GATA Webinar – January 13
Happy New Year! Kick off the new year by attending the first Gold Arrow Teacher Academy (GATA) webinar of 2021 on Wednesday, January 13 at 5pm PT/8pm ET. This month’s webinar looks at Creating a Strengths-Focused Classroom.
Parents and teachers tend to be more focused on children’s weaknesses and spend the majority of time and focus on skills and traits that are areas of deficit or lack. A more effective way to bring out the best in students is to focus on strengths and guide students to use their strengths to be successful in school, in relationships, and in life. In this webinar, we’ll provide resources and guidance on the language and activities that will make your classroom more positive and strengths-focused and a place where students learn to embrace their best qualities.
This webinar is free for all GATA members! If you are not yet a GATA member, you can join here or register just for the webinar here. Even if you’re not able to attend the live webinar on Wednesday, you’ll be able to access the recorded webinar and the accompanying resources.
Please share this information with the educators in your life!
JOIN NOW
5-Year Camper Spotlight: Ethan H.
This week’s 5-year camper spotlight is on Ethan H.! Ethan is a friendly camper and pushes himself to reach his goals. This summer, Ethan’s counselors said of him, “Ethan has great communication skills. He really embraces cabin time and makes it more fun!” We are so lucky to have a camper like Ethan as part of our community.
Check out this video of Ethan receiving his surprise 5-Year Blanket!
5-Year Camper Spotlight: Ethan H.
This week’s 5-year camper spotlight is on Ethan H.! Ethan is such a joyous camper and always sees the positive. This summer, Ethan’s counselors said of him, “Ethan has an outgoing and confident personality. This helps him connect more with his cabinmates.” We are so lucky to have a camper like Ethan as part of our community.
Check out this video of Ethan receiving his surprise 5-Year Blanket!
5-Year Camper Spotlight: Henry B.
This week’s 5-year camper spotlight is on Henry B.! Henry has such a great attitude about everything and is so friendly. This summer, Henry’s counselors said of him, “Henry is a great listener and is extremely insightful. He connects well with others.” We are so lucky to have a camper like Henry as part of our community.
Check out this video of Henry receiving his surprise 5-Year Blanket!
To learn more about the history of GAC’s 5-year blanket CLICK HERE.
GACtivism
Here at GAC, we’ve long believed that one of the things we empower our campers to do is to make positive changes in the world. We’ve spent a long time working with campers so that they can go back to their communities and share the kindness, friendship skills, and love of nature that they developed at camp.
Now we want to help campers change the world in other ways. That’s why we’ve launched what we’re calling GACtivism! Get it? GAC + Activism = GACtivism. Before he was a Camp Director, Soy was a high school government teacher for 14 years. In that time, he helped thousands of students write and send letters to their elected officials about important issues in their communities. Now he’s asking you to do the same:
To summarize the video, we know that we can operate camp responsibly in a world with COVID. We just need the state of California to give us guidelines for how they would like us to do it. We’ve been preparing on our own using the American Camp Association’s Field Guide for camps. However, we don’t yet know what California will require, and how it will align with the Field Guide. Whatever the state asks us to do to prevent the spread of COVID at camp, we’ll do, and we need to know what those requirements are now so that we can start planning for camp. We need your help to remind elected officials that camps like us need to know what the requirements for 2021 will be now–not right before the summer starts.
What can you do?
Go to savenextsummer.com, click on California, and follow the simple steps to send a letter to your elected officials. It might seem hard or scary, but it isn’t. You just have to let them know how important GAC is to you and how important it is that they help us get guidance for next summer.
We appreciate your help!
Gift A Piece of GAC
This summer a small work crew took the opportunity to replace the floor and foundation in Cabin 7. The cabin, which is one of the oldest buildings in camp was due for significant repairs, which involved lifting the building up so that a new modern foundation could be poured.
To start the process, the floor needed to be removed from Cabin 7. In the course of this work our long-time construction guru Stan “Doc” Engle realized that the floorboards didn’t look like they had ever been replaced since the cabin was built. In fact, on closer inspection, he realized that they had probably been milled at GAC by Manny Vezie and his crew when they originally built the cabins that are now known as the Quad.
We couldn’t just throw history like that away, so the boards were removed as carefully as possible and set aside. Buzz was commissioned to design a GAC specific piece of art that features the famous John Muir quote; “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
Now we’re thrilled to share the final project, which is carved and painted on a piece of Cabin 7 floorboard by Soy.
You can find this sign, as well as other great GAC-themed gifts at our online store: https://gold-arrow-camp.square.site/
5-Year Camper Spotlight: Aiden D.
This week’s 5-year camper spotlight is on Aiden D! Aiden is a wonderful camper and a great cabinmate. This summer, Aiden’s GALA’s counselors said of him, “Aiden is not afraid to speak his mind when a discussion topic resonates with him. He brings great perspectives to the table.” We are so lucky to have a camper like Aiden as part of our community.
Check out this video of Aiden receiving his surprise 5-Year Blanket!
5-Year Camper Spotlight: Evan G.
This week’s 5-year camper spotlight is on Evan G.! Evan is an incredibly honest camper and a great addition to whichever group he is a part of. This summer, Evan’s counselors said of him, “Evan is a great communicator. He loves to get to know everyone around him.” We are so lucky to have a camper like Evan as part of our community.
Check out this video of Evan receiving his surprise 5-Year Blanket!
5-Year Camper Spotlight: Millie K.
As you may have read, GAC was on the road this summer to surprise our 5-year campers who participated in the GALA Program with their 5-year blanket. We’re excited to spotlight each of the amazing campers we visited.
This week’s 5-year camper spotlight is on Millie K.! Millie is a sweet camper with an extremely kind heart. This summer, Millie’s counselors said of her, “Millie is a great active listener. She is super respectful and she’s always able to build off of what other people say.” We are so lucky to have a camper like Millie as part of our community.
Check out this video of Millie receiving her surprise 5-Year Blanket!
Why Can’t School Be More Like Camp?
“Camp forever shaped me as an educator.”
Kristi Tanner, Teacher and former GAC Counselor
Why can’t school be more like camp? It can!
For years we’ve heard testimonials from our counselors about how they get life-changing training at camp that helps them become fantastic parents and amazing teachers who create positive classroom communities.
Camp counselors master connecting with and forming positive relationships with their campers – and they learn to coach campers on the friendship skills they need to make and keep friends.
The GAC Director team is thrilled to be bringing fun, engaging “camp counselor”-style trainings to educators through GATA – the Gold Arrow Teacher Academy.
The library of GATA resources is growing, with three webinars and 11 PDF resources of no-prep and low-prep connection activities now available on demand for GATA members.
GATA WEBINARS NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND FOR MEMBERS
8+ Activities to Foster Online Classroom Connections
Creating a Positive Classroom Culture
Coaching Students to Better Collaboration & Communication
GATA PDF RESOURCES NOW AVAILABLE IN THE MEMBER RESOURCE LIBRARY
Questions for Classroom Connection
Creating a Positive Classroom Culture
Songs & Videos
Build Positivity & Optimism in Your Students
Guess Who
Jokes & Riddle
Teaching Kids Better Communication & Collaboration
Rules & Language of Collaboration
Create an Animal
Chill Music for Your Class
Coaching Students to Better Listening
Our November 11 live webinar is on Coaching Students to Autonomy and Problem Solving.