, but he didn’t enter with them. Finally, Effie and [Y/n] saw Cinna leading Katniss and Peeta towards the chariot. Cinna’s assistant, Portia, followed behind, fussing over every strand in Katniss’ hair. The two tributes were dressed in a simple, conservative black unitard with an uncommonly high neckline. [Y/n] remembered that she had mentioned to Cinna that for her own ceremony, she’d hated how much cleavage they made her show. The unitard was accompanied by a pair of shiny leather boots laced up to their knees. [Y/n] was most surprised to see the long billowing capes and matching headpieces. The red, orange, and yellow were an impressive contrast to the black. [Y/n] heard Cinna telling them about a synthetic fire for the costume. Of course- they weren’t coal miners this year, they were the coal!

As Katniss and Peeta’s chariot took off, [Y/n] could see them whispering to each other. She couldn’t help but hope that they would do great things. As the opening music played, [Y/n] wished Haymitch would participate more. He did say he would help- but maybe he didn’t mean public appearances. [Y/n] knew she was forcibly comfortable in the public eye, but Haymitch was not quite the flavor the public eye favored. His consistent public drunkenness was not something District 12, much less the rest of Panem was happy to accept. 

Effie, Portia, and [Y/n] watched the ceremony on their own screen where they would wait to collect their tributes. Each district’s chariot crossed the screen as they listened to the commentators give their opinions on the designs. District 1: luxury items- wore fashionable, jeweled tunics and had their skin spray painted silver. A hard act to follow for the attention of the capitol- hopefully Cinna had something extraordinary up his sleeve. [Y/n] looked around wondering if she’d get a glimpse of Haymitch when suddenly she heard the gasps and cheers for District 12! Effie and Portia were beaming as [Y/n] whipped her head around and saw her tributes on fire! Cinna and Portia’s synthetic fire was just the combination of danger, beauty, and excitement that reeled in the sponsors. The ceremony music could barely be heard behind the overwhelming cheers of Katniss and Peeta’s names, the screams of appreciation, and clapping of thousands of hands.

[Y/n] jumped as a hand rested on her shoulder and the owner said, “I didn’t know she could smile,”

Haymitch could always be counted on for a sarcastic comment. Although, it was good to see Katniss helping herself and Peeta by playing to the crowd: catching a rose, blowing kisses, and proudly holding hands- Katniss was coming out of her shell. She was going to fight. 

After the ceremony, the tributes chariots were brought inside. Effie and [Y/n] rushed to meet Katniss and Peeta with the intention of beating everyone who would want to meet them. It didn’t take long for Katniss to point out that she had made several enemies already. She’d stolen sponsors from Districts 1, 2, and 3. 

Cinna and Portia helped put out the flames. Tributes weren’t usually worried about relationships, especially because there was only one winner. But [Y/n] felt like there was something between Katniss and Peeta and wondered if she should shut that down before they literally have to try killing each other. To solidify her wondering, Peeta said something that made Katniss smile and reach up to kiss his cheek. Oh no, [Y/n] couldn’t allow that- or could she? Should she let them die happy? Or risk one of them losing the other? She figured they were 16 and it wouldn’t lead to anything anyway- at least one of them would die feeling like they’d felt something for the other. 

Masterlist

Got a lil spicy today 🔥🔥